The privileged object of the investigation is the "political culture", which can be defined as the result of the complex interaction between institutions, citizens' orientations towards them and the self-perception of the citizens themselves as members of a specific political system. The most important issues in this context are political participation, the level of civic culture, the degree of conflict between the various political cultures and, within them, between sub-cultures, the symbolic link between political cultures and individual and collective identities, conflicts and migratory movements as powerful factors in redefining political cultures. The relationship between political culture and national and/or linguistic dimension, in particular, lends to comparative studies and to the investigation of the phenomenon of multiculturalism; while the ideological specificities of the various sub-cultures or political 'families', connected to specific political parties and movements, can be investigated both in reference to contemporary models and in a historical perspective.

Board members:Regina Lupi, Silvia Bolgherini, Massimo Cerulo, Amina Maneggia, Rita Marchetti, Lorenzo Medici, Francesca Piselli, Ambrogio Santambrogio, Valentina Sommella, Manuel Vaquero Piñeiro, Federico Zanettin.