Unequal Italians: The Case of Naples

In this chapter, ethnographic evidence brings out the progressive entrenchment of the conditions of inequality of opportunity and access to resources among ordinary Neapolitans. The misgovernance of a filthy, unsanitary and hazardous public domain has long combined with central and local governments’ discriminatory policies, iniquities in the financial system and the presence of an ever-increasing number of illegal immigrants. I examine the distortions brought about by these dynamics and the ways in which they contribute to justify local people’s feeling that they are treated as second-class citizens. Anthropological investigation brings out the cultural complexity and economic significance of ordinary Neapolitans’ entrepreneurialism and resilience in the face of the corrupting role of processes of exclusion that serve the interests of the historically embedded élite in power and their cohorts. The analysis evidences the weak legitimacy of governance in this urban setting.