Conoscere per trasformare. L'inchiesta sociale in Danilo Dolci e Manlio Rossi-Doria

In the 1950s, the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry on Poverty documented the persistence of poverty in Italy despite postwar reconstruction, the creation of the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, and the activities of the IRI. Southern Italy – marked by deprivation, the mafia, agrarian conflicts, and peasant movements – became a laboratory of reform. It is within this context that Danilo Dolci and Manlio Rossi-Doria operated: their collaboration within the Association for Social Initiative, only apparently convergent, soon broke down, revealing two different methodologies of change. In the absence of a systematic study comparing their models – especially with regard to the role of social inquiry – this article offers a qualitative analysis of texts and secondary sources to compare their aims and practices.