In Italy, Fascism is still a past that refuses to go away. Due to the rise of far-right parties and populism, the political debate on the real meaning of historical fascist rhetoric and ideas for Italians has been very harsh. Since the 1990s, there have been countless investigations of extremist rhetoric, but, except for studies on poll outcomes, there have been very few analyses of their actual impact. Except for a few anthropological studies (which, by their very nature, are limited to narrow specific cases) and a few journalistic investigations, such as the one by Fanpage in June 2024 on the young members of Gioventù Nazionale (which, besides not being representative, aimed not to analyse but to denounce), there are almost no sociological and historical studies on how fascist-like rhetoric and ideas are part of Italians’ everyday attitude and whether they can recognize them as extremism.
The presentation is part of the research for the ERC project at the University of Turin F-Word. The world behind a word. An anthropological exploration of fascist practices and meanings among European youth (https://fword.unito.it/). The presentation sums up the outcomes of a survey based on a multiple-choice questionnaire answered by approximately 800 high school students in their final year from 40 different schools. The sample is statistically representative of the national school population. The presentation focuses on the answers to the third section, which inquired about judgments on Fascism (as a historical phenomenon and ideology for the present) and the legacies of the colonial experience. The questions deal with fascist stereotypes and extreme rhetoric and their legacies in contemporary public discourse.
The survey helps us to understand if and how extreme ideas, political projects, and racial and nationalistic stereotypes, typical of far-right populism and fascist-like rhetoric, have been absorbed and endorsed by younger generations.
