Edward C. Banfield, The Moral Basis of A Backward Society

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THE REGION OF LUCANIA

The Mora I Basis
of a Backward Society
By EDWARD C. BANFIELD
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF LAURA FASANO BANFIELD
cJ Photographs by the Author
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The Free ~re ~s Research Center in Economic
Development and C~ltural Change
Glencoe , '"lnols The University of Chicago
Edward C. Banfield , with the assistance of Laura F.
Banfield The Moral Basis of a Backward Society
(Gl~ncoe , IL: The Free Press , 1958).
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publication for sale is prohibited.
In such condition , there is no place for industry;
because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently
no culture of the earth; no navigation , nor use of the
commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodi-
ous building; no instruments of moving, and removing,
such things as require much force; no knowledge of the
face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters;
no society; and which is worst of all , continual fear , and
danger of violent death; and the life of man , solitary,
poor , nasty, brutish , and short.
-- Hobbes
.! ...
THE REGION OF LUCANIA

The Mora I Basis
of a Backward Society
By EDWARD C. BANFIELD
WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF LAURA FASANO BANFIELD
cJ Photographs by the Author
,i
'riV
The Free ~re ~s Research Center in Economic
Development and C~ltural Change
Glencoe , '"lnols The University of Chicago
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T ABLE OF CONTENTS
~-V
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Map
Introduction
Chapter 1. Impressions and Questions
Copyright 1958 by The Free Press , a corporation Chapter 2. Some Usual Explanations
Printed in the United States of America Chapter 3. The Economy
Chapter 4. Class Relations

l. C. Catalog Card No, 58- 9398
Chapter 5. A Predictive Hypothesis
Chapter 6. Ethos in Practice 107
Chapter 7. Ethos in Principle 129
Chapter 8. Origins of the Ethos 147
Chapter 9. The Future 163
Appendix A. Education and Illiteracy, Land Use , Levels

of Living, Age at Death 177
Appendix B. Responses to a Thematic Apperception Test:

Southern Italy, Northern Italy, and Rural
Kansas 189
Index 201
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INTRODUCTION
if~; In democratic countries the science of
association is the mother of science; the
rr.' progres s of all the rest depends upon the

progress it has made.
-- Tocqueville
oS-,
Most of the people of the world live and die without ever achiev-
".f.:
ing membership in a community larger than the family or tribe.
Except in Europe and America , the concerting of behavior in political
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associations and corporate organization is a rare and recent thing.
Lack of such association is a very important limiting factor in
.~~f the way of economic development in most of the world. Except as
people can create and maintain corporate organization , they cannot
have a modern economy. To put the matter positively: the higher the
..0
level of living to be attained , the greater the need for organization.
Inability to maintain organization is also a barrier to political
progress. Successful self- government depends , among other things,
upon the possibility of concerting the behavior of large numbers of
~1:~'
people in matters of public concern. The same factors that stand in
'I" ..
the way of effective association for economic ends stand in the way of
association for political ones too. The most democratic country on
the face of the earth" , Tocqueville observed, "is that in which men
have, in our time, carried to the highest perfection the art of pursu-
ing in common the object of their common desires and have applied
this new science to the greatest number of purpose'!:. ,,
Democracy in America , Knopf edition, Vol. II , p. 107.
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THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY INTRODUCTION
We are apt to take it for granted that economic and political organization, it is necessary to consider not only numbers and size
associations will quickly arise wherever technical conditions and nat- of organizations but th~ir efficiency, i. e., the rate at which they con-
ural resources permit. If the state of the technical arts is such that vert valued input to valued output. In doing this, one must ask how
large gains are possible by concerting the activity of many people, exacting are the purposes or values being served: obviously it is less
capital and organizing skill will appear from somewhere , and organi- of a feat to be efficient in the attainment of a purpose which imposes
zations will spring up and grow. This is the comfortable assumption few demands than in the attainment of one which imposes many. That
that is often made. a culture is able to maintain an effective military force, for example
The assumption. is wrong because it overlooks the crucial im- does not imply that it can succeed in the infinitely more difficult task
portance of culture. People live and think in very different ways, and of creating an industrial society in which human values are preserved
some of these ways are radically inconsistent with the requirements and improved. If these most difficult and important purposes are
of formal organization. One could not, for example , create a power- taken as the standard , it is even more difficult to see how most cul-
ful organization in a place where everyone could satisfy his aspira- tures of the non- Western world can attain a high level of organization
tions by reaching out his hand to the nearest coconut. Nor could one unles s they are changed drastically or potentialities noW latent in them
create a powerful organization in a place where no one would accept find expression.
orders or direction. While it is easy to seethat culture may be the limiting factor
There is some reason to doubt that the non- Western cultures which determines the amount and character of organization and there-
of the world will prove capable of creating and maintaining the high , fore of progress in the less developed parts of the world, it is not
degree of organization without which a modern economy and a demo- obvious what are the precise incompatibilities between particular cul-
cratic political order are impossible. There seems to be only one tures, or aspects of culture , and particular forms or levels of organ-
important culture-- the Japanese--which is both radically different ization. Even with respect to our own society we know very little
from our own and capable of maintaining the necessary degree of or- about such matters. What, for example, is the significance for or-
ganization. If there is to be more than a superficial overlay of indus- ganization of various class , ethnic, or sexual attributes within our
trialization in China , India , and the other underdeveloped countries, own culture?
their ethos must be such as to allow the establishment of corporate This book is a study of the cultural , psychological, and moral
forms of action. conditions of political and other organization. . The approach is that
The ability of a culture to maintain organization cannot mean- of detailed examination of factors which impede corporate action in
ingfully be measured simpq in number or size of organizations. a culture which , although not radically foreign to ours, is neverthe-
organization may hav.e many members and cover a large area f-nd less different from it and in some respects closely simil'\tr to that of
yet do very little. In appraising the capacity of a culture to maintain the Mediterranean and Levantine worlds.
. "
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY INTRODUC TION
The book is about a single village in southern Italy, the extreme impression is, however, that they were highly representative of that
poverty and backwardness of which is to be explained 2 largely (but part of the population which lives in the town and reasonably represen-
not entirely) by the inability of the villagers to act together for their tative of the nearby country dwellers. We are not competent to say
common good or , indeed , for any end transcending the immediate, how representative Montegrano is of southern Italy as a whole; there
material interest of the nuclear family. This inability to concert ac- is some evidence , however , that in the respects relevant to this study,
tivity beyond the immediate family arises from an ethos 3 - - that of Montegrano is fairly the " typical" south , viz., the rest of Lucania
amoral familism --which has been produced by three factors acting the regions of Abruzzi and Calabria , the interior of Campania, and
in combination: a high death rate, certain land tenure conditions, the coasts of Catania , Messina , Palermo , and Trapani. 4
and the absence of the institution of the extended family. Since our intention is not to " prove " anything, but rather to
Our family--my wife and I and our two children , then eight and outline and illustrate a theory which may be rigorously tested by any
ten years old-- lived among the peasants of Montegrano (the name is who care to do so, we think our data--meager though they are--are
fictitious , as are all local ones) for nine months in 1954 and 1955. ' sufficient. There are enough data , at least, to justify systematic
With the help of an Italian student, my wife interviewed about 70 per- inquiry along these lines. Until such inquiry has been made, the ar-
sons, most of them peasants. (My own knowledge of the language gument made here must be regarded as highly tentative.
was non-existent to start with and rudimentary later. ) In addition Some readers may feel that amoral familism , or something
we gathered data from census schedules and other official sources, very much akin to it, exists in every society, the American no less
from record books and autobiographies kept by peasants at our re- than the southern Italian. Our answer to this is that amoral familism
quest, and from thematic apperception tests. is a pattern or syndrome; a society exhibiting of the constituent
It was not practical to employ sophisticated sampling tee1~niques. elements of the syndrome is decisively different from one exhibiting
(To have done so would have left no time for interviewing. ) There- all of them together. Moreover, the matter is one of degree: no
fore, we do not know how representative our interviews were; our matter how selfish or unscrupulous most of its members may be, a
An explanation , Hurne said , is a place where the mind comes society is not amorally individualistic (or familistic) if there is
to rest. Some of the explanations discussed (Chapter Two) or
offered (Chapter Eight) in this book are causal , i. e., they are An Australian demographer, J. S. McDonald , has shown that
places where the mind comes to rest when it looks for condi- emigration rates in these areas " where economic aspirations
tions antecedent to an event and necessary to its occurrence. were integrated only with the welfare of the individual' s nuclear
Others (Chapter Five) are at least superficially of a different family " have been higher than in other rural districts (i. e.
sort: they are places where the mind comes to rest when it the Veneto , Centre , Emilia- Romagna , Tuscany, Umbria , and
looks for a principle of identity in seemingly unrelated f?-cts. Marches) " where aspirations for material betterm8nt were ex-
The concept " ethos " is used in Sumner s sense: " the sum of pressed in board associative behavior Italy s Rural Social
the characteristic usages, ideas, standards , and codes by Structure and Emigration Occiden , Vol. XII , No. 5 (Sep-
which a group is differentiated arid individualized in character tember- October 1956), pp. 437- 455.
from other groups. Folk'.\f.a'ys, p. 36.
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THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY
somewhere in it a significant element of public spiritedness or even

:r,
of " enlightened" self interest.
We wish to express appreciation for the interest and courtesies
extended by Professor Mantio Rossi- Doria and Dr. Gilberto Marselli !Ito
I.
of the Scuola Agraria in Portici and to Drs. Giuseppe Barbero and
Giuseppe Orlando of the Istituto Nazionale di ~c,cJnomia Agraria in
Rome. Mr. Giovanni Giura , now of Chicago, assisted in the field
work in Montegrano. Dr. Ivano Rinaldi of Perugia administered the-
matic apperception tests in the Rovigo district and supplied informa-

tion on social organization there.
Acknowledgment is due the Social Science Division of the Uni-
versity of Chicago , which financed the study with funds from the Ford
Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council , which also
made a grant- in-aid.

Acknowledgment is made to Farrar , Straus , and Cudahy, Inc.,
publishers of Carlo Levi r s Christ Stopp~~ at Eboli ,
for permission to
quote from that book , and to Donald S. Pitkin for permission to quote
from his doctoral dissertation , Land Tenure and Famil y Organization
in an I talian Village
The present tense describes the situation as it was in 1955.
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CHAPTER ONE
1':
IMPRESSIONS AND QUESTIONS
Americans are used to a buzz of activity having as its purpose

at least in part, the advancement of community welfare. For ex-
ample , a single issue of the weekly newspaper published in St. George
Utah (population 4, 562), reports a variety of public-spirited under-
takings. The Red Cross is conducting a membership drive. The
Business and Professional Women s Club is raising funds to build an
additional dormitory for the local junior college by putting on a cir-
cus in which the members will be both clowns and " animals The
Future Farmers of America (whose purpose is " to develop agricul-
turalleadership, cooperation, and citizenship through individual and
group leadership ) are holding a father-son banquet. A local business
firm has given an encyclopedia to the school district. The Chamber
of Commerce is discussing the feasibility of building an all-weather
road between two nearby towns. Skywatch" volunteers are being
signed up. A local church has collected $1 393. 11 in pennies for a
children s hospital 350 miles away. The County Farm Bureau is fly-
ing one of its members to Washington , 2, 000 miles away, to partici-
pate in discus sions of farm policy. Meetir,gs of the Parent Teachers
Associations are being held in the schools. "As a responsible citi-
zen of our community , the notice says, " you belong,in the PTA"
Montegrano , a commune of 3 400 persons , most of them poor
farmers and laborers , in the province of Potenza in southern
- 15 -
" (
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY IMPRESSIONS AND QUESTIONS

Italy, I presents a striking contrast. The commune consists of a town The merchants of Montegrano are well aware of the importance
lying like a white beehive against the top of a mountain , and twenty- to them of good roads. They would not, however , expect to be lis-
seven square miles of surrounding fields and forests. One- third of tened to by the authorities who decide which roads are to be improved.
the Montegranesi live on scattered farms at the base of the mountain A Montegrano man might write a letter to the provincial authorities
and in the valley around it. The others live in the town , but since in Potenza or to the newspaper there, but it is unlikely that his doing
they are mostly farmers and laborers , their waking hours are spent so would make any difference. In fact, the officials would be likely to
in the fields below the town or on the footpaths that wind between town resent what they would consider interference in their affairs.
and country. D:-.
There are no organized voluntary charities in Montegrano.
No newspaper is published in Montegrano or in any of the thirteen order of nuns struggles to maintain an orphanage for little girls in
other towns lying within view on nearby hilltops. Occasional announce- the remains of an ancient monastery, but this is not a local undertak-
ments of public interest-- there are fish for sale in the piazza at 100 ing. The people of Montegrano contribute nothing to the support of
lire per chilo --are carried by a town crier wearing an official cap, it, although the children come from local families. The monastery
who toots a brass horn to attract attention. Official notices are posted is crumbling, but none of the many half-employed stone masons has
in the salt and tobacco store , a government monopoly, and on a bul- ever given a day s work to its repair. There is not enough food for
letin board in the town hall. Several copies of three or four newspa- the children , but no peasant or landed proprietor has ever given a
pel's published in Rome , Naples , and Potenza come into town by bus young pig to the orphanage.
every day or two , but these of course do not deal much with local af- There are two churches in town and two priests, one the son of
fairs and they are read by very few. a Sicilian peasant and the other the son of a prosperous Montegrano
Twenty- five upper class men constitute a " circle " and maintain merchant. The churches do not carryon charitable or welfare activ-
a clubroom where members play cards and chat. Theirs is the only ities, and they play no part at all in the secular life of the community.
association. None of the members has ever suggested that it concern Even in religious matters their influence is not very extensive. The
itself with community affairs or that it undertake a " project" . 2 life of the town goes on very much as usual on Sunday mornings: the
Italy is divided into 92 provinces. The province of Potenza in- artisans are at work on a new building as usual at seven 0' clock , the
cludes 97 communes and covers an area of 414 square miles.
Its population was 435, 495 in 1951. Potenza and Matera prov- of nobles " or " circle of gentlemen circulo dei civili) and
inces together comprise the region of Lucania , or , as it was sometimes a " circle of workingmen , but " they function only as
formerly called , Basilicata. rendezvous. However , back-street drinking dens are impor-
For a brief , factual account in English of the physical and tant: here the local criminals meet. Otherwise there is no
social geography of southern Italy, see Robert E. Dickinson continuous membership of a recreation group (outside nuclear
The Population Problem of Southern Italy , Syracuse University
family- clique) for the worker-cultivator class.
Press, 1955.
According to J. S. McDonald (in a personal communication),
Calabrian towns over 2, 000 population generally have a " circle
* *

stores are all open , and the country people are on their way down the
Truly, I have found no one who interests himself in the general
mountainside with their donkeys. Of the 3 400 people in the commune welfare. On the contrary, I know there is tremendous envy of
not more than 350 hear mass on Sunday. These are mostly women. either money or intelligence.
The few men who go to mass remain standing near the door as if to In some southern Italian towns the gentry are said to be indiffer-
signify that they are not unduly devout. When the collection plate is ent to the misery of the peasants and consumed with hatred for each
passed , many people give nothing and few give more than a half a cent other. This is not the case in Montegrano. The leading families there
(five or ten lire) By tradition the men of Montegrano are anti- clerical. get along well together , and many upper class people view the peasant'
The tradition goes back a century or more to a time when the church
if' plight with evident sympathy. These people are not led by their sym-
had vast holdings in southern Italy and was callous and corrupt. Today pathy to try to change things , however.
it owns only one small farm in Montegrano , and the village priests are
both known to be kindly and respectable men. Nevertheless priests
in general--so tnany Montegranesi insist--are money- grubbers , hypo-
crites , and worse. The affairs of the commune are conducted by a mayor and elected
When members of the upper class are asked who is known as council and by the provincial civil service which is headed by a pre-
particularly public-spirited--what private persons are apt to take the feet in Potenza. The mayor and council propose , but it is the prefect
initiative in dealing with matters which involve the public welfare--a who disposes. Even to buy an ashtray for the city hall requires appro-
few mention the Baron di Longo and Colonel Pienso , both of whom val from Potenza; ordinarily, after a certain amount of delay, the de-
live in Rome and are believed to have great influence there. Most cisions of the local elected officials are approved, but this is not always
people , however , say that no one in Montegrano is particularly public- the case and , of course, approval can never be counted upon.
spirited , and some find the idea of public-spiritedness unintelligible. The prefect is represented in Montegrano by the secretary of the
When an interviewer explained to a young teacher that a " public- commune, a career civil servant assigned from Potenza. With the
spirited" person is one who acts for the welfare of the whole commu- assistance of two clerks, the secretary transacts all of the routine
nity rather than for himself alone , the teacher said: business of the town. This includes especially the maintenance of tax
No one in town is animated by a desire to do good for all of the records, of vital statistics , and the making of disbursements on order
population. Even if sometimes there is someone apparently
animated by this desire , in reality he is interested in his own of the higher authorities.
welfare and he does his own business. The mayor is elected for a four- year term and receives no sal-
Even the saints , for all their humility, looked after themselves.
And men , after all , are only made of flesh and spirit. ary. He represents the commune on all official occasions,.. supervises
Another teacher said that not only is public-spiritedness lacking, the municipal officers , is the legal representative of the commune in
dealings with third parties , and has certain powers of certification.
but many people positively want to prevent others from getting ahead.
practice , the elected council has little power. In fact, it is seldom pos-
sible to get a quorum of its members together at the mayor s call.
* *

One- third of the men and two- thirds of the women who were 21
The elected officials are office-workers, artisans, and prosper-
years of age or over in 1954 had attended less thanfive grades of
ous farmers rather than persons of the highest status. The mayor
school. Only five percent of the men and less than two percent of the
for example , is a retired non-commissioned army officer and petty
women had attended more than five grades. 3
landowner. His council includes as deputy mayor a retired non-
Children attend school four hours each morning six days a week
commissioned officer in the carabinieri police , four artisans or store-
from the middle of September until the middle of June. Schools are
keepers , five office-workers , five teachers, two farmers, and a law-
poorly equipped , teachers are poorly paid , and the pupil' s and some-
yer. The lawyer is the only one who is an " upper-upper , and even
times even the teacher s attendance is irregular. After finishing the
he is not of the very highest status.
The officials of the commune have nothing to do with the schools. fifth grade some pupils can barely read and write or do simple sums.
A director of schools, independently responsible to Potenza , resides
A few years after leaving school , peasant children have often complete-
in Montegrano and has jurisdiction over the elementary schools of ly forgotten what little they learned. According to a Montegrano school
several communes. Public works , official , one- tm;rd of the graduates are illiterate several years after
another important function , is
also administered altogether apart from the elected local government. graduation. For the most part the'6e are women. Since 1948 ,
however
The police ( carabinieri) also are under a separate authority,

a night school for adults has been attended by 12 men a year. Thus in
eight years 96 men-- two- thirds of them farmers or laborers and the
the Ministry of Justice in Rome. The officer in charge locally (the
other artisans-- had learned , or re- learned , to read and write.
maresciallo ) cooperates closely with the local authorities , but he
is in no sense " their man . As a matter of policy, he is not a native Until recently a large proportion of the children living on out-
lying farms were unable to go to school at all. Country schools have
of the town to which he is assigned , and he and his men are under in-
structions not to fraternize much with the townspeople. The attitude been built, and their hours adjusted to the convenience of the farm
people (in some country schools classes begin at 6 a. m. and end at
of the carabinieri towards all classes is generally good- tempered
10 a. m. ). Few children nowadays are prevented from going to school
businesslike, and aloof.
by distance.
Nevertheless, there are many who do not attend regularly. The
school authorities, the priests, and the policemake joint efforts to
persuade parents to send their children to school, and , if all else
Although the constitution of Italy guarantees that every child
fails, a parent may be fined if his child is a chronic truant. Some of
will receive schooling through the age of 14, in Montegrano , as in the farm people , perhaps because , they see no use in five gr:des of
many other place s in Italy, only five grades of school are taught. Un-
less his family can afford to send him away to school , the Montegrano
Details will be found in Appendix A , Tables 1 and
child normally completes his education at the age of 11 or 12.
* "

schooling when there is no opportunity for more, send their children costs about $80; other expenses amount to about $25 a month. The
to school willingly only so long as they are too young to work in the curriculum of the media emphasizes Latin, French (English is not
fields. taught even at the University of Naples), history, literature , and gov-
Both because the schools ar e poor and irregularly attended and ernment to the virtual exclusion of scientific and technical subjects.
because during the war the operation of the school I:!ystem was badly Most of those who go to media expect eventually to become teachers,
disrupted , nearly 30 percent of those 10- 40 years of age were illiterate lawyers , government clerks, or physicians.
in 1951. The rate of illiteracy was highest (44%) among farm people
living on outlying farms.
An artisan s child who completes five grades of school is usually
apprenticed. However , if he is to become more than a third- or fourth-
Political parties are of little importance in Montegrano. The
rate craftsman in one of the traditional crafts (tailoring, barbering,
Fascists held an occasional rally there to which everyone (except the
carpentry, stone masonry, and blacksmithing) he must eitheI go to a
peasants, most of whom escaped to their fields before dawn) was re-
newly established trade school in a nearby town or serve an appren-
quired to come. Political parties in the usual sense did not exist
ticeship in one of the big cities. If he goes away he may learn to be an
until after the Second World War , however , and even now they are
automobile mechanic, a welder , a typewriter repairer or the like--
neither strong nor stable.
skills which would enable him eventually to migrate to the north. But
The Communist Party, for example, got 157 votes in the last
this possibility is not within the reach of many; there are very few ar-
(1956) election, but it has no cell in Montegrano. Its local represen-
tisans who can support their children away from home. Even at the
tative is a tailor who reads L' Unita, the Communist daily, but has no
government-run vocational school it is necessary to pay board. And
other regular connection with the hierarchy. His views are far from
for a Montegrano boy to find a place as an apprentice in a big city is
orthodox.
next to impossible unless he has relatives there.
We Communists are not really bad people (he explains).
Those few boys and girls who go to " media school (grades 6- want only bread and work. We exist because we stand opposed
must also leave town. The nearest media is in Basso. Basso is not to the injustices of this town. Some people worked full- time
building the new town hall. They worked from the day the job
far away, but the bus schedule does not permit commuting. To go to began until the day it ended. Others asked for a few days work
boarding school is very expensive by Montegrano standards. Boarding to earn enough to buy bread and got nothing. This was an in-
justice. Packages used to come to the town officials from Amer-
schools are run by the urban middle class for the urban middle class: ica. Some people always got a share. Others never did. That
a boy must have a corredo of six sheets and pillowcases, two blankets was an injustice.
of specified quality, two pairs of " ordinary " and one pair of "dress America made a big mistake at the end of the war, the Commu-
shoes , and so on. The corredo, . Montegrano mother estimated nist tailor thinks. When America occupied Italy, she should have
stayed. It would have been much better for us. "
Farmuso , the director of the school district , is a Communist and he would hate even more to be reprimanded for saying something
and was once the Communist mayor of another town. He engages "I would feel like telling them, 'Go fry an egg
out of turn.
private , informal discussions , but because of his official position does Immediately after the war , in 1945, Dr. Gino overcame his dis-
not take a formal part in party affairs in Montegrano. At election taste for politics sufficiently to try to organize a branch of the Soci-
times , Communist speakers come from Basso , a larger town where alist Party in Montegrano. About one hundred people turned out in
there are paid organizers.
the piazza at his call and voted to join the party. But when the appli-
The most influential leader of the extreme left is the physician cation forms arrived and it was realized that a few lire in dues would
Dr. Gino, a Nenni Socialist. Like many doctors in southern Europe, be required , all interest died. Dr. Gino paid out of his own pocket for
he is a materialist and a socialist by inheritance as well as by training
the memberships that had been applied for and never tried to organize
anything again. " I was trying to get the workers together and to get
and conviction. (His father is said to have baptized him Franco Marx
Gino and to have had him dressed for the ceremony in a red rather than
a labor union started. . . or at least a group that could act to get what
a white gown. ) Dr. Gino is the owner of one of the few vineyards in
it wanted. But there is no spirit. There is nO feeling of working to-
Montegrano--only several acres , but enough to make him one of the gether , he said afterward.
town s principal proprietors. If the presence of a patron like Dr. Gino tends to call a clientele
As a doctor and as a landed proprietor, Dr. Gino has done favors
into existence , the presence of a potential clientele also tends to call
for many people. He is, moreover , the leading upper- class exponent
a patron into existence. Just as some of the Roosevelt family have al-
of an ideology which demands the leveling of class differences and the ways found it advantageous to be on the Democratic side, so at least
division of wealth. Consequently he has a certain following or clientele One profes sional man in every southern Italian town finds satisfaction
among the peasants and artisans. There are some who feel that if any in taking the part of the workers. A man who would have to compete
upper clas s person has their welfare at heart, it is he. Others owe
with many others to make himself influential as a Christian Democrat
him for professional services or want to get work at his vineyard. If may have the field to himself as a left- wing socialist.
he saw fit, he could enlarge his following and turn it to political account. The strongest party in Montegrano is the Christian Democratic
He is too proud , however , and too individualistic to subject himself to (DC) party-- the party of the priests , as the peasants say. The Mon-
the inconveniences and annoyances which serious political activity would tegrano priests are in fact extremely active politically both in the
pulpit and out. (One of them even became inv olved . in a fist- fight at
entail. "There is a lot of falsity in politics , he explains. "You must
make more friends than you want and you must act like a friend to many an election-eve rally. ) Other leading figures include the lawyer , an
people you don t want to be friendly with. This is so because you must
amiable young man who is one of the most thoughtful people in town
always be thinking of how to build up the party and win friends for it. "
and two retired petty officers of the army and the carabinieri , respec-
"t: .
He would hate the feeling of having to attend meetings for the party, tively, who are mayor and vice-mayor. In view of widespread anti-
clericalism, there is reason to suppose that many voters support the
,"

Christian Democratic party despite its connection with the church
quoted above, the secretary of the Monarchist Party announced that he
rather than because of it.
had become a Communist. A few weeks later he was a Monarchist
Just before elections the Christian Democratic party distributes
small packages of pasta , sugar , and clothing to the voters. These are i again.
The variability in the voters ' behavior is also strikin . There
called gifts from the Vatican. The voter would be no less willing to
f are eleven towns in
the election district of which Montegrano is a part.
accept gifts from any other quarter. "If the Russians sent over
Some are poorer than others, and in some land ownership is more
bushels of grain , a defeated candidate remarked after the last elec-
widely diffused than in others. To the casual eye, however, these dif-
tion the people would vote the Christian Democrats out of office to-
ferences do not seem crucial--all of the towns have in common extreme
morrow. "
poverty and isolation. The voting behavior of the towns differs greatly,
The Monarchist Party is the only right-wing group of importance.
however. As the following table shows , the Communist vote in them
It is supported by the Baron di Longo and other landed proprietors and
in 1953 ranged from two to forty-six percent and from two to seventy-
by a scattering of individuals in all other social classes. The secre-
nine percent in 1956.
tary of the party is a retired petty officer of the carabinieri who runs
a bar. The Monarchist Party, he says, stands for order , peace Table 1. Percentage of Votes Cast for Parties of Left,
Center , and Right, Provincial Elections of 1953 and 1956,
lower taxes , and no revolution. By " order " he means " respect" Election District which Includes Montegrano
not too much criticism , and " giving what is expected in all cases
Percentage Voting for
A monarchy is the best kind of government because the king is Left Center Right
then the owner of the country. Like the owner of a house, when Town Population 1953 1956 1953 1956 1953 1956
the wiring is wrong, he fixes it. He looks after his people like
a father. If you have a child , always you love him more and do Montegrano 400
more for him than you would for others. It is in this way that Addo 039
the king looks after his people. He wants them to love him. Bas so 473
loves them. In a republic , the country is like a house that is 169
rented. If the lights go out, well , that' s all right. . . it' s not his , 100
house. If the wall chips , well , it' s not his house. The renter 894
does not fix it. So with the men who govern a republic. They 695
are not interested in fixing things. If something is not quite 859
right and if they are turned out for it, well, meanwhile they 064
have filled their pocketbooks. 2, 196
The moderate socialist party (PSDI) has little strength in Monte- 431
grano. Note: "Left" includes Communist and Nenni Socialist parties; " center
The so-called neo- fascist party (MSI) is of no importance. Christian Democrat and Saragat Socialist; and " right" Monarchist
and MSI.
In Montegrano it is not unusualj?r party officials to change their
allegiances suddenly. Six months after he had made the statement Variability in voting behavior exists not only from town to town but
from election to election within the same town. For example, Addo, the
':. ':.

town with the largest percentage of Communist votes in 1953 , was came he locked up in his drawer and would not even inform the
Council members of them. It was not so much his own will as
solidly Christian Democrat before the 1953 election and again in 1956. that of his followers that carried him along, and if the Christian
But at the same time , town " F" swung violently from the center to Democrats lost votes it was on account of him personally.
As I said, the Council was dividecrin two factions. Seven were
the left. Such sudden shifts are not rare in southern Italy. in favor of Spomo and eleven were in favor of the present mayor.
When Spomo heard how the voting went and that he was beaten,
he got up without saying a word to anyone and left. Naturally,
the new mayor got to his feet and began to thank all those who had
voted for him , and the crowd applauded him and acclaimed him
until he had to stay the applause with his hands. . . so long did the
In Montegrano and nearby towns an official is hardly elected applause last.
The people are happier because this new mayor is on the side
before the voters turn violently against him. As soon as he gets into of everyone , listens to everyone , answers everyone , and wants
office , his supporters say--often with much justice-- he becomes arro- the mass of the workers to be protected.
We will wait and see.
gant , self-serving, and corrupt. At the next election, or sooner if You know what I think about it? I am glad that Spomo no longer
governs. He ended up by commanding with the haughtiness of a
pos sible, they will see that he gets what is coming to him. In Monte-
marshal of the army, just as if he were commanding his soldiers.
grano there is no better way to lose friends than to be elected to office. It was the way he thought-- that he was commanding the people of
In the following letter , written by a lower class Montegranese Montegrano. Those he liked he would raise to the stars and those
he did not like he would crush. His tongue was foT nothing but
to a friend abroad , the village political style appears in its character- scolding, and he believed himself a superman. He gave the im-
istic form: pression that we were living in the era of the feudal lords.
As for the people , what they think depends upon who they are.
It is true that the Mayor , Vincenzo Spomo , has resigned. If they received favors , they are followers. Those who re-
That was nearly two months ago. But it was not by his own ceived neither good nor evil from him , they just repeat what
wish; it was at the prompting of the Council. they hear. The majority of those who talk are peasants and la-
As you know , the Council had two factions. Among the borers.
Christian Democrats , that is , there were two factions with One morning a jitney driver and a peasant were in the bar.
different ideas, factions which had never agreed from the be- The driver said that one could not find the equal of Spomo as the
ginning. Spomo , always in character , wanted to command head of the administration for this town. The other said , "Per-
things for his own purposes. He thought it was as it used to haps so when it came to presumption and promises , but when it
be in the old administration, but this time he had to deal with came to something positive , the mayor had nothing. II Then the
people who were college graduates. . . who really had some driver said that besides being good and fine the mayor had a lot
brains. It was not as he thought. of support- the support of many influentials , especially the Min-
Every now and then the Council met. When he brought up ister of Agriculture, the preff'.ct, and others. If the Mayor falls
something the members did not like , they would oppose him (this was before he did fal1), the prefect will send a commissioner
once , twice , three times , until he was beaten. But one night and the town will see that it will have to pay $5. 00 a day (for the
at a Council meeting he was forced to resign. support of the commissione:r:J and in the end Spomo.l. who is the
Now I want to tell you a little about Spomo. The people secretary of the Christian Democratic party, will be appointed
were always unhappy with him. He pleased himself. He commissioner. . . so you will see that he will be not only mayor
helped only those he wished to help. All the circulars that but also commissioner and you will have to pay him.
* * ,,
~!
The peasant answered that in any event we will pay less than \ changed so that the Montegrano children could commute to nearby
the vacations he has had and the waste he has made have cost Basso for the higher grades, However , such possibilities have not
during his administration, The argument came very short of
ending in blows, been considered,
I don t even mention the dissatisfaction of Nino s peasants who The nearest hospital is in Potenza , five hours away by automobile,
had been promised electricity in their zone and heard nothing
about it since. Now they don t want to hear or know anything about For years Montegrano people have complained that the state has not
it, They say that at the next elections they are not going to vote The doctor and two or three other peo-
for anyone at all because they (the politicians) are
all in it for built a hospital in the village,
themselves only, pIe have written letters to Rome urging that one be built, but that is
Of this new mayor one can say nothing as yet because he has far as the effort to get one has gone, Candidates for local office do not
with accuracy--
not been in very long. I can say only one thing
that so persistent were Councilmen Viva and Lasso that we have campaign on the hospital " issue , and there has been no organized ef-
been given--and it has already got underway--a winter work fort to bring pressure to bear upon the government, Nor has there
project which will last two months and employ forty workers a
day, They will repair the roads and walls of the town, been any consideration of stopgap measures such as might be taken
As regards the gentry, naturally one knows nothing. Or , to
locally-- for example , equipping an ambulance to carry emergency cases
say it better, they are reserved and don t let you hear anything.
from Montegrano and other nearby towns to Potenza,
These , of course , are only two of many possible examples of
needs which would give rise to community action in some countries , 4
but about which nothing is done in Montegrano.
These impressions of political behavior in Montegrano raise a The question of why nothing is done raises other questions. Why
number of questions. are the political parties themselves so unconcerned with local issues?
1 " What accounts for the absence of organized action in the face of
\.3 pressing local problems? Why is there no political " machine " in Montegrano , or even any stable
Why, for example, is nothing don ~ about and effective party organization? What explains the marked differences
the schools? To the peasants , many of whom are desperately
anxious
in the appeal of l'eft, center, and right from town to town among towns
for their children to get ahead, the lack of educational opp ortunity is
that on the surface seem so much alike? What explains the erratic be-
one of the bitterest facts of life, Upper class people are affected too; havior of the electorate in a single town from one election to the next?
some of them would like to live in Montegrano and cannot do so because And why do those elected to office at once lose credit with their sup-
it would cost too much to send their children away to a boarding school, porters?
One might think, then , that improvement of the local school would be The remainder of this book is a search for answers to these spe-
in political
an important local issue--one on which people would unite cific questions and , above all , to the general question: ;what accounts
parties or otherwise, Failing to persuade the government to build a for the political incapacity of the village?
media school , upper class volunte :rs might teach an additional grade Cf. for example the handling of the school problem in the south-
or two, Or , if this is too much to expect, the bus schedule might be ern French village described by Laurence Wylie in Village in
the Vauc1use , Harvard University Press , 1957 , pp, 223- 227.
--
CHAPTER TWO
SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS
Six answers, each having a strong appeal to common sense, are

given in Montegrano and elsewhere in Italy to the questions raised at
the end of the last chapter.
Most people in Montegrano are desperately poor. Many have

nothing to eat but bread, and not enough of that. Even the well- to-
are poor by American standards. Such a town cannot support a news-
paper or the kinds of activity which a newspaper would report. The
peasant must go to his fields at dawn and he must work there until
is dark. The blacksmith must be at his forge when the peasant passes
on his way to his fields. There is no time for political life in a soci-
ety so poor.
The peasant is as ignorant as his donkey and the artisan is
hardly less so. One- third of the men and two- thirds of the women of
Montegrano cannot read or write. Some peasants have never been be-
yond the next village , four miles away. People so ignorant can have
no notion of what it is possible to accomplish politically and they can-

not make meaningful choices among parties and candidates. Indeed
such things do not enter into their world at all. The peasants, Carlo
Levi wrote, II were not Fascists, just as they would never have been
Conservatives or Socialists, or anything else. . Such matters had nothing
to do with them; they belonged to another world and they saw no sense in
them. What had the peasants to do with Power , Government and the
State? The State, whatever form it might take , meant ' tI'ie fellows in
Rome. 111 1
Carlo Levi , Christ Stopped at Eboli , Penguin Edition, p. 52.
- 33 -
~., , ~.
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS
Political behavior reflects class interests and antagonisms. more of a scourge, because it is always against
The upper class gives the village no leadership because it lives by ex- them.
ploiting the peasant and can do so only by keeping him in poverty and 6. The southern Italian is a despairing fatalist. He believes
ignorance. 2 The lower class hates the upper and seeks for revenge that the situation is hopeless and that the only sensible course is to
upon it. Collaboration between the classes is impossible , although accept patiently and resignedly the catastrophes that are in store. 4
nothing can be done without it. These theories have obvious implications for action. If the
Workers who have a plot of land, however srnall , want to political incapacity of the southern town is due to poverty, then in-
maintain the status quo . On the other hand , those who are landless
creasing incomes will increase political capacity. If it is due to ig-
and must depend upon a large employer see that security is to be had norance , then increasing the level of education will increase political
by collective action, the only effective vehicle of which is the Commu- capacity. If it is due to a pathological distrust of the state, then a
nist Party. Thus Montegrano peasants, most of whom have a bit of sufficiently long experience with a welfare state will overcome that
land , are conservative or politically indifferent, whereas those of distrust. Similarly, the solution may be , as Levi advises, the sup-
nearby Basso, who are mostly laborers on large estates , are Com- pression of the upper class and the substitution for it of something
munists. Differences in political behavior are to be accounted for by better; large-scale undertakings (like La Cassa .E..!:E.!.!. Mezzogiorno
the circumstances of land tenure. a government corporation for resource development in the south) to
Centuries of oppression have left the peasant with a patho- convince the southerner that all is not hopeless , or perhaps some
logical distrust of the state and of all authority. "To the peasants
combination of these.
Carlo Levi writes, " the State is more distant than heaven and far There is an element of truth in ~ach of the theories , but none of
them is fully consistent with the facts that have to be taken into ac-
The real enemies of the peasant, according to Carlo Levi count , and one could not on the basis :of any of them--or of all of them
those who cut them off from any hope of freedom and a decent
existence, are to be found among the middle- class village ty- together-- predict how the people of Montegrano would behave in a con-
rants. This class is physically and morally degenerate and crete situation.
longer able to fill its original function. It lives off petty thiev-
ery and the bastardized tradition of feudal rights. Only with the The peasant' s poverty is appalling to be sure , but it does not
suppression of this class and the substitution of something bet- prevent him from contributing a few days of labor now and then to some
ter can the difficulties of the South find a solution. Op. cit . ,p. 176.
It should be remembered that Levi' s observations were made community undertaking like repairing the orphanage. In fact, he uses
during an exile which began in 1935 and that his book, which was his poverty as an excuse for not doing what he would not do anyway: he
widely read by the upper class in Montegrano and other southern
towns, nO doubt produced an effect. At any rate, it was curious Levi cit ., pp. 52.
in 1955 to find upper class people quoting him with approval
although with reference not so much to their own town as to others p. 129.
and to the Fascist period.
, " , " , "

SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS
does not go to mass on Sunday, he explains sadly, because he must Certainly the erratic swings of the electorate to and from Com-
be off to his field at dawn. But his field is a tiny patch of wheat on munism cannot be explained on the grounds that the peasant has no idea
which, except for three weeks a year, he can do almost nothing. There of what is at stake. He has a sufficient idea--as much or more, perhaps,
is hardly a man in Montegrano who could not contribute a third of his as the working class voter in the United States--and the artisan has an
time to some community project without a loss of income. even better idea. "Italy , one of them remarked is too poor a country
Nor is the peasant' s ignorance sufficient to account for his poli- to afford the luxury of Communism.
tical incompetence. Of forty- two peasants who were asked what the The history of the American frontier provides numerous examples
Communists claim to stand for , only one was without an opinion. Most of people whose poverty and ignorance were as great or greater than
of the opinions were reasonable. Twenty-six persons said that the
that of the Montegranesi, but whose capacity for self- government and
Communists claim to stand for equality, and the replies of most of the mutual aid was nevertheless extraordinarily great. St. George , Utah
others--e.g., " peace , liberty, and work" work for all" opposi- for example , which was mentioned in the first paragraph of Chapter One
tion to the church" , and " taking from the rich" --also showed compre-
was a century ago a desert of sand and rock inhabited only by a handful
hension. Some were very thoughtful. Here, for example , is Prato
of miserable Indians subsisting on vermin. The resource base of south-
They say they are going to divide the property and give us all ern Italy, poor as it is , is far better than that which the Mormons found
a piece. But what are they going to divide in Montegrano? The
only land that could be divided is the Baron s. But he has it all on the site of St. George. In St. George , incidentally, as in many fron-
in tenant-operated farms now. They are quite large and perhaps tier towns , there was a weekly newspaper at a time when the local econ-
they could be divided. But you have to remember that as matters
stand each of those farms supports ten families when you consider omy was based on handicrafts and self-sufficing agriculture and most of
the year-round and the day- laborers who work for the tenants.
Who is to say it would be better if that land were divided? Who the population spelled out its letters painfully one by one.
is to say that the land would be better cultivated or that more peo- If the Montegrano peasant had a mystical or sentimental attach-
ple could live on it? ment to the land or if he " belonged to another world" which he could not
Most of the peasants warmly approve the ideal of social equality. see beyond or which he would not leave , he should be compared to the
They are not so simple-minded , however , as to suppose that Commu-
American Indian rather than to the frontiersman. But with few excep-
nist claims can be taken at face value. Fourteen of those who were
tions, he loathes the land , is acutely aware of the larger society about
asked what the Communists claim to stand for went on to say that their him , and wants desperately to be fully a part . of it.
claims had to be distinguished from their real intentions. The Com-
Class antagonism does not explain Montegrano s political behav-
munists, these peasants said , use the equality argument to get them- ior either. If it did , one might expect to find the peasants uniting in
selves into power.
action agains t the upper class. But there is no such action, nor is there
The Communists would like us all to be equal and so they
would install equalization in Italy. In reality, however , it is
likely to be.Class and status relations do , however , influence the situ-
certain that they don t like u and are probably looking after ation profoundly in ways that are diffuse , indirect, and hard to identify.
their own interests and wanting the command.
':' , "
THE MORAL BASIS FOR A BACKWARD SOCIETY SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS
Like poverty and ignorance, they are general conditions which , so to

act in a way that would be thought unfriendly. 5
speak , form the causal background.
F 0 u r tee n peasants (some of them women) were asked , "What
In Montegrano peasants do not have a pathological distrust of the would you do if you saw a policeman give a bad beating to someone
state. Such distrust as they have is better described as " normal" and who had done nothing wrong?" The replies were as follows:
healthy When they were asked , "What kind of people are in author- Try to convince him of his error. (Four)
Report him to the Marshal. (Three)
ity today?" , they usually said , in effect, "All kinds. " Here are some Nothing, because before the law one must
unexceptional replies: be quiet. (Three)
Let him taste some blows. (Four)
Do you mean people in the Chamber of Deputies? Most of them
are Christian Democrats. The Christian Democrats are the bet- Fear of the authorities is not a specifically peasant attitude; many
ter people-- they are thoughtfuL.. really trying to help. With the peasants are not fearful and some who are not peasants are extremely
others, so long as they are getting theirs they don t care.
so. The Communist director of schools , among the best educated men
in Montegrano , when asked what he would do if he saw a policeman
You mean the military, like the generals , and the pope and his beating an innocent man, said he would not interfere unless the victim
cardinals? Some are good and some are bad.
were a friend or relative. The police, he pointed out, might make re-
prisals against one who interfered.
The chief of the government is Pella. Pella is a good type-- Many peasants regard the government as a friend: they say it is
intelligent. If he were not intelligent , they would not let him be
head of the government. Always it is those who are very intel- the only source from which they have ever received help.
ligent. The theory that the southern Italian is prevented by melancholy
Sometimes the peasant thinks of the state as a source of help. fatalism from taking effective action does not, of course, explain the
Eighteen were asked what they would do if someone owed them $3 or $4 choices he makes when he does act. Nor is it consistent with the fact
and would not pay. All but five said that they would take the debtor to that when individualistic action is called f-or he is not incapacitated by
the Marshal of the carabinieri. The others would not go to law, not, despair or fatalism. Many of the peasants of Montegrano , for example
however , from pathological distrust of the state, but because they are attempting to limit the size of their families in order to give their
would not want to make enemies. children more education and better opportunities for social mobility.
When they were asked what they would do if someone in the neigh- This is the behavior of people who believe that it possible to
borhood hid a person who was sick with a contagious disease , twelve
In answer to the question What would you do if you knew that
said they would inform the doctor (who is the town health officer). someone was contemplating suicide?" most people said they
Eight others would do nothing, not, however , from distrust of the would advise or plead with the person; a few said they would tell
his family, and still fewer would call the police or the doctor.
state , but because they would not want to " humiliate " the family or No one mentioned the priest.
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS
exercise control over the most important matters by taking precau- These theories, it should also be noted , do not explain--and may
tions. There is reason to believe that the southerner s pessimism even be inconsistent with-- the tendency of voters to shift erratically
exists where social rather than individualistic action is called for; between right and left from election to election. In the town of Addo
he is , then , realistic but not necessarily fatalistic. for example, there was a shift from Christian Democratic to Commu-
Nor do these theories explain voting behavior. It is often said
nist and back again to Christian Democratic , although of course there
that the Communist vote is heaviest where the pressure of population
had been no change in per capita wealth , in literacy, or in the distri-
on resources is greatest (i. e., where chronic poverty is most severe
bution of land ownership.
and widespread), where lack of education- -and specifically illiteracy--
Although they do not in themselves explain Montegrano s political
is greatest, and where the proportion of landless laborers to propri-
/ incapacity, two features of the situation-- poverty and class antagonism
etors is greatest. When put to the test in the Montegrano district with
--are of such general importance as underlying conditions that they
such indices as ar~ available , however , these factors do not seem to
must be discussed at greater length. This will be done in the next two
have any relation to the strength of the Communist vote. As Table 2
chapters. Following that, an alternative explanation will be offered.
shows, illiteracy is highest in the town where the Communist vote was
lightest in 1953 , population density is not significantly greater where
the Communist vote was heavy, and the proportion of laborers

greatest in some of the most conservative towns.
Table 2.
Left- Wing % Illiteracy Density of Proportion
Vote (%) Among Men Population Labore rs (%)
Montegrano
Addo
Bas so
Notes: (a) Includes Communist and Nenni Socialists , 1953; (b) includes
males over six years old; (c) persons.,Eer square kilometer; (d) families
the head of which is classified as a farm laborer as a percentage of all
families.
CHAPTER THREE
THE ECONOMY
Montegrano is as poor as any place in the western world, This

fact, although it does not explain the villagers ' political incapacity,
bears upon it in a very fundamental way,
The land is stony, steep, and poorly watered. It suports light
stands of wheat which is planted in November and harvested in June
sparse natural pasture , olive and fig trees, and forests of oak. Here
and there a small spring permits irrigation of a fraction of an area
the side of the mountain. Along the banks of the rivers there is also
a small amount of irrigated land; but the irregular flow of the rivers--
they flood in the spring and trickle in the summer-- prevents extensive
irrigation. Poor and small as they are , the fields and forests are Mon-
tegrano I S principal source of income. There is no mining or manufac-
turing of importance anywhere in the region.
The climate is mild. Average temperatures range from approx-
imately 35 in January and February to approximately 85 in July and
August. Rainfall averages 35 inches a year , most of it falling in De-
cember and January.
Even by the standards of southern Italy, Montegrano is isolated
a fact which of course helps to make it poor. ' To the nearest railhead
is 40 miles. To the provincial capital, Potenza , it is 90 rniles, and
from there to Bari on the east coast, it is another 90. All of the high-
ways are narrow, tortuous, and steep. It takes four to five hours to
drive to Potenza in a small Italian car.
- 43 -
~:" * *

THE ECONOMY
Busses stop at Montegrano four times a day (twice each way),
occasions, write no letters. Most of them , in fact, can rarely afford
except on Sundays. They carry mail, newspapers , and a small amount
to buy postage stamps, and two- thirds are unable, or virtually unable,
of freight.To Naples by bus takes eight hours and costs $2. 75.
to read or write.
There are five automobiles in Montegrano , all of them for hire
When the farm people of Montegrano travel , leading
it is on foot
at from nine to twelve cents a mile , depending on the length of the trip.
a donkey to the sides of which large baskets are fixed. Instead of fol-
No one owns a car for private purposes.
lowing the highways which , being built for automobiles, wind endlessly
The traffic into Montegrano consists of an occasional official on
around the mountains to maintain a reasonable grade , the farm people
a tour of inspection, an infrequent truckload of merchandise , fertil-
follow trails down the mountain. No one uses a cart; the advantage of
izer , building materials , cordwood , or potatoes , and now and then a
the cross-country trails over the highways is too great and , besides,
visitor who comes , usually from Potenza , Bari , Naples, or Salerno The range of
none of the farm people has very much to transport.
to see relatives. Casual tourists never come to Montegrano , and the
travel , then, is limited to nearby towns. Many people have never trav-
arrival of a strange car there is an event which attracts general
elled beyond these neighboring towns and some women have never left
interest.
Montegrano.
There is a telegraph in the post office and a public telephone in
Between Montegrano and the nearby places there is a good deal of
the town hall; this is the only telephone in town. In 1955 there were
intermarriage. (In 77 marriages performed in Montegrano in recent
radios in two bars and in 40 or 50 homes. A moving picture house with
years, seven brides and 26 grooms were natives of other towns; all
about 100 seats had nightly showings of 16 millimeter Italian and occa-
seven of these brides and 15 of the 26 grooms came from towns within
sional foreign films; the admission was 16 cents for preferred seats
easy walking distance; only two grooms came from as far away
and 10 cents for all others. A theatre in which 35 millimeter films
Potenza. ) Consequently a good many Montegrano people have relatives
could be shown is now under construction , however , and the number of
to visit and property to look after in these other towns.
radios increases by several a month.
In the summer each town has two or three one- day fairs in con-
In the normal course of their lives (that is, leaving wartime
nection with its festa or saint' s day celel;1rations. On fair days people
experience out of account) most Montegranesi have little or no direct
come to town from half a dozen nearby places-- from as" far, in fact,
contact with the world beyond their town. Except for the relatively few
as it is convenient to drive a pig. Gypsies and other livestock dealers
who will be described as " upper class , most of the townspeople make
as well as merchants with yardgoods, cooking utensils, and other, hard-
no use of the highways and other communications facilities. They do
ware displayed in trucks, come from much greater distances and
not take the bus. They do not read the newspapers. They do not go to
from one fair to another all summer.
the movies. They do not go into the bars to listen to the radio. They
send no telegrams, make no telepho calls, and, except on rare
...
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY
With the exception of about a score of gypsy families who trade Artisans. Montegrano has several tailors , shoemakers, car-
in livestock , the people of Montegrano belong to seven occupational penters, blacksmiths , and housebuilders , as well as dressmakers
classes. bakers, electricians, barbers, a chairmaker, a tinker , and a watch re-
Laborers. About one- fourth of the heads of families are pairer. In all , there are 76 families the heads of which are artisans;
laborers who work on farms and , when opportunity affords, on public this is a little less than 10 percent of the population. Most of the arti-
works projects. With a few exceptions, these families live in town sans are self-employed and very few have apprentices or employees.
one or two-room houses which they own. Half of them own a small About two- thirds of them own a small piece of land. In general the arti-
amount of land; the average holding is about three acres. Many own sans have more education and higher standards of living than the farm
donkeys. people.
Farmers. A farmer is defined by the Census as one who Merchants. Several stores sell general merchandise--mainly
gets more than half his income from land which he works as an owner food (macaroni and spaghetti, bread, cheese , cold meats, and canned
or renter. 1 By this definition (not a very meaningful one in Monte- goods), clothing, dry goods, and hardware for the farm and the home.
grano, because many people have a tiny patch of land and are " farmers In addition, there is an electrical appliance store , two bars , a cloth
perforce when they cannot find work for wages), farmers are the largest store, a printing shop, three meat markets, and a movie. Most of the
single occupational class and one which includes nearly half the popu- merchants own small plots of land. On the average they are somewhat
lation. better off than the artisans. Two merchants are becoming comparatively
Three- fourths of the farmers live on outlying farms; the others rich. These are able and vigorous men who accumulated some capital
live in town. Those who live in the country have much larger farms during fascism (they had the only licensed stores " a circumstance which
on the average (17 acres as against 5); indeed , it is because their later gave them an advantage in the black-market) and who invested
farms are so small that the town- dwelling farmers do not live on them. shrewdly afterward.
Although the country- dwelling farmers have larger farms and are more Office workers. School , tax , and police officials for a district
prosperous, the town- dwelling farmers have more amenities in their which includes 17 communes are headquartered in Montegrano. Office
homes and more schooling. workers therefore comprise a somewhat larger proportion of the popu-
lation than would otherwise be the case: 45 families, about five percent
The census schedule is filled out for the country people by an
official. The official may ask the individual whether he wants to of all, are in this class. About one- third of the office workers own
be classified as a farmer or as a laborer or he may make the land. Many of the others are not natives of the town and do not expect
entry according to his own opinion. Whether a family should be
considered "farmer " or " laborer " involves in marginal cases a to live out their lives there. Although their social status is much higher,
judgment of social rather than economic status (i. e., of position the incomes of the lowest- paid office workers are less than those of the
in the deference hierarchy), but it is impossible to say exactly
whose judgment is recorded in the schedules. Tnore prosperous farmers, artisans , and merchants.
",,- " *
Profes sionals. There are 10 families of professionals-- the enough (15 acres or more) to be called commercial.
doctor , the pharmacist, tW0 priests , the lawyer , the director of schools, Farmers follow a simple crop rotation plan inherited from an-
and four teachers. Most of them own small amounts of land. tiquity: they plant half their land to wheat each year , following the
Landed proprietors. Ten persons are classified by the Census wheat with a legume which they harvest for forage. Thus a subsis-
as landed proprietors. Some of these own as little as 20 or 30 acres; tence farm of , say, 12 acres includes six acres of wheat from which
they are , however , descendants of families which owned large tracts two the normal yield is 7 - 1 0 bushels to the acre. 3 Many feel that they
or three generations ago, and they manage to live fairly well without cannot afford to use chemical fertilizers; others use small amounts.
doing manual labor. Being a landed proprietor is more a matter of so- The typical subsistence farm has several fig trees, enough to give
cial than of economic status. the family an ample supply of fresh and dried figs. If the lay of the
The largest landowner is the Baron di Longo , a diplomat who comes land affords sufficient shelter , there are also a few olive trees. These
from Rome from time to time to collect his rents and oversee his affairs. bear every other year. There are usually some sizeable oak trees on
The Baron owns 18 farms which he operates through tenants. The farms the farm. The farmer trims off the lower branches and feeds the
total 855 acres, which,s 15 percent of all cultivated land in the commune. leaves to oxen or goats , and his wife and children carry home the
branchwood for fuel and gather the acorns for the family pig. If the
farmer is fortunate , he may be able to irrigate a small plot from a
sprip.g. In this case he grows vegetables for family use , especially
Agriculture and forestry are the main sources of income in Monte- peppers , beans, onions, tomatoes (these can sometimes be grown on
dry land as well), corn and greens.
grano. About 80 percent of the farms are in holdings of less than
acres. 2 These
subsistence farms produce little or nothing for sale. Most of the cultivated land is plowed to a depth of six inches
There are usually two or three produce peddlers in the Montegrano pub- with a steel- tipped plow drawn by oxen , but if the farmer has a very
lic square on summer mornings, but most of these come by donkey small plot and cannot find work for wages, he may save expenses by
from Basso , where the lower elevation and the larger amount of irri- using his (and his family s) idle time to break the ground with mat-
gated land make commercial production of fruits and vegetables feasi- tocks. Grain is harvested by hand with a sickle; the land is too rough
ble. The fruits and vegetables grown in Montegrano are used at home and farm units are too small to make the use of combines feasible.
or exchanged with neighbors for the most part. Some grain is still threshed under the feet of oxen and separated
Despite their number , the subsistence (and less- than-subsistence) from the chaff by being tossed into the air , but nowadays most
farms occupy less cultivated land than do the 93 farms which are large In the years when there is about three inches of rai1'lfall , the
average in North Dakota is 12 bushels to the acre; when there
For details of land use and farm sizes, see Appendix A , tables 2- is more rain, the average goes as high as 25.
* ':' *

THE ECONOMY
farmers carry their grain to a nearby machine where it is threshed
managing and supplies all of the labor and half of the fertilizer , seed
at so much per bushel.
livestock , and equipment. The produce of the farm--except for the
In a normal year the value of the production from such a subsis-
kitchen garden , which is usually reserved for the owner-- is divided
tence farm is about $325.
equally. Usually the sharecropper has a written two- year contract.
Such a farm is not likely to be all in one piece; it may be in
If the farm is large, he may be better off than he would be as the owner
three or four pieces scattered at various elevations on the mountain of a subsistence plot. Often, however , farms which are large enough
and even at opposite sides of it. Although it is a time-consuming and
to support one family are shared; in such cases the owner s half of the
tiring task to walk from one field to another , most farmers prefer to product usually supplements income from other sources , but the share-
have their land in at least two pieces as insurance against crop failure; cropper ' s half is his whole income, of course.
the hailstorm which strikes one side of the mountain will leave the With the exception of certain government agencies which make
other untouched. Besides , unless his land is in two pieces , the farmer
loans to farmers (but only to farmers having seven and one- half acres
may not be able to have any that is irrigated. These advantages by no
or more!) for the purchase of fertilizer and other supplies , there are
means justify so widespread a division of the land into small scattered no commercial credit sources. The nearest bank (a branch of the Bank
parcels; most of the division has resulted from the exigencies of the
of Naples) is in Basso , but it does no business in Montegrano. The
law of inheritance and, as the farmer sees it , is a necessary evil. merchants will give six months credit at 10 percent for fertilizer. Two
The commercial farms-- i. e., the farms of more than 12 acres
or thr ee prosperous individuals occasionally make loans of les s than
produce a little olive oil and wine for sale in local markets. Most
$100 to farmers; these are made out of II friendship " to favored custo-
of them have some goats or sheep; only one has dairy cattle. All have mers. The usual interest rate is two and one- half percent, the amount
a few hens or turkeys, but none is specialized in poultry production.
paid on postal savings , and no collateral is taken.
Almost without exception, the commercial farmers use chemical fer-
tilizers and follow the two- yearrotation of wheat and legumes.
Because manual labor is degrading, a landowner who can do so
without starving hires someone to do his work for him. Thus, in gen-
eral , any farm large enough to produce for the market is worked by a Carlo Prato , a farm laborer who kept day- to- day records of
hired laborer (salariato) or by a sharecropper (mezzadro). The share- family income and expenditures in 1955, is an upper- income laborer. 5
cropping arrangement is by far the more common. The owner and the He owns two and one- half acres of very poor , hilly land from which he
sharecropper agree on what is to be grown and in general how the gets 10 bushels of wheat. In addition , he rents an irrigated ..garden
patch which yields a five-month supply of beans , peppers , tomatoes
farm is to be managed. The sharecropper does the day- to- day
Assuming 64 bushels of wheat at" $3. 50 per bushel ($225) and These records are summarized in Appendix A , Tables 5-
valuing the remaining production at $100.
~"y
THE ECONOMY
the season of the wheat harvest, he found work at good wages--a
and g-rf'ens for family use. This is the average land- holding of those
dollar a day plus three substantial meals--with various landowners of
laborers who have land. Nearly half the laborers have no land at all,
Montegrano. The following three months he was practically unem-
however. The Pratos own a donkey and a pig, as do eight out of ten
ployed , and he spent his time puttering around his tiny plot of land.
laborer families. They are at that stage of the family age cycle-- Prato
If he could , Prato would have worked for wages every day except
is 43, his wife 36 , their daughter , Maria , 16, and their son Peppino,
festa days. So would Maria and Peppino. Signora Prato, despite her
14--when none of them is too old or too young to work and their family
poor health , could easily have done all that was essential at home and
income is therefore higher than it has been or is likely to remain.
their small farm. Thus, the family was about 60 percent unem-
Prato was employed 180 days during the year and earned $114
ployed.
in cash and $90 in kind , mostly meals on the job. This was 60 percent
The Pratos live in a one-room house which they own. (A house
of the family s total earnings. Signora Prato worked very little; partly
is a necessary part of a dowry, and therefore most laborer families
because her health was poor and partly because there was little oppor-
own them; one like Prato s can be rented for $4 a month , however.
tunity for her to work. The boy was employed occasionally as a stone- About half the laborers have one-room and the other half have two-
mason s helper, a job which paid 65 cents a day without meals. Maria
room houses. ) One- fourth of the floor space is occupied by a huge
the daughter , worked as a housemaid when she could. The going rate
matrimonial" bed , the corn- husk mattres s of which is covered by an
for that kind of work was 33 cents and three meals for a 10 to 12- hour
eli3;borately embroidered spread and four enormous white pillows.
day.
Alongside of the bed is a cot for Peppino. (Maria sleeps at her grand-
Prato seldom knew a week ahead whether he would find work. On
mother , two doors away. ) The other furniture consists of several
the whole he was lucky. In December and January he was one of the
straightback chairs, a table, and two coffin- like boxes, one for grain
olive oil pressing crew for a big landowner in a nearby town. He lived
and the other for "linens " (actually cottons). In winter tomatoes,
in a barracks and worked from two in the morning until nine at night
peppers , melons , and salami hang from the rafters. Other meat
for three meals , 25 cents in cash , and half a liter (35 cents worth) of
from the family pig, especially sausages , is stored in crocks of lard
oil a day. When this job ended he was unemployed for a while. Then
or brine. The house is unscreened and , although Montegrano is
his turn came on the public employment list and he worked on a road
sprayed once or twice during the summer with DDT , it is alive with
gang. This paid one dollar and one meal for a seven- hour day, but
flies.
there was a three- hour walk to work and a two- hour walk returning (it
The Pratos carry their water two or three hundred feet from
was down hill on the way back). At the end of June and during July,
a neighborhood faucet which is part of a municipal sanita: distribution
This is the rate for a mature woman. Much housework is done system. They have nothing which can be called a toilet, although there
by girls about 12 years old who live with the family and are on
constant call. Such a girl is paid $4. 84 in cash per month. In is a place a few steps from their doorway to which they habitually
addition she may get an occasional" gift" of clothing.
, "
retire. (They live on the periphery of town; otherwise they would have collar 25 cents, a pair of child' s jeans mended at the knees 50 cents
to take more than a few steps to find an alley where they could relieve and a man I s woolen jacket $2. Nevertheless, the Pratos do not have
themselves without annoying others. all the clothing they need. Winter in Montegrano is wet and cold , but
They have no electricity. For light, they use an oil lamp. Sig- Prato s jacket is the only warm outer garment the family posesses.
nora Prato makes bread by heating an oven with a brushwood fire, Shoes are a particular problem. A pair made by a local cobbler for
sweeping out the ashes , and putting the dough on the hot stones. Other rough wear costs $5 and lasts les s than two years.
cooking she does in the open fireplace. Without a dowry, a Montegrano girl cannot make a satisfactory
Prato has his first meal of the day at about nine o 'clock , after marriage. For one in Maria Prato s position, a minimum dowry con-
having worked two or three hours. It consists of a chunk of bread and sists of a corredo (trousseau) of " twelve , i. e., of 12 sheets and other
a handful of figs or tomatoes. At noon he has more of the same. The household and personal supplies in proportion, the whole costing $375;
night meal, eaten at eight or nine o 'clock , is the only one at which the a piece of land worth $150 , and a one-room house. Although she has
family is likely to sit down together. It consists of bread , a soup made been engaged for a year , Maria has been able to buy only five sheets
of dry or green beans, a bit of salami or sausage if any remains (the and two blankets. It will take her many years to accumulate her
hog is slaughtered in December and the meat usually lasts until June redo , although her family will do all it can to help. Even then , if her
or July), and fresh or dry fruit. parents are still alive, she will have no house. They would give her
Once a month on festa days--and not always then-- the Pratos their house and move into a rented one if they could pay rent.
have wine , cheese , fish, or meat. Their account book shows the fol- Getting girls properly set up ( sistemate ) is a central preoccupa-
lowing expenditures for food , other than grain and flour , for the entire tion of all those who have them. When a peasant bride was asked a
year:' week or two after her wedding what she would do with a windfall of in-
Macaroni and spaghetti (220 Ibs. $16. come , she said that she would buy, among other things, a second
Wine (7 gals. 3. 16
;: house. " We have to think of the future , she explained ... of the
Potatoes
Meat (lllbs.
I'
dowries for the girls. "
Olive Oil (2 qts. 1. 29
Even among peasants the deathrate is low (it was 9. 3 per
Sugar (7. 5 Ibs.
Fish (51bs. thousand for the commune as a whole in 1953). Peasant deaths, how-
Vinegar ever , tend to occur at an earlier age than do others; a relatively large
Onion . 16
proportIon 0 t em are ln ln ancy.

A good deal of the Pratos clothing is bought at the local fair from
Neopolitan dealers who import secondhand things from the United
The minimum corredo is itemized in Appendix A , Table 7.
States. Even by Montegrano standards the clothing is inexpensive: a
Some details are given in Appendix A , Table 8.
cotton house dress costs 35 to 50 cents, a shirt slightly frayed at the
There is much chronic illness: many live to old age without, Except in a few cases in which the head of the family is known
apparently, ever feeling well. It can be taken for granted that in a fam- to be a wine- bibber , laborers meet minor crises by running up small
ily like the Pratos someone will always be ailing or partially disabled. bills with merchants and artisans. There is no charge for this kind
Everyone suffers more or less from "liver trouble " (apparently a gen- of credit and no difficulty about obtaining it for periods
of a few weeks
eric term referring to any abdominal discomfort); migraine headache or months. Prato usually owes about $35 to various merchants.
rheumatism , and toothache are common. As in most mountain dis- The laborer may be able to get help from one of his employers
tricts to which sea breezes do not penetrate , there is a heavy incidence in an emergency, but he cannot depend upon it. The feudal idea that
of goiter, especially among women. There is little tuberculosis or a landowner ought to protect his workers has long since disappeared
venereal disease. but there are a few upper- class people who feel some responsibility
About 350 families who are on the commune s poor list (the for one or two favored families. Last year when the Pratos were
Pratos are not among these , much to their regret) get free medical without bread , Don Paolo , one of the largest landowners , heard of
care and such drugs as are necessary to save life. their plight and sent them 200 pounds of wheat as a loan to be paid in
Dr. Franco Gino , the health officer of the commune , says that labor the next spring. Prato was much affected by what he considered
at least 50 patients a year come to him suffering from nothing but an extraordinary piece of kindness. Although he had always regarded
hunger. These people pres ent a difficult problem. Because their Don Paolo as an unusual employer , he would not have thought of ask-
stomachs are shrunken they do not feel the pangs of hunger. If they ing him for help.
were given a diet including milk , eggs , meat, together with vitamin Those who , like Prato , own a piece of land may meet emergencies
injections , they would soon be restored to health. But then, their by cutting oak trees , in the most desperate circUmstances , selling
stomachs having returned to normal size , they would be able to feel the land itself. Prato is reluctant to cut any ofhis few trees because
hunger. And because there would be no possibility of their continuing he needs their branches for fuel and their leaves and acorns for live-
the adequate diet, they would soon have to suffer the pain of returning stock feed , and because he believes, rightly perhaps, that their removal
to a state of semi-starvation. When such people come to him , Dr. Gino would dry out the soil and so accelerate erosion.
he can do for them.
regretfully tells them that there is nothing There is a point, of course , beyond which the merchants will not
Having such small and uncertain incomes, laborers like Prato carry a family. In such cases the commune offers no assistance (ex-
are constantly menaced by emergencies for which their ordinary econ- cept , as noted , medical attention and drugs when necessary to save
omy cannot provide. The father may be unable to work because of life) and neither does the church. The charity of relatives , friends
accident or illness, hail may destroy the grain crop, or the donkey and neighbors is then the stricken family s only hope. The5€ others
or pig may die. If such calamities do not occur, there are sure to be are poor themselves, of course , and convention does not require them
minor crises. Prato , for example, never has enough savings or cur- to iLccept responsibility for the welfare of others. Accordingly,
those
rent income to pay his taxes or buy shoes.
, " * *

who must depend upon handouts fall to about as iowa level of living as authorities, 9 Since no northern employer knows of Prato
s existence
is possible, Nevertheless, no one starves, if by " starvation " is meant
call" even if the authorities in Potenza are
he is not likely to get a "
death resulting directly, rather than proximately, from lack of food, willing. If he goes looking for work in violation of the law , the cara-
If there were a general crop failure , however, starvation would be
binieri will find him sooner or later and send him home.
widespread unless help came from the outside. If they could do so , the people of Montegrano would migrate to
Many artisans are no better off than Prato, But the consumption the United States en masse, They know , however , that without a " call"
pattern of the more prosperous artisans and merchants, and even of from a relative, it is impossible even to get on the waiting list; for
the office workers, professionals, and landowners , differs in amount reasons that will appear , those who are already in the United States
rather than kind from that of the peasants, The well-off have larger have lost interest in their Italian relatives. Migration to Argentina
houses with handsome varnished one- piece doors (the peasant' s door is somewhat easier , but the general opinion is that conditions there
is painted and made in four sections, so that a top section may be left are not much better than in southern Italy. About Australia , another
open without letting animals in), but their houses are built and fur- possibility, very little is known. Although the Italian government does
' nished in essentially the same way as those of the peasants and they not discourage migration abroad , as it does migration to the north
are situated in every part of town. The well-off (as well as some of there is no place where the peasant can get a reasonably accurate ac-
the peasants who are not well off) have recently installed two- burner c0unt of the possibilities that exist.
stoves which use bottled gass. Most of their cooking, however , is
done over open fireplaces, All of the well-off have electric lights,
three- fourths have running water , and most have inside toilets, Very
few have bathtubs, radios, refrigerators, or running hot water,
Italy Consumption patterns are changing very rapidly in Montegrano.
The peasants and artisans are aware that in northern
These changes reflect others that are deep- lying and fundamental.
incomes are much higher, Few of them , however , have any hope of
Twenty years ago every peasant woman wore a blouse and
migrating, When he was asked why he had never gone north with his
skirt. Nowadays only old women dress in this way. Peasant women
family, Prato said that he had never been fortunate enough to have a
who are not of the older generation wear print dresses that come
call" , i. e., an offer of work. Under a law passed in Fascist days,
a villager who does not have a profession or independent means may The law also says that agricultural workers cannot, even in the
town where they reside without a justified motive abandon the
not go to a city to look for work and he may not be offered work by land to which destiny has assigned them. " But unlike the pro-
an employer in the city except with the permission of the provincial hibition on internal migration, this one is without prae-tical ef-
fect. M. Gardner Clark , "Governmental Restrictions on Labor
Mobility in Italy Industrial and Labor Relations Re view , Vol.
, No. 1 (October 1954),
THE ECONOMY
who has money to spend at the store buys the same foods , including
secondhand from America. Formerly almost all women wore funereal
canned ones , that are bought by the upper class.
black; deaths occurred frequently and the period of mourning was ten,
Several years ago there was no bar and no movie in Montegrano.
years. Now , because of anti- biotics, deaths are few. Meanwhile,
Now there are two bars and two movies. Some peasants feel deprived
people have come to feel that one or two years is long enough to wear
if they do not see a movie twice a month. A few go occasionally to a
mourning.
bar for a cup of e~presso coffee.
Some peasant girls have permanent waves. A groom may give
These changes are not the product of greater prosperity. Most
one to his bride as a wedding present. Twenty years ago peasants
, peasants are probably poorer than they were a generation ago: they
generally went barefoot. Now they all wear shoes. A man used to
have less to eat and less in savings. Soil erosion has left Montegrano
wear a jacket and pants and nothing else; now almost every man has
land base smaller than it was then , and the gradual depletion of the fer-
some underwear and many even have stockings and a handkerchief.
of the soil that remains has led to a less intensive agriculture.
tility
Formerly only a few prosperous peasants had holiday suits, and the
The population to be supported by the reduced resources , however , is
pants and jackets of these seldom matched. Today most peasants
, slightly larger than it was a generation ago.
have a suit for holiday wear , and a few are almost indistinguishable
One cause of these changes has been improvement of highways
piazza on festa days.
from the upper class as they stroll in the
; by public works projects. Isolated as it still is , Montegrano is more
Ten years ago peasants tanned their own leather and made their
own shoes. Now they all buy their shoes at the store. Shirts used i accessible to the cities than formerly. Salesmen who would not have
i thought of journeying there a few years back stop more or less regu-
to be made at home. Now they are made by the tailors. Seamstresses
: larly now.
and tailors work from pattern catalogues that show the styles in Rome,
Another caus e of change (and also an effect of it) is reduction of
Paris, and New York.
I cultural distance between the peasant and the outside world. A genera-
A generation ago peasant women made little preparation for their
tion ago peasants seem to have taken it for granted that they were a
babies. Now they see the midwife well in advance and have a supply
different breed than other folk. Some of them-- Prato, for example--
of clean sheets and dressings ready for the parturition, and a
still do. But many see no difference between themselve s and others
dino of diapers , undershirts , and the like for the new ba.by. Grand-
except that the others are better off. Those who take this view are
mothers are no longer listened to at childbirth; the midwife is
unwilling to wear a peasant costume or to be set apart in other ways.
charge. Some peasant mothers even bathe their babies.
Paolo Vitello , a laborer who works at a forge , may be taken as
Even the most prosperous peasants bought nothing but salt and
an example of the new-style consumer. He spent some tilPe in the
sardines at the store a few years ago. Montegrano s wheat is not hard
cities of the north during his military service and has not forgotten
enough to make good spaghetti , but even so spaghetti was made at home.
Nowadays people buy pasta from the store or go without it. The peasant
* * , "
62. THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY

10 Although his income is twenty percent less than consisted of the price of two aspirin tablets. Vitello hopes to persuade
what he saw there.
Prato s, he somehow manages to spend a great deal more. His a relative in Naples who is a tailor there to take one of his boys as an
which Although Prato is deeply dissatisfied ,
house has electric lights , bottled gas, and a toilet--allluxuries appr entice. the possibility that
Prato thinks are forever beyond him. He buys a bit of meat, fish, his children might leave Montegrano and become something other than
cheese , and sugar now and then--something Prato almost never does-- peasants seems so remote to him as not to be worth consideration.
and when he feels flush he buys h~s wife a handkerchief , his youngest Now that buying things from the store has become one of the
child a toy or a cookie, or himself a beer, a cigarette , or a sixteen- possible ways of showing love for one s family, not to do so seems to
cent lottery ticket. Prato , it is safe to say, has never in his life a new-style consumer like coldness or indifference. One evening, Pas-
bought a luxury. On holidays Vitello takes his ease in the public quale Dura , an intermittently employed farm laborer with seven chil-
square, dressed in a black suit like a gentleman. Prato has no holi- dren , came home with a radio for which he had promised to pay eight
day suit. Vitello s wife suffers from chronic headaches; she goes dollars a month. At first his wife was furious and demanded that he
frequently to the doctor and buys vitamins and other drugs. Prato take it back at once. Then he explained that, although he could go to
wife is also chronically ill, but her medical expenses for the year the public square for amusement, she and the children had to be always
at home; it would be good , he said , for them to have one thing that would
10. Prato was not in military service and he has only once seen a
big city. No doubt Vitello s military experience accounts in give them pleasure--one thing to relieve la mis eriiJ.' In fact , he went
part for his more sophisticated standards of consumption. But on, it was not fair to the children that they should grow up with nothing
it would be a mistake to suppose that wartime travel accounts
in general for the changes that are underway in Montegrano. at all.Who knows? Perhaps they might learn something from the
Some villagers saw more of the world than did Vitello and were radio. When she heard the explanation , his wife was touched. The
utterly unaffected by what they saw. Moreover, some very im-
portant changes were underway before the war:
peasants had Duras kept the radio and it at once became the active agent of further
begun to practice birth control , for example, at least a decade change. I was in mourning , Signora Dura explained later but
before the war. Perhaps the decisive difference between Vitel-
lo and Prato is not in travel experience but in thehis
fact that when we decided to keep the radio , of course I took the mourning off.
Vitello (although the objective circumstances of early life,
After all , t have a radio going in the house and wear mourning
including schooling, were not much different from Prato s), has
you don
always thought of himself as an artisan and a townsman rather at the same time. "
than as a peasant. There are, however, new-style consumers
who cannot make the slightest claim to being anything but peas-
ants.
11. The Vitello family s expenses for the year are summarized in
Appendix A , Table 9. During the year for which accounts were When the peasant speaks of la mis eria , he refers firs t to his
was obvious that the next
kept Vitello went deeply into debt. It
year he would have to earn more or spend less. \hard physical labor , to his patche :-rags , and to the bread that is often
, "
THE ECONOMY
miseria comes from
all he has to eat. Cruel as it is, however, his poverty does not entirely the difference between a low level of living and la
/. . c Unlike the primitive , the peasant feel :-himself part of a lar-

account for his chronic melancholy. Many peasants are idle a good part
f! ger society which he is " " but not altogether " of" . He lives in a
of the time because there is no work for them to do. Those who !lave a
, culture in which it is very important to be admired, and he sees that
little land trudge up and down the mountainside driving a pig to pasture
!d ! by its standards he cannot be admired in the least; by these standards
or gathering firewood, but this is not exhausting labor. Much of the
Knowing
peasant' s incessant going and coming is nothing but a way of passing i he and everything about him are contemptible or ridiculous.
this , he is filled with loathing for his lot and with anger for the fates
time. "Our house is so small and crowded that we couldn t stand each
which assigned him to it.
other if we were cooped up in it all the time " an old woman explained
when asked why she and her crippled husband struggled through the sum- \\1. "Getting ahead" and " making a good figure " are two of the central
,! themes of the peasant' s existence. But he sees that no matter how hard
mer heat to a barren garden patch at the foot of the mountain. Winter
he works he can never get ahead. Other people can use their labor to
temperatures are seldom below freezing, and although many people are
advantage, but not he. If he has a bit of land, he may conceal the waste
extremely uncomfortable for lack of clothing, no one freezes or suHers
of his time from others and perhaps even from himself by some monu-
serious injury. Many are ill from dietary deficiencies, but no one
mentallabor-- terracing a hillside with soil carried on his back from
starves to death and few are painfully hungry more than now and then.
the valley, for example. He knows, however, that in the end he will be
In part the peasant' s melancholy is caused by worry. Having no
no better off than before.
savings, he must always dread what is likely to happen. What for
The knowledge that no matter how hard he struggles he will re-
others are misfortunes are for him calamities. When their hog strang-
main behind (indietro) is galling. Prato , for example , can never save
led on its tether , a laborer and his wife were desolate. The woman
enough to get his daughter properly married. In his eyes it is the im-
tore her hair and beat her head against a wall while the husband sat I(
possibility of improving his position which distinguishes the peasant
mute and stricken in a corner. The loss of the hog meant they would
from others. "The peasant" , he s ~id always keeps his place; others
have no meat that winter, no grease to spread on bread , nothing to sell
have the possibility of improving themselves. " In only two of 320
for cash to pay taxes, and no possibility of acquiring a pig the next
stories told by 16 Montegrano peasants who were given Thematic Ap-
Fields may be washed away
perception Tests lO did a family prosper by thrift or enterprise , and
spring. Such blows may fall at any time.
in a flood. Hail may beat down the wheat. nInes s may strike.
To be
10. The Thematic Apperception Test is a method widely used by the
a peasant is to stand helpless before these possibilities. psychologist to reveal the dominant emotions, sentiments, and
But neither his present hunger nor his anticiPiLtion of worse to conflicts of a personality. The subject is shown a series of
pictures and asked to make up stories about them on the spur of
come fully accounts for tIle peasant' s deep dissatisfaction. There are the moment. The pictures are of varying degrees of ~mbiguity
(one is actually a blank card). The subject interprets them in
primitive societies in which the level of bio~ogiCFll well- being is even
ways which consciously and unconsciously shed light on his sen-
lower , but in which people are not chronically unhiLPPY. What makes timents, values , wants, and preoccupations , Psychologists can
, " , "
even in these cases the success was not great enough to raise it out La mis~ria , it safe to conclude, arises as much or more
seems
of the peasant class. In the TAT stories , dramatic success came only from social as from biological deprivations. This being the case
as a gift of fortune: a rich gentleman gave a poor boy a violin, a rich there is no reason to expect that a moderate increase in income (if by
gentlewoman adopted an abandoned child, and so on. . some miracle that could be brought about) would make the atmosphere
By the standards of the larger society, the peasant' s work , food of the village less heavy with melancholy. On the contrary, unless
and clothing all symbolize his degradation. It is on this account, as in social structure and culture; in-
I there were accompanying changes
much as for biological reasons, that he finds them unsatisfying and \ creasing incomes would probably bring with them increasing discon-
even hateful. Southern Italians attach great importance to being man- tent.
, nerly ( civile) ; the peasant feels that he is the very opposite: associa-
tion with earth and animals, he thinks , has made him dirty and animal-
like. "We poor peasants , one said work from morning until night
always touching the earth and always covered with mud. " Prato s jac-
ket keeps him reasonably warm , but it marks him as one to whom no
respect is due. When he was asked his impressions of a big city, he
spoke of the way people dres sed. "In the city , he said everyone
dresses the same and you cannot tell whether a man is a peasant or not.
Peasants often complain that they have no recreation, and they

speak as if this were as much of a hardship as hard work or hunger.
Taken at its face value , this complaint is ridiculous. Except at the
busy times of planting and harvesting, there is nothing to prevent the
peasants from playing as much as they like. What is to stop them from 11. An instructive contrast may be drawn between Montegrano and the
Or telling stories?
Spanish village vividly described by J. A. Pitt- Rivers in The Peo-
dancing and singing? Or from playing cards? ple of the Sierra , Weidenfeld and Nicolson , London , 1954. The
What the peasant lacks is not opportunity for recreation, but opportu- Andalusian village seems to be about as poor as Montegrano, but
its mood is not melancholy. This difference is perhaps both cause
nity for those particular kinds of recreation-- having coffee in the bar and effect of other differences: the Andalusian peasant identifies
in the public square, for example--which are civile and which would strongly with his village, his kinship and friendship ties are num-
erous and significant, and he does not feel humiliated by his social
therefore identify them as persons entitled to respect and admiration. status. Boasting and vanity are striking features of Andalusian
(but not of Montegrano) culture; perhaps these are cQmpensatory
infer from clues in the stories some important aspects of the devices by which the Spaniard protects his ego from total destruc-
storyteller s personality. Here , however , the TAT has been tion.
used mainly for what it may tell about ethos rather than personal-
ity. The pictures used were prepared by Dr. Henry A. Murray
of the Harvard Psychological Clinic.
CHAPTER FOUR
CLASS RELATIONS
Although the political incapacity of Montegrano cannot be ac-

counted for by class conflict, the peasant' s status and the relations
among the classes are undoubtedly important features of the situation.
The' seven occupations listed in the previous chapter may be
grouped into three social classes:
1. Peasants. 1 This class consists of those who do manual labor
on the land , viz., farm laborers and farmers , and includes somewhat
more than two- thirds of thl:' population. Manual labor is degrading in
the. southern Italian ethos , and labor on the land , together with per-
II""'
sonal service , is especially so. There is therefore a crucial status
difference between peasants (and servants, who are recruited from
among them) and others. Only the gypsies, who belong to a different
caste, have lower status than the peasants.
Artisans and merchants. The members of this class do man-
uallabor , but not on the land and not as servants. About 10 percent
of the popula tion belong to this class.
Upper classes. The defining characteristic of an upper clas
person ( persona bene or benestante ) is that he does no manual labor.
Two other characteristics are usually factually as sociated with this
The word contadino , translated here as " peasant"; is used in
Montegrano in two senses: (a) to denote a status class , viz., all
those who do manual labor on the land , and (b) to denote a tenure
class , viz., those who own land (and work it themselves), as
distinguished from farm laborers.
- 69 -
* * " (
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY CLASS RELATIONS

defining one: (a) the upper class person has a somewhat higher level one class will be opposed by the other automatically. In Montegrano
of living; there are however , some farmers and merchants whose in- however , there is not this sense of opposed identities either in politics
comes are much higher than those of some upper- class people; and (b) or in other spheres. Peasants and artisans mix freely on friendly
he has had at least five , and usually eight or more , grades of school- terms. Peasant dances are attended by artisans and artisan dances
ing. The office workers, professionals, and landed proprietors-- toge- by peasants.
ther about 10 percent of the population--comprise the upper class. No fundamental status distinction is made between peasants who
Within the upper class a sharp distinction is made between those own land and those who do not. As the previous chapter explained , few
who are gentlemen ( galantuomini) and those who are not. Being a peasants have more than a small plot, and the manner of life of these
gentleman is altogether a matter of birth; regardless of occupation is hardly different from that of the landless. Even the few relatively
education, or income , one is a gentleman if one s father was one. 2 well-off peasants do not constitute a separate social circle , and when
The situation of the gentry is no different from that of other upper class one of them goes to a laborer s wedding feast he is not--as an upper
people , except that they receive greater deference: they are always class person always is-- put at the head of the table with the bride and
addressed by the title " Don " or " Donna " coupled with their Christian groom. No particular attention is paid to him.
names-- "DonPaolo " or "Donna Maria Priests have the title ex Importance attached to the difference between town and coun-
officio. try manners. The country- dwelling peasant, although he is generally
The gentry are sometimes referred to as " noble families , but much better off than the town- dwelling peasant (in fact, he lives in the
strictly speaking, only the Baron di Longo has a title. His uncle is country because he has enough land and livestock to require his pres-
said to have bought it in Fascist times. ence there), is often regarded as' a " rube cafone ). His speech , dress
In some southern towns , apparently, there is much jealousy, and country ways are ridiculed by those who themselves have no land
backbiting, and feudingamong the gentry. This is not the case in Mon- or livestock and sometimes not even a mouthful of bread. When a pro-
tegrano and has not been for at least a generation. There are certain cession forms to escort an engaged couple from the bride s home to the
long-standing family rivalries, but on the whole the gentlemen get along church , a town girl does not walk beside a country boy. A town boy
with each other fairly well. may walk beside a country girl , however.
In some towns also , apparently, the artisans and peasants are
mutually hostile: in such places a political candidate who is favored by
In one instance in Montegrano , the category galantuomo cuts
across class lines: Don Alfredo , a merchant who sells fine cloth
is a gentleman. His business is peculiar , however , in that his A Montegrano family is always in danger of falling i~ the social
customers are almost all of the upper class. It is hardly con- scale from one generation to the next. This is especially true in the
ceivable that he would be called., Don " if he sold cheese and sar-
dines to peasants. upper class , of course. If the father dies young, the children may
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY CLASS RELA TrONS
drop into the merchant-artisan class despite the widow s heroic efforts The 26 gentry families of Montegrano include 59 active men (that
to keep them from manual labor. If an eldest son is wayward-- if he is, men between the ages of 20 and 65 who are not incapacitated by
drinks or does not study, for example-- he may be the ruin of the whole illness). Only 19 of these live in the village.
line. For the family invests all of its resources in him, expecting that In the lower classes there is the same pervasive fear that in the
when he becomes a doctor, lawyer , or civil servant (these are almost next generation the family may fall into a lower class. The artisan fears
the only possibilities a southerner recognizes) he will help his younger that his children may have to work on the land. The petty peasant pro-
brothers and sisters. If he fails to get a degree, the patrimony has prietor knows that if he has a large family (especially a large family of
been wasted and there is no opportunity for the younger ones. If there girls!) his children will drop into the ranks of the landless or near-
landless. Even Prato , a laborer, worries that his daughter, for lack
are two sons and a daughter , the youngest son and his wife and children
are likely to move down in the social scale. The elder son gets the edu- of a corredo may have to marry someone who has neither house nor
land and is therefore " no better than a gypsy . Only the poorest of the
cation. The daughter gets half the family s land as a dowry; this (with
what her husband has) sets her branch of the family up well. The youn- poor-- the laborer with nothing but a mattock-- is immune from these
ger son , then , gets less education than his brother and less capital fears; his is the only status which cannot be wors ened in the next gen-
than his sister; his children , accordingly, will not be as well off as eration.
theirs. In every class there is some possibility, however slight, of up-
Those upper class people who can do so leave Montegrano to live ward mobility. The son of a landless laborer occasionally marries well
in a city. The village affords a living for only one lawyer , one doctor and uses his wife s dowry to become a petty cultivator or the owner of a
one pharmacist, and several civil servants. There are more profes- piece of equipment that he can rent out with his labor. The peasant pro-
prietor seizes an opportunity to send his son into trade (for a sentimental
sionals than this in the village at anyone time, but the others are only
waiting for a place to open up somewhere else. An upper class man attachment to the land to stand in the way of such a move is inconceivable).
remains in Montegrano only if he has some special advantage there The daughter of an artisan may marry a teacher and the artisan s son
which it would be unthinkable to relinquish-- if he is the doctor or the may have the good fortune to become a merchant or a government clerk.
lawyer--or if it is simply not possible for him to make a living in the For the landless peasant to learn a trade and become an artisan
city. Thus a younger son who did not go beyond the fifth grade may is possible under unusual circumstances. The boy may find an artisan
remain in Montegrano as the " proprietor " of several acres of land who will take him as an apprentice , for an apprentice is paid nothing or
which are , of course, worked by tenants. Feeling keenly his inferi- next to nothing. In the usual case, however , his family will not support
ority to an older brother who has become, perhaps , a customs official him during the four or five years it takes to learn a trad2; on the con-
trary, it expects him to contribute to its support, especially if he has
in Genoa, the stay-at- home takes little part in family or public affairs.
Decisions are left to the educated b-rother who comes once a year from aisters who need dowries. Even if he somehow manages to complete
Genoa.
',
~,:"
an apprenticeship, the peasant may have to work in the fields, , for So do the priests. A boy must go eight years beyond elementary
there are many more blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors, and the like school before the Church might finance his further education. Thus
than the village can support. A boy who learns his trade in Monte- only those who can afford to become teachers can afford to become
grano is not usually skillful enough to earn a living by it in the city, priests; lower class boys who might be tempted to enter a seminary
where standards are much more exacting. merely to get an education are in this way excluded. Priests are drawn
A boy who finishes eight grades of school may become a police- C' from the strata of those well enough off to go to media school but not
man. (Officially only five are required , but the competition is so keen well enough off to become doctor s or lawyer s. The identification of the
that eight are virtually necessary. ) For a peasant this represents a priesthood with this strata is complete; upper class boys do not think
great advance: a, member of the carabinieri is well- clothed and well- of becoming priests.
fed and paid 85 cents a day in cash--enough to enable him to support In rare cases a peasant may become a professional. For example
his old mother or provide his sister with a dowry. The carabiniere a poor peasant died of war injuries leaving a small pension and a plot
may not marry until he reaches 30 and he is likely to be stationed in of land. Although illiterate herself , his widow determined to educate
a backward villagelike Montegrano (he is never stationed in his native her two sons. The elder became a teacher. He helped the younger
iace) where his ' children can get little schooling. At 45 he retires through school , and the mother sold her farm bit by bit to keep him
with a pension so small that, unless he has acquired some land by in- in medical school in Bologna. Now the brothers , one of whom is the
heritance or marriage , there is nothing he can do but live in a remote Communist mayor of Basso , are called "Don " by the lower class , and
village where living costs are low. To an overwhelming extent, the in some important respects, at least , are treated as equals by the other
police of Italy arE\ dr awh from the villages of the south. professionals. 3
Oe;' casionallya boy moves from near the bottom of the social The peasant can never entirely transcend his social origins, how-
scale to near the t9P. This may be done in only one way: formal edu- ever. An engineer , the son of an impoverished petty proprietor,
cation. If he c.ompletes 12 grades of school--which is to say, if his In 1950- 55, 62 Montegrano boys and girls went beyond the fifth
family canaffo,rd logend him out of town to school for seven grades grade , i. e., went out of the village to continue their schooling
beyond the fifth' grade--a peasant boy may become a village teacher for at least one year. Seven were the sons or daughters of pro-
fessionals or landed proprietors , 19 of office workers, nine of
at the age of. 18. , lucky, he may marry a not-very-
Them,-' if he is merchants, 14 of artisans, five of peasant owners , and eight
marriagable upper class girl who will bring him a good dowry. For the of farm laborers. Of the last two categories , peasant cultiva-
tors and laborers , four went into religious training, which costs
few rel~tivelyprosperous, peasant families this is a well-established very little; four had fathers killed in the war and mothers pen-
way of providing, for a second son: the expense of the boy s schooling sioned; three were helped by siblings who were policemen or
prison guards in towns where there were schools; and one was
family. but the return on it begins fairly
may 'bl:! ~ hards~ip for the supported by his mother who worked as a housemaid in Naples.
soon. ' Most teachers in villages like Montegrano come from the lower Of the 62, 16 were girls. The girls were all upper- class.
classes.
" *

confessed that he would resent it very much if a lower class pe rson knows that a time will come when the gentleman can give or withhold a
were to ask his fiancee to dance. "I am a socialist and I know better fa vor or an injury. (Even those peasants who are not anti- clerical will
he said , "but I can t help feeling above the peasants. I would resent not lift a finger to assist a nun carrying a heavy burden to the orphan-
it even if the person who asked her to dance were the son of a peasant age at the top of the mountain. The nuns are upper class women , but
. . . even if he were better educated than To us he is still a peasant. " they have no capacity to do the peasant a favor or an injury. Priests
The rate of economic progress in southern Italy is such that of course, can do favors and injuries , and their bundles are carried
merely to retain its place in the income and status hierarchy a family for them. )
must invest more and more in its children. Many lower class people Twenty years ago a gentleman did not hesitate to ask a peasant
sense that unless their children get a much better start in life than to chop his winter s wood supply without payment. Even today a gentle-
did children five or ten years ago , they will surely fall behind. man who needs a donkey expects a peasant " friend" to supply one without
live in Montegrano , some of them see, is a more serious disadvantage charge; ordinarily the peasant himself goes with the donkey or sends one
now than formerly. It used to be , for example , that one could become of his family, for if the handling of thedonkey is left to the gentleman
a carabiniere after only five grades of school. Now that it usually servant and the animal is injured, there will be no recompense.
takes eight years-- three more than the local school offers-- this ave- When the tax collector wants his grapes harvested , he tells two
nue is closed to all but a few. or three peasants to harvest them. For their day s work , he gives
Seeing these changes , most lower class couples are making an them two or three pounds of grapes each. They do not think that their
effort to limit the size of their families. The ideal family, they say, taxes would be higher if they refused , but they have a feeling that some-
consists of two children: one is " not really a family : mOTe cannot be how it is best to stay on the collector s good side.
given a decent start. This is a strategy which the upper classes , faced At Christmas a peasant who lives in the country brings a rooster
with the same problem adopted a generation or two ago. or a basket of eggs to each of the two or three gentlemen who are his
particular "friends One of the gentlemen may be his godfcrther (in
this case he brings him a rooster on his name- day as well): another
may once have written a letter for him or , perhaps , for his father; the
When a gentleman of Montegrano buys a melon or a basket of to- third may be an occasional employer. T:tle gentleman gives the peasant
matoes in the public square , he hands it wordlessly to the nearest nothing: he accepts the gift because it is the pleasant custom of the
peasant boy, woman, or man, who carries it to his home as a matter peasants to give gentlemen gifts.
of course. He hands his burden to any peasant with whom he is acquain- The peasant' s gifts are not without material value. "But the giv-
ted , and there is no thought on either side of payment for the specific ing and taking are significant in a symbolic way as well. The peasant
service. The peasant wants to be polite and amiable ( civile) and he
would be embarrassed to go to the gentleman s house to pay a purely
roO"".
* *

social call. If the peasant woman carries a few eggs to the gentle- In other cases , the rich got their money by cheating, stealing or ex-
woman , she provides an occasion for the call and thus makes possible ploiting the poor.
a friendly interchflnge between the two. The eggs , by making clear It is not brains, " Anna said. I have as much brains as any of
that the relationship is not between equals , permit the relationship to them. The only difference is that I have never a cent that I could put
exist. to work for me. If I had a little , I believe I could put it to work for me
Although the peasant is less likely than the gentleman to mini- too. "
mize the material value of the gift, he too sees the giving and taking When the Baron di Longo reproved one of his tenants for sending
as a symbolic act. But nowadays he does not always take kindly to his boy to school , the tenant said to him , "But Baron , you send your
having his inferiority ritually established at his expense. A peasant son to school."
woman remarked sourly, "Of course " the Baron replied. "But who is going to work my
Each one of them (the gentry) thinks he s a pope or a cardi- land if all the peasants go off to school ?"
nal and it is seldom they do a favor for the poor. One must go
to them always with something in one s hands and knock on the "Why, your son could work it, " the peasant said.
door with one s feet.
There are some peasants in Montegrano who think the gentry

are by nature superior and therefore have the right to demand service
and deference. Prato , for example , says:
Class relations in Montegrano are nevertheless amicable by
Yes , certainly the well-off are better. They are richer and
so of course they are better and the rest of us have to be under Italian standards. One reason for this is that in the last two or three
them. generations the upper- class has not monopolized the land. The Baron
When she was asked how it happens that in Montegrano some owns numerous farms but they are all worked by tenants. None of the
people are rich while others are poor , Laura , a laborer s wife, said: other "landed proprietors " has more than a few acres of cultivated
Who knows about things which have to do with the creation land--no more , in fact , than is owned by the more prosperous peasants.
of the world? 4
Moreover , the standard of living of the upper class differs in amount
Most peasants , however , give a very different answer to such
rather than in kind from that of the lower class. The peasant can
que stions. The rich , they say, are those whose grandfathers , at a
easily see that the gentleman , for all his advantages , lives in much
time of great distress a century ago , bought land from others who were
the same world as he.
foolish enough , or hard- pressed enough , to sell " for a handful of figs
Tradition is another reason. In some towns the upper c las s has
The Baron di Longo takes the same view. " An oak tree will al- always been brutal toward the peasants. This has not been the case
ways produce acorns and an olive tree olives , he is quoted
as having said at a political rally. in Montegrano. The leading families have been by tradition , if not ac-
tually considerate , at least not cruel.
Nearby Basso presents an interesting contrast. It lies in. the The poor are very touchy and they have a right to be. One can
valley where the land is rich and irrigable. Most of the land is in banter only in town among the well-off. Even if you watch your-
self when you speak to a peasant and take care to make no allusions
large holdings and worked by day laborers. For as long as anyone can to his poverty, a poor man will spot an allusion which escapes you
remember the landowners of Basso have acted as if the peasant did (for it not to escape you , you would have to be poor yourself!) and
then you realize how it affects him and you too feel bad and become
not exist. Gentlemen who walk down the street in Basso see only gen- melancholy when he, out of respect to you who are a gentleman
tlemen. There has been organization of labor from time to time in does not answer back rudely and even understands that you did not
do it on purpose.
Basso and bitter strikes. In Montegrano , there could not well be or-
Some gentlemen are unaware of the peasant' s plight or indifferent
ganization since there are no big employers, but apart from this , in
to it. Others, like Don Franco , are acutely aware of it and very much
Montegrano the atmosphere is different. In Montegrano , a gentleman
distressed by it. But the gentleman who is sensitive to the peasant'
speaks to a peasant when he meets him on the road, and he may even feeling may be-- perhaps for this very reason-- little able to communi-
play cards with him in the bar of an afternoon. cate with him. Such a one may feel a weight of guilt toward the peasant,
All the same , some Montegrano peasants hate the upper class as if he were responsible for his misery. He wants the peasant' s good
fiercely. opinion-- his forgiveness , and he is often vehement in denouncing those--
The upper class are always squashing the peasant under
their feet. They treat us like animals. They only care about the capitalists , perhaps--who are supposed to be in league agaiI1st the
eating well and sleeping. They don t care about us. They never peasant. But the gentleman does not and cannot talk with the peasant
even get near us. The only way you can get near them is when
you bring them something; then they are all smiles and full of as one reasonable human being to another. Perhaps this is because
welcome. I say that we are all the same--all sons of God. But he does not really believe that the peasant is a reasonable human be-
they spit in our faces. ing like himself: he piti~s the peasant for being less than human and
Few speak so violently. But all resent in some degree the airs blames his own class , the system , and destiny for having made the
of superiority which the signore who sits in the breeze shows to the
peasant so , but accepts the fact. In part also , perhaps , this is be-
laborer on whose work his bread depends.
cause the gentleman must protect his feelings against the assaults
The gentleman , many peasants say, is apt to be grasping and
which the peasant knowingly or unknowingly makes upon them; preten-
haughty.
ding that he does not understand the peasant and deliberately causing the
If you bring a little thing to them and ask a favor , they 'll
often give you what you ask , but for that they 'll have to insult peasant to misunderstand him are ways of doing this.
you first. For example , they 'll say, 'Why didn t your mother A laborer s wife who was bitten in the hand by a donkey went to
send you to school?' As if they didn t know. Don Franco. While he was treating her she asked if she were eligible
The peasant is apt to be embarrassed in the presence of upper class for unemployment compensation. According to her , he laughed.
people by his lack of graceful manners and his uneducated speech. This
"That' s a fine one " he said. "You go and get your hand bitten,
may make him extremely sensitive to- real or fancied insults. As Don
and now you think I should sign for you to get help from the W elfar e
Franco , the doctor , has observed in a sketch he wrote of village life: Office. "
, "
The doctor knew that the town I s welfare fund was insufficient to
meet the most pressing demands upon it. He as"Sumed-- probably rightly--
that he could not explain to a peasant woman that others had greater need
than she. He adopted a bantering tone because (one may assume) doing
so would avoid the necessity of serious explanation or discussion.

The woman , however , was angered both by the doctor s jocular-
ironic tone and his suggestion that she had injured herself purposely. Did
he think she enjoyed being bitten and not being able to work? she asked.
After he had bandaged her , Don Franco gave the woman a prescrip-
tion for penicillin. Later she returned in accordance with his instructions
to have the bandage changed. By then , she had a fever. As long as the
fever continued she should take penicillin, the doctor told her. The phar-
macist had refused to give her credit and the prescription had never been
filled , but she did not tell the doctor this. Why? a visitor asked.
"Oh" , she said those two (the doctor and the pharmacist) are in
cahoots. "
Thus , even in a town where class relations are amicable by tradi-
tion and even in the case of the one who , of all gentlemen, ought to be on
understanding terms with the peasants (for Don Franco is at once a phy-
sician , the leading representative of a party dedicated to ending class
differences, and a man gifted with the insight and sensitivity of a literary
artist), a thick wall of misunderstanding and suspicion separates the up-
per from the lower class.
Although many take trouble to conceal it , there is, one suspects,
a deep well of hostility toward the upper class within every peasant.
This at least is the belief of the upper class itself. In another of his
sketches of village life, Don Franco speaks of the sadness that comes
over a certain upper class person when he hears the church bells toll
in the evening. For the peasant. however , Don Franco observes, the
sound of the bells brings a corresponding satisfaction: it reminds

him that gentlemen too must die.
::' .' '"
.. - ' ,
'-t CHAPTER FIVE

A PREDICTIVE HYPOTHESIS
A very simple hypothesis will make intelligible all of the behavior

about which questions have been raised and will enable an observer to
i;
predict how the Montegranesi will act in concrete circumstances.
' i, The hypothesis is that the Montegranesi act as if they were following
this rule:
Maximize the material , short-run advantage of the nuclear

family; assume that all others will do likewise.
One whose behavior is consistent with this rule will be called an
amoral familist" The term is awkward and somewhat imprecise
(one who follows the rule is without morality only in relation to per-
sons outside the family-- in relation to family members , he applies

standards of right and wrong; one who has no family is of course an
amoral individualist" ), but no other term seems better.
In this chapter , some logical implications of the rule are set
forth. It will be seen that these describe the facts of behavior in the
Montegrano di strict. The coincidence of facts and theory does not
prove " the theory. However , it does show that the theory will ex-
plain (in the sense of making intelligible and predictable) much behav-
ior without being contradicted by any of the facts at hand.
In a societ)'of amoral familists, no one will t'urther the in-
terest of the group or community except as it is to his private advan
tage to do so , In other words , the hope of material gain in the short-
run will be the only motive for concern with public affairs.
- 85 -
THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY A PREDICTIVE HYPOTHESIS
This principle is of course consistent with the entire apsence They get the office , and then they look after themselves.
of civic improvement associations, organized charities ,
Some take office so as to be able to say, 'I am the mayor. ' But
and leading
really there isn t much honor attaching to an office; people here
citizens who take initiative in public service. I don t even respect the President of the Republic. In F- , the
A teacher who is a member of a leading family explained mayor wants to be mayor so that he can keep the population down.
I have always kept myself aloof from public questions, espe- 2. In a society of amoral familists o nly officials will concern
cially political ones. I think that all the parties are identical themselves with public affairs , for only they ar e paid to do so. For a
and those who belong to them--whether Communist, Christian
Democrat , or other --are men who seek their own welfare and private citizen to take a serious interest in a public p roblem will be re-
well- being. And then too, if you want to belong to one party, garded as abnormal and even improper
you are certain to be on the outs with the people of the other Cavalier Rossi , one of the largest landowners of Montegrano
party.
and the mayor of the nearby town of Capa , sees the need for many local
Giovanni Gola , a merchant of upper- class origins , has never
public improvements. If he went to the prefect in Potenza as mayor of
been a member of a political party because "It isn t CQnvenient for
Capa , they would listen to him , he says. But if he went as a private
rne-- I might lose some business.
citizen of Montegrano , they would say, "Who are you?" As a private
Gola does not think of running for office because:
I have all I can do to look after my own affairs. I do enough citizen he might help a worker get a pension , but as for schools , hos-
struggling in my business not to want to add to it in any political pitals , and such things , those are for the authorities to dole out. A
struggling. Once in office there would pe a constant demand private citizen can do nothing.
for favors or attentions. I'd have to spend all my time looking
after other people s affairs.. .
my own would have to be neglec- The trouble is only partly that officials will not listen to private
ted. I dont feel like working hard any more. I am no longer citizens. To a considerable extent it is also that private citizens will
young. (He is in his late forties).
not take responsibility in puplic matters. As Rossi explains
Those who run for office , Gola says, do so for private advan-
There are no leaders in Montegrano. People s minds are too
tage. unstaple; they aren t firm; they get excited and make a decision.
Then the next day they have changed their minds and fallen away.
The importance of voluntary associations in the United States It' s more or les s the same way in Capa. There is lots of talk
has been explained by their function in facilitating social mobil- Put no real personal interest. It always comes to this: the mayor
ity. This explanation is not incompatible with the one given has to do it. They expect the mayor to do everything and to get
above. everthing-- to make a world.
Those who belong to "do- good" organizations secure grati-
fications (e. g., status, power , neighborly association, etc. Farmuso , the director of the school distri c:t and formerly the
which have nothing to do with the public-spirited purposes for Communist mayor of a town in another province, is earnest , energetic
which the organizations exist. Even so, these public-spirited
purposes are not unimportant in the motivations of the partici- and intelligent. He listed several things which might pe done to im-
pants. Moreover , most of the self-regarded ends which are prove the situation in Montegrano , put when he was asked if he could
served do not relate to material gain , or at least not to mater-
ial gain in the short-run. pring influence to pear to get any of them done, he , said that he could
not. "I a:m interested only in the schools " he explained. "If I wanted In a societ y of a:moral fa:milists, o r,ganization (i. e., delib-
to exert influence, with who:m would I talk? In Vernande there are six erately concerted action) will be very difficult to achieve and :maintain
teachers in two roo:ms, but no :money for i:mprove:ments. I have talked The induce:ments which lead people to contribute their activity to or ga-
to the :mayor and others , but I can t get anything even there. nizations are to an i:mportant degree unselfish (e. g., identification
The feeling that unofficial action is an intrusion upon the sphere with the purpose of the organizatio ~nd they are often non-:material
of the state accOunts in so:me :measure both for Mayor Spo:mo s haughty (e. g., the intrinsic interest of the ac tiv ity as a " ga:me Moreover
officiousness and for the failure of private persons to interest the:m- it is a condition of successful organization that :me:mbers have so:me
selves in :making stopgap arrange:ments for a school and a hospital. trust in each other and so:me l oyalty to the orgamzation. In an or,gani-
In nearby Basso a recla:mation project will increase vegetable produc- zation with high morale it is taken for granted that they will make s:ma
tion and :make possible the establish:ment of a canning factory. The sacrific es, and perhaps even large ones, for the sake of the or ganiza-
large landowners of Basso will not join together to build a factory, how- tion.
ever , even though it :might be a good invest:ment. It is the right and The only formal organizations which exist in Montegrano-- the
the duty of the state to build it. church and the state--are of course provided from the outside; if they
In a society: of a:moral fa:milists there will be few checks were not, they could not exist. Inability to create and maintain orga-
officia16, for checking on officials will be the business of other offi- nization is clearly of the greatest i:mportance in retarding econo:mic
cials only. development in the region. 2
When Far:muso, the school director , was asked what he would Despite the :moral and other resources it can draw upon from the
do if it caIne to his attention that a public official took bribes, he said outside , the church in Montegrano suffers fro:m the general inability
that if the bribery were in his own depart:rnent he would expose it at to maintain organization. There are two parishes , each with its priest.
once. However , if it occurred outside his depart:ment, he would say Rivalry between the priests is so keen that neither can do anything out
nothing, for in that case it would be none of his concern. of the ordinary without having obstacles placed in his way by the other
A young school teacher , answering the saIne question, said that and cooperation between them is wholly out of the question. (On one
even if he could prove the bribery he would do nothing. "You are likely
to be :made a :m ~rtyr , he explained. It takes courage to do it. There Max Weber remarked in The Protestant Ethic and the Rise of
Capitalism (Allen and Unwin edition, London, 1930 , p. 57) that
are so :many :more dishonest people than honest ones that they can gang the universal reign of absolute unscrupulousness in the pur-
up on you. . . twist the facts so that you appear to be the guilty one. suit of selfish interests by the making of money has been a spe-
cific characteristic of precisely those countries whose bour-
Re:me:mber Christ and the Pharisees. geois-capitalistic development, measured according to Occi-
A leading :merchant would not expose bribery, because " Sooner dental standards, has remained backward. As every employer
knows, the lack of coscienziosita of the laborers of such coun-
or later so:meone would co:me to :m and tell :me it would be good if I tries, for instance Italy as co:mpared with Germany, has been,
didn t. " and to a certain extent still is, one of the principal obstacles to
their capitalistic development. "
, "

occasion they nearly came to blows in the public square; on another 5. In a society of amoral familists , office- holders , feeling no
the saint of one parish was refused admittance to the church of the identification with the purposes of the organization, will not work har-
other when the festa day procession stopped there on its route). der than is necessary to keep thei r places or (if such is within the realm
When some young men tried to organize a chapter of Catholic Action of possibility) to earn promotion. Similarly, professional people and
a lay association to carry Catholic principles into secular life , they educated people generally will lack a sense of mission or calling. In
encountered so much sabotage from the feuding priests , neither of deed , official position and special training will be regarded by their
whom was willing to tolerate an activity for which the other might re- sessors as weapons to be used against others for private advantage.
ceive some credit, that the project was soon abandoned. In southern Italy, the indifference of the bureaucracy is notori-
The Montegranesi might be expected not to make good soldiers. ous. A zealous official is as rare as a white fly , a man who had
However brave he may be, the amoral familist does not win battles.
retired after 49 years in the public service remarked.
Soldiers fight from loyalty to an organization, especially the primary
"From the President of the Republic down to the last little Ital-
groups of "buddies , not from self- interest narrowly conceived.
ian , a landowner said there is a complete lack of any sense of duty
Lack of attachment even to kindred has impeded emigration and
--especially of the sense of duty to do productive work.
indirectly economic development. In the half century prior to 1922, The school teachers of Montegrano notably lack a sense of calling.
there was heavy emigration from Montegrano to the United States and not uncommon for a teacher to come late to
It is
class or to miss class
later to Argentina. In general , however , ties between the emigrants altogether. At best the teacher teaches four hours a day and takes no
and those who remained at home were not strong enough to support further part in the lives of the children. An engineer from northern
chains " of emigration. Hundreds of Montegranesi live in the hope
that a brother or uncle in America will send a " call" , but such calls relatives or friends resident here in Australia. Solidarity of
rarely come. People are perplexed when their relatives in America some kind is needed for chains of such emigration to have con-
tinued 30 years. Montegrano folk apparently would not help
do not answer their letters. The reason is , probably, that the letters each other. In Reggio Calabria , community solidarity is lac-
from Montegrano always ask for something, and the emigrant, whose king yet there is nuclear family solidarity plus relatively strong
identification with and participation in cliques of certain rela-
advantage now lies elsewhere , loses patience with them. The relatives selected from the kindred kinship system phis certain
tive absence of emigration, as well as of gifts from persons who have friends (especially compari and commare ). I have found that
these nuclear family- clique members are the Calabrians who
emigrated, is a significant impediment to economic development. form the links in the migration chains. Since cliques of rela-
Some Italian towns, whose ethos is different, have benefited enorm- tives and friends overlap in their system , these chains are
snowballing despite the lack of community solidarity. In fact
ously from continuing close ties with emigrants who have prospered comparing the rate of growth of Calabrian settlemel'Its of the
in the New World. 3 above clique-nuclear family solidarity type with Calabrian set-
tlements of the Montegrano solidarity nuclear family type , I
McDonald writes in a persorialletter: "Since 1927 Italians who have found that the former grew very much faster than the
are not officially assisted may be nominated and paid for by latter. "
II'
make social security payments on the wages of domestic servants are
Italy was shocked at what he saw in Montegrano. "During the summer
universally ignored.
vacation , he said, " a teacher in the north may hold informal classes.
An employer who can get away with it is almost sure to cheat
He will take the children on walks into the country and explain a bit
his employees. If the employer is a local man , the worker can get
about nature. Or they will go on picnics and sing together. The teach-
justice by appealing to the Marshal , whose informal powers are great.
er is a part of the children s lives out of school as well as in. " In
Otherwise the worker is usually cheated. The new municipal building
Montegrano, he found, teachers spend the summer loafing in the
piazza
was built by contractors from Matera who paid Montegrano laborers
and they do not speak to their pupils when they see them.
less than the legal minimum and left town owing several ofthem wages for
"Study and education , a young teacher who was himself of an their last month I s work. Since the employer was not a local man, the
artisan family explained , "has helped some people to succeed. It has Marshal could do nothing. In principle the workers could appeal to a
helped them by giving them an advantage over the ignorant. With their labor commission in Potenza. In practice they had to reconcile them-
knowledge , they are better able to exploit ignorance. They are able s elves to the fact that they had been cheated.
to cheat more dexterously. Frequently the worker is prevented by self- interest from taking
With other professionals the situation is more or less the same. his case to the Marshal. He cannot afford to be on bad terms with the
The pharmacist, a left-wing socialist who enjoys a government monop- employer: it is better to be cheated than to be deprived of employ-
oly and is one of the richest men in town, feels himself under no obli- ment altogether. Accordingly, it is the custom for the employer to
gation to stock the anti- biotics and other new medicines which the pay only at his convenience. A peasant may have to go , hat in hand
doctor prescribes or to extend credit to those desperately in need. to the signore month after month to ask politely for the dollar or two
The doctor himself , although an outstanding man in many ways, does that is owed.
not feel under an obligation to provide himself with the bare essentials Mutual distrust between landlords and tenants accounts in part
of equipment for modern medical practice. for the number of tiny, owner-operated farms in Montegrano. Rather
In a society of amoral familists , the law will be disregarded
6.
than work a larger unit on shares , an arrangement which would
when there is no reason to fear punishment. Therefore individuals wi more profitable but which would necessitate getting along with a land-
not enter into agreements which depend upon legal proces ses for their lord , the peasant prefers to go it alone on his uneconomic holding.
enforcement unless it is likely that the law will be enforced and unle Twenty-one peasants were asked which they would prefer , to own
the cost of securing enforcement will not be so g reat as to make the eight hectares of land or to sharecrop 40. One said he would prefer
undertaking unprofitable. to sharecrop the larger holding " because even if I had to be tinder
This, of course , is another impediment to organization and to another and to work a little harder , the gain would be much more.
economic and other development. None of the others thought the gain from the larger holding would off-
It is taken for granted that all those who can cheat on taxes will set the burden of having to get along with a landlord. Their explana-
do so. Minimum wage laws and laws which require the employer to
* *
suspicion, and hate make cooperation bur-

There is no way of knowing to what extent bribery actually exists
tions showed how anxiety,
in Montegrano, There is abundant evidence , however , that it is widely
densome.
believed to be COInInon, The peasants are sure that the employment
I would prefer to be the owner of eight hectares rather than
have the rental of one com-
40 because if you are an owner no
officer gives preference to They believe
those who bring him presents.
mands you and furthermore you are not always worried that to- too that Mayor Spomo made a fortune by selling the communal forest
morrow your half may not be yours and so always under the
necessity of being careful. without competitive bids. Better informed people say that it is highly
unlikely that there is graft in the administration of the commune: its
affairs are closely supervised from Potenza. However , many upper
too
to
I would prefer be the owner of eight hectares or even less class people agree that bribery and favoritism are widespread in sou-
than work someone else s land, I' ve had experience with
to
that already and it is really unbearable because the owners al- thern Italy at large. A teacher said
ways think you are stealing from them,
Field Staff , reveals the same selfishnes s and distrust that are
evident in Monteg:r:ano.
After explaining to Bayne that the peasants of Grottole would
I would prefer a little land of my own to renting 40 hectares not work together-- that all wanted something for themselves--
because, as I have already said, I hate the rich who sit in the the mayor asked if the Americans would give the village a trac-
breeze all year and come around only when it is time to divide tor. After he had been discouraged in this hope , the mayor said
the produce which I have worked hard with so many sacrifices When you leave here I will go down in the streetwith my
to grow. people , and they will ask me, 'Did you get any help for
7, The amoral familist who is an office- holder will take bribe us?' And I will try to explain that you are not officials
--not even rich tourists-- but journalists. 'Why then,
when he can get away with it. But whether he takes bribes or not they will say, 'have you bought them wine and coffee
wi'll be assumed by thesoci~j:y of amoral familists that he does, with our money and now have nothing to show for it? I
At the conclusion of his interview Bayne laid a few thousand
lire on the mayor s desk and asked if he would distribute it
Seventeen of these peasants were also asked which they would wher e it would do the most good. Perhaps there was a Christ-
prefer to own eight hectares or to have a steady job paying mas fund for children? The mayor s consternation was imme-
000 lire a day, Eleven preferred the cash wage; all but one diate, With politeness but with unmistakable firmness he re-
because there would be no worry or uncertainty. Of the six who fused.
preferred to own land , two said that their incomes would be You do not understand my people (he protested). If I
greater , two said that they would be independent of an employer, were to accept this gift which.!. understand , those peo-
and two said that they would have both larger incomes and inde- pIe in the street would soon ask if there had not been
pendence, more and how much I had kept for myself. We have
To the peasants, the cash wage of 000 lire was as sociated Christmas fund , for who would contribute to it?, , ,
with a " company " such as contracts with pu blic agencies to Two years later Bayne revisited Grottole and found that the
road repairs, with private individuals. The company, the
not mayor had been defeated for re-election and had taken to drink.
peasant feels , to cheat and is in general more de-
is less likely "He didn t do anything for the people and they became tired
pendable. One said he would prefer the wage if the employer him, " someone explained. " Now we have a new mayor-- this
were a company but the land. if the employer were a private one is really a fascist, He won do anything either, "
party, Quoted with permission from American Universities Field
Staff letters of December 17, 1954, and February 21, 1957.
An interview with the Communist mayor of Grottole, another
village of Lucania , by E, A, Bayne of the American Universities
, " ** ** .."

Today one gets ahead only by bribes and recommendations. I don t know what they wanted , but they did make severe laws.
All of the examinations are infected with this disease and those There was order and you had rights and duties. You had the right
who get ahead are the ones with the most drag. To me this is to be paid when you worked and it was a duty to pay workers for
odious. I would do anything not to have to see it. work done. They looked after the children too. There were sub-
The principal merchant is building a cinema. Before it goes into sidies for large families and help when a new baby was born.
Nowadays there is supposed to be help, but it is not enforced.
operation he must have a permit from the proper authority. After
months of waiting, his request for a permit had not been acted upon.
"If I took an envelope with $160 and slipped. it into the right pocket , I I do not remember what it was the Fascists wanted. I only
remember that in those days one made out better than today. In
would have my permission right away , he told an interviewer. It' those days the worker was well off and not unhappy. Also there
the little yellow envelope that gets things done. Big and small , they were many more aids. Instead , today, nobody cares. If it were
during the days of Fascism , the things that happen now would
all take bribes. " not happen. Today a worker must wait to be paid. . . must wait
Why don 't you do it, then?" for the convenience of his employer. Many times months pass
without his being paid. During Fascism , this would never have
Because I don t have $160 to spare. happened.
8. In a society of amoral familists the weak will favor a reg ime A landowner made a similar explanation:
which will maintain order with a strong hand. During Fascism, parents were really forced to send their
Until it involved them war , Fascism appealed to many peas-
in children to school. There could be no excuses . like lack of
clothes or books ,because the government really provided those
ants--at least so they now say-- because by enforcing the laws rigor-
where necessary. There was an official who stood outside the
ously, it protected them. Here are some answers given by peasants school building each morning at 8: ~O. He gave the children
to the question bread and cheese or marmalade and the children would go into
What did the Fascists claim to stand for?"
the school to eat. School would begin at nine. Now if ten suits
The Fascists said they wanted to be commanders of all. are sent to the commune for the children , we are lucky if a cuff
had no free speech under them , but Mussolini was a good admin- of one suit really gets here. . . it just melts by the wayside. The
istrator. The Fascists were very bad , but you could send a laws are all there, but no one enforces them.
child any distance unmolested when they were in power. Now A merchant argued that the consumer was better off under Fas-
you have to walk with a hand on your pocket and a hand on your
hat to keep from being robbed. cist regulation than under present- day competition. "Cloth was grade-
~abelled and marked with a fixed price along the selvedge. ' Everything
was controlled. You knew what you were getting f.or your money. Now,
The Fascists wanted the peasants to have a better life. There
was an eight- hour day and a standard rate of pay. It was a pub- unless you really understand cloth , a merchant can sell you inferior
lished rate. If a proprietor made you work ten hours you went ~aterial at high prices. It was good for the customer and good for
to the employment office and they would force him to pay the
right wage. Now it is everyone for himself , and everyone tries the merchant too. The customer knew what he was getting a'hd the
to get the most work for the least payout of the peasant. merchant could count on his twenty or thirty percent. Some people get
one hundred percent today. "
j',
A teacher had this recollection of Fascism: In the society of amoral familists there will be no connec
10.
During F-ascism there was a great spirit of emulation among tion between abstract political principle (i. e., ideology) and concrete
the pupils and good discipline. Today all this is gone; children
grow up very rude and the teacher in school must always have ;;1 behavior in the ordinary relationships of every day life
a stick in hand because the children are fighting among them- In Montegrano, the principle left-wing socialists are the doctor
selves all of the time.
and the pharmacist, two of the town ' s most prosperous gentlemen. The
In a socie ty of amoralia~ili ~!he claim of any person or
doctor , although he has called upon the government to provide a hospi-
institution to be inspired by zeal for public rather than p rivate advan- .
tal , has not arranged an emergency room or even equipped his own
tage will be regarded as fraud. office. The pharmacist, a government- licensed monopolist , gives an
A young man said
absolute minimum of service at extremely high prices (Signora Prato
If I decided that I wanted to do something for Montegrano , I
would enter my name on the list at election time , and everyone paid five cents for a single aspirin tablet!) and is wholly unconcerned
would ask , 'Why does he want to be mayor? I If ever anyone with local affairs, i. e., thos e which would have implications for action
wants to do anything, the question always is: what is he after?
by him.
Anti- clericalism is widespread in Montegrano, and the usual
The discrepancy between ideology and behavior in practical af-
objection to priests is that they are " money grubbers " and " hypocrites
Prato
fairs tends to discredit ideology in the eyes of the peasants.
In fact, the priests seem to be no more concerned with gain than are
was one of those who assembled in the piazza when Dr. Gino tried to
other professionals, and their level of living is no higher than that of
organize a branch of the Socialist Party.
the others. They are peculiarly liable to attack; however, because
I went a few times and it all sounded very good (he said later).
the church professes to be unselfish. But that Spring Don Franco hired a mule to cultivate his vine-
Socialists and Communists, like priests, are liable to be re- yard , and I thought to myself , What can this be? What can So-
cialism mean? Why does Don Franco , who is such a believer
garded as pious frauds. There are socialists of the mouth and soci- in it, hire a mule instead of the ten workers he used to hire?
alists of the heart" , a peasant woman explained. There are ten people out of work. And it wouldn t cost him any
more to use them than to use the mules.
The extraordinary bitterness and, as it seems to an outsider
unfairness with which so many peasants accuse others of hypocrisy
What ignorance! (the doctor exclaimed when he was told what
Prato said). Cultivation well done by hand is better than culti-
to be understood , in part, perhaps, as an expression of guilt feelings. vation done with a mule. But the workers here must be watched
As is explained elsewhere , the peasant is not unaware that charity is all the time because they don t really know their jobs , and it is
a nuisance to have to be on hand to keep watch. With a mule
a virtue. Not practicing it himself , he feels some guilt therefore, and you can at least see that the whole row has been done the same
he projects this as hostility against those institutions , especially the way.
church , which preach the virtue of charity and through which, perhaps, In a society of amoral familists there will be" no leaders and
11.
he would like to be vicariously virtuous. no followers. No one will take the initiative in outlining a course of
action and persuading others to embark upon it (exc ept as it may be to
, "
100 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY A PREDICTIVE HYPOTHESIS 101
his private advantage to do so) and , if one did offer leadership , the because Italy is too poor to afford frequent elections. These principles
group would refuse it out of distrust. do not affect his vote , however. Before elections , he explains all
Apparently there has never been in Montegrano a peasant leader the parties send people around who say, 'Vote for our party We always
to other peasants. Objectively, there is a basis for such leadership say 'Yes , but when we go to vote, we vote for the party we think has
to develop: the workers on road gangs, for example , share grievances given us the most. " The Christian Democratic party has given Prato a
and one would expect them to develop feelings of solidarity. few days work on the roads each year. Therefore he votes for it.
Suspicion of the would- be leader prob ably reduces the effective- it ceased to give him work and if there were no advantage to be had
ness of the doctor , the mid-wife, and the agricultural agent as tea- from voting for another party, he would be a monarchist again. If Ma-
chers. When a peasant was asked whether she could get birth control yor Spomo has influence with the Minister of Agriculture , he should
information from the mid-wife, she replied , "Of course not. It is be kept despite his haughtiness and his stealing. But if Councilmen
not to her interest that I limit the size of my family. " Viva and Lasso can get a larger project than the mayor can get , or if
The nearest approximation to leadership is the patron- client they can get one quicker , then down with him.
relationship. By doing small favors (e. g., by lending a few bushels 13. The amoral familist will value gains accruing to the commu-
of grain during the winter , by giving cast-off clothing, or by taking a nity only insofar as he and his ..il re likely to share them. In fact, he
child from a large family as a housemaid), a well- to- do person may will vote a~i nst measures which will help the community without hel-
accumulate a clientele of persons who owe him return favors and , of ping him because , even though his position is unchanged in absolute
course, deference. Such clients constitute a "following , perhaps , but terms, he considers himself worse off if his neighbors-'- :eosition chan-
the patron is not a " leader " in any significant sense. In Montegrano ge s for the better. Thus it ma y happ en that meaSUl"es which are of
moreover, none of the well- to- do has troubled to develop much of a decided general benefit will provoke a protest vote from those who fe
clientele. One reason is, perhaps, that the leading families are not that they have not shared in them or have not shared in them suffici-
engaged in factional squabbles , and so the advantage to be had from entry.
a clientele does not outweigh the expense and inconvenience of main- In 1954, the Christian Democratic party showed the voters of
taining it. Basso that vast sums had been spent on local public works. Neverthe-
12. The amoral familist will use his ballot to secure the greatest less the vote went to the Communists. There are other reasons which
material gain in the short run. Although he may have decided views help to account for the vote (the Christian Democratic candidate was
as to his long-run interest, his class interest, or the public interest a merchant who would not give credit and was cordially disliked and
these will not effect his vote if the fam ily s short-run, material advan- distrusted), but it seems likely that the very effectivene~s of the Chris-
ge is i~ any way involved. tian Democratic propaganda may have helped to cause its defeat. See-
Prato , for example , is a monarj;;hist as a matter of principle: ing what vast sums had been expended , the voter s asked themselves:
he was born and brought up one and he believes that monarchy is best Who got it all? Why didn t they give me my fair share?
102 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY A PREDICTIVE HYPOTHESIS 103
No amoral familist ever gets what he regards as his fair share. Addo s switch from Christian Democrat to Communist and back
14.In a society of amoral familists the voter wi ll place little again to Christian Democrat is to be explained in this way. The priest
confidence in the promises of the parties. He will be apt to use his in Addo was slightly mad. Some of his eccentricities nobody minded
ballot to pay for favors already received (assuming, of course , that (he arrayed himself as a cardinal and required a chicken as part pay-
more are in prospect) rather than for favors which are merely p ro- ment for a marriage), but when he left town a few days before the elec-
mised. tion taking with him thepasta , sugar , and other election- day presents
Thus Prato , in the statement quoted apove , attaches weight to that had been sent them from the Vatican, the voters of Addo were out-
past performance rather than to promises. "All the parties make raged. Afterward , a new priest soon made matters right.
promises , he says. " The Christian Democratic party had a chance 16. Des pite the willi ~ness of voters to sell their votes, there
and it has done a great deal. Why change?" And thus the writer will be no strong or stable political machines in a society of amoral
the letter quoted in Chapter One , after describing the enthusiasm familists. This will be true for at least three reasons: (a) the ballot
with which the new mayor was received after Spomo s defeat , remarks being secret, the amoral voter cannot be depended upon to vote as he
significantly, " We will wait and see. has been paid to vote; (b) there will not be enou gh short-run material
The principle of paying for favors received rather than fo r ones gain from a machine to attract investment in it; and (c) for reasons
merely promised gives a great advantage to the party in power , of explained above, it will be difficult to maintain fo rmal organization of
course. Its effect , however, is often more than offset by another y kind whatever.
principle , as follows: Prato says " Yes "
to all who ask for his vote. Since they cannot
15. In a societ y of a,moral familists it will be assumed that trust him to vote as he promises , none of the paTties will offer to buy
whatever group is in power is self-serving and corrupt. Hardly will his vote. The pasta and sugar that are distributed by the parties are
an election be over before the voters will conclude that the new offi good-will offerings rather than bribes. The amOUl"'..ts given are , of
cials are enriching themselves at their expense and that they have no course , trivial in comparison to what would be paid if there were
intention of keeping the promises they have made. Consequently, the some way of enforcing the contract.
self-serving voter will use his ballot to pay the incumbents not for ben- 17. In a socie ty of amoraL:fclrnilists. party workers will sell
efits but for injuries , i.e., he will use it to administer punishment their services to the highest bidders. Their tendency to change si des
Even though he has more to gain from it than from any other will make for sudden shifts in strength of the parties at the p olls. 6
the voter may punish a party if he is confident that it will be elected That voter behavior in the Montegrano district is closely sim-
despite his vote. The ballot being secret, he can indulge his taste much of rural Italy is suggested by the data in an
ilar to that in
for revenge (or justice) without incurring losses. (Of course there undated report by the Office of Intelligence Research , based on
data secured by International Research Associates, Inc., of
is some danger that too many will calculate in this way, and that the New York , which includes " profiles " of the political situation
election will therefore be lost by error. ) in 76 communes ranging in size from 200 to 7 000 electors and
, "
104 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

The sudden conversion of the secretary of the Montegrano branch
of the Monarchist Party to Communist occurred because Monarchist
headquarters in Naples was slow in paying him for his services. When
he turned Communist , the Monarchists made a settlement. He then
returned to his duties as if nothing had happened.
The communes described are those

located in all parts of Italy.
in which Communism made its greatest gains or suffered its
greatest losses in the 1953 elections. The data was gathered
in field interviews in which citizens were asked to explain the
voting shift in their communes. The report shows that local
economic issues were by far the most important cause of the
voting shifts. Economic doctrine , it shows , was of little im-
portance. National issues--e. g., monarchy, the church , for-
eign policy--were of even less importance. " Next to economic
causes , the report says significant changes in the voting
pattern appear to have been caused by corruption , graft, injus-
tice (real or fancied), and fa,ilure to fulfill promises.
:. ~\,
"
CHAPTER SIX
ETHOS IN PRACTICE
The value of the hypothesis offered at the beginning of the last
chapter does not depend upon the possibility of showing that all , or
even any, of the people of Montegrano consciously follow the rule
action set forth there. For the hypothesis to be useful , it need only
be shown that they act as if they follow the rule. 1
In fact , however , insofar as it is not habitual , behavior in Mon-

tegrano is based upon sentiments, values , beliefs , and ideas which
are consistent with the rule and which can be reduced to it. In this
chapter , these elements of the ethos will be described as they enter

into the behavior of the Montegranesi. But , of course, in Montegra-
, as everywhere else , there is some discrepancy between " real"
and " ideal" behavior-- between " " and " ought" In the next chapter
the description of sentiments; values, beliefs , and ideas will continue
but there the emphasis will be upon ethos as a set of standards which
have little relation to practice.
The individual' s attachment to the family must be the starting
place for an account of the Montegrano ethos. In fact , an adult hardly
may be said to have an individuality apart from the family: he exists
not as " ego " but as " parent" In most of the 320 stories told by 16
The methodological point involved here is discussed by Milton

Friedman in Essays in Positive Economics , University of Chi-
cago Press, 1953 , p. 19.
107 -
. ' ,'
108 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY ETHOS IN PRACTICE 109
peasants who were given thematic apperception tests, 2 the central Geppetto s struggles to set Pinocchio upon the right road typify
character was explicitly, and from the standpoint of the plot usually what is for the Montegranesi a fundamental and universal preoccupa-
gratuitously, defined as a father or mother , son or daughter. Just as tion. 3
fairy stories begin, "Once upon a time there was a king. . . "
Montegrano TAT stories begin "Once upon
so in
a time there was a father...

II
I /!
No matter how hard the parents struggle , the family may sud-
!idenly be destroyed or reduced to beggary. The peasant expects some
If the storyteller wishes to create strong sympathy for his character I dreadful calamity to befall it at any moment. In his view a mountain
he describes him as a poor man who has many children and works hard of woe hangs over it by a slender thread. Ninety percent of the TAT
to support them , or , if the character is a woman , as a poor widow stories told by Montegrano people had themes of calamity or misfor-
with only one child. tune; in some stories the calamities and misfortunes were averted; in
The family consists of father, mother, and their unmarried chil- many more they were not. Only two or three of the 320 stories were
dren. There are relatives course , but they are not part
of of the positively happy in tone.
family in the strict (and therefore narrow) sense. Here , for example , is the " picture " which Prato s wife " saw
The adult individual , then , is thought of as a parent bringing up on a blank card. All Montegrano people who were tested told some
children. In Montegrano this is viewed as--and is in fact--a hard and similar stories ending in death and disaster.
unremitting struggle. Parents must work desp~rately merely to keep A woman is watching a dead child with grief. There was a
the family alive. But they have an obligation also to " set the children family--very poor--which lived by the work i:!-nd sacrifice of the
parents. They had only one child and consequently loved him
on the right road" , i. e., to put them in a position to marry and have immensely and for him made all of the sacrifices. But one day
children of their own. This necessitates continued " sacrifices " for
he fell ill. They believed it was nothing, but instead the illness
did not pass and in fact became worse. In order to save him,
the sake of the children. ("There was a poor man who had many chil- the parents spent the little they had , but the doctors were use-
less. After illness he died , leaving the
dren and who made many sacrifices to set them on the right road. . . " five or six months
parents in pain and misery.
of
TAT stories characteristically begin. ) Children are naturally lazy and Normal people in other cultures when given the same test do not
wayward; all the homilies , scoldings , and beatings an indulgent parent show themselves so preoccupied with calamity. In the following table
gives them may not suffice to set them on the right road. Parents,
the responses of the Montegranesi are compared with those of farm
therefore , must struggle to overcome their children s natural insta- laborers in the Rovigo region of northern Italy and with those of farm
bility. ("This poor man had a son who paid no attention to his father
advice... The author of the Pinocchio story was a northern Italian and
what has been said of the Montegrano ethos so far seems to ap-
ply to the north no les sthan the south. Ten peaSRnts in the
province of Rovigo (region of Veneto) who were given the same
See footnote 10 , Chapter Three , p. 65.
TAT showed a similar , although less marked , tendency to see
every situation in terms of family.
110 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY ETHOS IN PRACTICE III
people in Kansas. All the 16 Montegranesi tested told stories ending The people of Montegrano are aware of their extreme apprehen-
in calamity and the average number of such stories told was 8. siveness and even have a name for it. PreoccuEazione is a state of
10 northerners , nine told an average of 2. 9 such stories. Of 30 rural mingled worry, fear , anxiety, and foreboding. One may be J;'reoccu-
Kansans , only 19 told stories ending in calamity, and the average num- pato with regard to some particular matter , even one of not much im-
ber of such stories told by them was only 1. portance. But the word is most often used to refer to chronic, diffuse
fear for the welfare of the family. What if a storm should destroy the
Table 3. TAT Stories Havin g Themes o fc;alamity or Misfortune
crops? Or if one or both of the parents should die? The peasant
Southern Northern Rural
Italy 1 Italy Kansas
thinks that the heavy burden of worry he bears is a defining character-
Calamit ; story ends in death, istic of his class. But actually the gentleman is alsop.!'egccUj)ato.
insanity, or blighting of all What will happen to his family if he cannot find dowries for his daughter?
hope.
Misfortune; story ends with
Table 4. TAT Stories Ending in Death , by Cause ()f C;al~Il1ity
injury of "hero , los s of money, Percent of All Stories
death of livestock , etc. Ending in Calamity
Calamity or misfortune averted Southern Northern
or mitigated ; story deals with a Cause of Calamity alian-~ Italian-
escape , fears that prove un-
founded , tribulation followed The Natural Order
eventual success or alleviation. 1. Illness and other natural causes
Safety; th~ story is not neces- War
sarily happy but there is no
theme of peril. Mischance (hunting, accident, attack
by animal , etc.
Unclassifiable ; fragmentary or
purely descriptive All
ALL 100 100 100 B. Act of Man
4. Malevolent or criminal act
320 stories by 16 persons (seven married couples and two youths) in
Montegrano; all laborers. Complete Murray test of each respondent. 5. Act promoted by love or lust;
infideli ty
200 stories by 10 persons (five married couples) in the province of All
Rovigo (bounded by Verona, Padova , and Venice); all laborers. Com-
plete Murray test of each respondent. Unclassifiable
386 stories by 30 persons (15 married couples) in Vinland , Kansas;
farm owners. The following Murray cards: I , 2, 3BM and GF , 4, Total 100 100
5, 6BM and GF , 10 , II , 13, 16 , 18BM and GF , 19 and 20. (136 stories) (26 stories)
* *

As Table 4 sho.ws , the Mo.ntegrano peasant seems to. fear nature Only the interventian af Gad , the believer thinks , will restrain
mare than man. The fear af death fram natural causes is particularly the mad fury af events , establish a few maments af arder and predic-
strang in him. So. few staries ending in calamity were tald by nartherners tability, and so. set up the canditians under which successful effart be-
that little significance can be attached to. this part af the tabulatian; so. co.mes pas sible. When Pasqualina starts the day, she says, "Christ,
far as the evidence gaes, hawever , it suggests that the nartherners apen the daar far me this day. " She says this because she has few
think calamity is mare likely to. came fram man than fram nature. means and must therefare depend upan Gad' s help. She kno.WS that He
is aware af her canditian and that , in fact, her conditian is the result
af His will. Whatever happens, she is in Gad I shands. Nathing carnes
to. her withaut Gad' s help:
In such a fearful wo.rld a parent cannat caunt an achieving any- This year we planted three to.mali and we expected to. get
fo.urteen ar fifteen. We gat five. But every year we go. an plan-
thing by his o.wn effart and enterprise. The canditians and means af ting, trusting that Gad will nat turn his back an us. And so. we
success are all beyand his cantral. He may struggle to. get ahead , but go. an every year, haping far the best and far His help.
in the end he will prabably be crushed by the insane fury af events. When Gad wards aff calamity, ability and initiative caunt far
Here , far example , is the stary which Paala tald abaut a blank card: samething. Pasquale and his wife buy fertilizer every year " so. that
This picture shaws a lavely hause with a garden and small if Christ shauld give us a gaad year we wauld have do.ne aur part. "
fauntain in frant. There was a man who. with much effart and But since ane cannat kno.w in advance whether Gad will intervene ar
many sacrifices succeeded in making a small pile. He baught
a bit af land and at the same time cantinued to. wo.rk hard and to. nat , life is no. less a gamble than if He did nat exist ar never inter-
pro.fit. Then with many sacrifices he succeeded in building the vened. Whatever we have co.mes fram Christ" , Pasquale says, adding
hause, very beauteaus and cammadiaus. But he was nat able to.
enjay it because just as it was being finished he unexpectedly in the next breath , "In spite af all , we are always beaten to. the gro.und.
died. Gambling that Christ might favar them , he and his wife have baught
So.me-- but by no. means all--o.f the Mantegranesi laak to. the saints fertilizer year after year and naw they are deeply in debt..
and to. Gad to. ward aff calamity. A peasant waman whase life cansists Many af the Mantegranesi are nat religiaus. Gad exists, no. daubt,
af a daily walk dawn a cauntry lane to. her field and back again thanks / and it wauld be unseemly no.t to. pay Him respect. But there is no. use
Gad far His mercy in aiding her to. make the trip in safety: trying to. gain His pratectian ar favar by right behaviar ar even by warship, 4
Every marning when I wake up I thank Go.d far having braught
us to. a new day, and at night when I carne back fram the caun- When he saws the first handful af wheat, Prato. says , "In the
try with the gaat and the pig and the lamb and the children, I name af Gad. " With the last handful he says , "Graw! Graw!"
go. to. bed and I thank Gad that he has braught us to. the end af If there is a dry spell the priest prays far rain. With the
anather day. . . that the day is aver and withaut harm. first cut af the sickle, Prato. says, " In the name ~f G~d. " In
his apinian, hawever , these farmulae have nathing to. do. with
the success o.f the harvest: " When the air is the right temper-
ature it rains , prayer ar no. prayer. " He caunts himself a
religiaus man , nevertheless , and thinks it is a gaad thing to.
pray even thaugh praying makes no. practical difference.
... , " , " * *
God is like luck , and if luck could be managed by intention , it would

not be luck. 5
Great success, then , is obtained by the favor of the saints or

In the Montegrano view , the brutal and
the conditions of life--
by luck , certainly not by thrift , work , and enterprise. These may be
enseless conditions of life-- determine how men will behave. In
important if one is already lucky, but not otherwise , and few would fearful a world , a parent must do all he can to protect his family.
invest large amounts of effort--any more than they would invest large must preoccupy himself exclusively with its interesse . The interesse
amounts of fertilizer - -on the rather remote pos sibility of good for- of the family is its material , short-run advantage. 7 The tireless and
tune. 6
cunning pursuit of advantage cannot be depended upon to secure the
The idea that one s welfare depends crucially upon conditions welfare of the family: the threat of calamity hangs over all, even the
beyond one s control--upon luck or the caprice of a saint--and that
unsleeping. But, little as it may count against the overwhelming un-
one can at best only improve upon good fortune, not create it-- this certainties of the universe, the pursuit of interesse is at least some-
idea must certainly be a check on initiative. Its influence on economic
thing-- perhaps the only thing-- the individual can do to give a measure
life is obvious: one who lives in so capricious a world is not likely of protection to his family.
to save and invest in the expectation of ultimate gain. In politics , too
In the Montegrano mind , any advantage that may be given to
it must have an effect. Where everything depends upon luck or Divine another is necessarily at the expense of one s own family. 8 Therefore
intervention, there is no point in community action. The community,
like the individual , may hope or pray, but it is not likely to take its The word " interesse " has the same meanings as the English
destiny into its own hands. word " interest" , viz., both " advantage " and " exc. tement of
feeling or attentior. . However , among the peasants of Monte-
grano , it is used in the first sense only. An interview schedule
"In Calabria , McDonald comments in a personal communica- asked What is the farthest you have ever been from Montegra-
tion, " ritual is a way of earning supernatural patronage and a no?" and then What interested you most there?" The reply
favorable course of events. However , since the moral side of to the second question was always either an explanation of why
Christianity is not stressed and there is no measuring rod for it was to the individual' s advantage to go there or of how he hap-
predicting one s worthiness (priests are not held to be sure ar-
biters and exemplars of behavior), there can be little confidence
in the us efulnes s of ritual for attaining grace and good fortune. "
military service).
pened to go there without having any reason of advantage (e. g.,
Compare this with the Calvinist view described by Max Weber Norman Douglas was struck by this in Calabria forty years ago.
in cit. , p. 109: " the wonderfully purposeful Here life is give and take , and lucky he who takes more than
urganization and arrangement of this cosmos is , according both
he gives; it is what Professor Mahaffy calls the ingrained sel-
to the revelation of the Bible and to natural intuition , evidently fishness of the Greek character. Speaking of all below the upper
designed by God to serve the utility of the human race. This classes , I should say that disinterested benevolence is apt to
makes labour in the service of impersonal social usefulne surpass their comprehension , a good-natured person being re-
pear to promote the glory of God and hence to be willed by Him. " garded as weak in the head. Has this man , then, no family, that
(Italics added. J he should bfi!nefit strangers? Or is he one of nature s unfortu-
-- ;;, p.

one cannot afford the luxury of charity, which is giving others more that her interesse was not identical with that of her father , mother
than their due , or even of justice, which is giving them their due. The
and brother:
world being what it is, all those who stand outside of the small circle
of the family are at least potential competitors and therefore also po- It was Giovanni' s lamb , and he felt so bad he lay down by it
and cried all night. My father cried too. We all did. Even I
tential enemi e Toward those who are not of the family the reasonable because we might have used it for the festa when I get married.
attitude is suspicion. The parent knows that other families will envy
Marriages are normally for interesse and , until the vows have
and fear the success of his family and that. they are likely to seek to do
it injury. He must therefore fear them and be ready to do them injury been said , there is profound distrust on both sides of the bargain. Here
in order that they may have less power to injure him and his. is Prato s account of his courtship:
Even within the family solidarity is not complete or symmetrical.
In 1935 I was old enough to marry. My sisters wanted me to
Until they are ready for marriage , the children are expected to subor- take a wife because they had no time to do services for me.
dinate their wishes to the interesse of the family. Prato , for example,
At that time there was a law that anyone who was 25 years old
had to give up learning the shoemaker s trade after two years appren- and not married had to pay a ' celibacy ' tax of 125 lire That a-
ticeship in order to earn money for his sister s dowry; from the stand- mount was much , if we recall that to earn it you had to work 25
days. I thought it over and finally decided to marry.
point of the family, it was more important that she make a good mar-
riage than that he become an artisan. The claims of the family On the My present wife was at that time working with relatives of my
employer. Once I stopped her and asked her to marry me, and
child weaken as it approaches adulthood , however , and by the time of she liked the idea too ,
but I had to tell it before her father.
marriage he or she is preoccupied with the interesse of the family of was happy to accept me , and we talked about what she had to bring
(as dowry) and what I had to do.
procreation which is in prospect and ready to subordinate that of the
old family of orientation to it. Thus Maria Prato , telling of the acci- He asked me to bring my mother to call so that everything
would be fine. The next time I brought my mother , and we had a
dental st:rangulation of her younger brother s lamb, made it clear nice feast. When I wanted to meet my fianc e'e I had to ask the
boss ' permission.
nates--soft-witted? Thus they argue. They will do acts of spon-
taneous kindnes s towards their family, far oftener than is cus- In 1937 I asked the girl and her family to hasten the marriage
tomary with us. But outside the narrow sphere, interesse (Odys- before I was 25 years old. The father told me that she was not
sean self-advantage) is the mainspring of their actions. Whence ready with the dowry. I asked him if at least we couldn t have the
their smooth and glozing manners towards the stranger , and civil marriage performed so as to escape the tax. We performed
those protestations of undying affection which beguile the unwary the civil ceremony on February 6 , 1938 , two months late, SO that
they wi sh to be forever in your good graces, for sooner or I had to pay the tax for that year.
ter you may be of use; and if perchance you do content them
they will marvel (philosophically) at your grotesque generosity,
your lack of discrimination and restraint. Old Calabria , Hough-
ton Mifflin Co., New York , 19), 124.
Once my mother and I went to Addo to visit my father- in- law into tiny, widely scattered parcels occurs partly because of family
in order to discuss and establish definitely what they were going squabbles. For example , Prato s half-sister owns a patch of land
to give us (in the dowry). My mother wanted everything to be
conveyed through a notary. My father- in- law gave us one tomolo next to his. She cannot work it herself , but she will not sell or rent
of land and my mother gave the little house, but she reserved it to him, and consequently it lies idle. If peasants were generally
for her self the right to use it. Everything was written on official
tax-stamp paper by the notary. As soon as my wife was ready on good terms with their siblings , it might be possible in some cases
with the dowry the church marriage was set for August 25, 1938.
to rationalize the distribution of land by a series of exchanges.
At the time a new family is established , attachments to the old Even when there is no falling out between them, the son s at-
Ones weaken. The wedding arrangements provide opportunities for the tachment to his parents all but dissolves when he marries. Once he
bride and groom to get on bad terms with their in- laws. Prato s auto- has a wife and children of his own , it is not expected that he will COn-
biography continues: cern himself with the welfare of his parents , unless , perhaps , they are
Before that I went to visit my father- in- law to make plans for nearly starving. As a laborer explained
the wedding party and for getting from one town to another.
wife s mother was dead and she had a step-mother. The step- My family never did anything for me and I never did anything
mother was haughty and she asked me how I was going to bring for any of them. If they happen to be at my house and there is
the daughter from Addo to Montegrano. I said , 'I will hire one bread I offer them some. If I go to their house and there is
car and you get another 50 we can go to Montegrano. ' But she bread they offer it to me. I am too poor to be doing anything
scoffed. for anyone.
I went to Addo with a car on the day set, and we got married No such problem of relationship arises with uncles, aunts, cou-
in the church. After that my wife and I got in the car and 50 did
some other people. My parents- in- law were left out and they sins, and more distant relatives. They are not in a position to make
were angry with me. But it was not my fault; they could have demands and 50 there is no special need for protection against them.
taken another car.
One is on a more intimate basis with them than with non-relatives, but
When a man marries he often ceases to be on good terms with a
in the usual case an uncle or cousin would not enter a house uninvited
parent, brothers or sisters , or with his whole paternal family. Before
and a peasant would not leave a key with a relative when going to the
his marriage Prato gave his earnings to his mother to help provide a
fields.
dowry for a half-sister. Afterward he and the half- sister were on the
worst possible terms and for a long time he did not speak to his unit and rarely act collectively, not only for situational consid-
mother. erations but for one reason or another members of one s kindred
may be at odds with each other. A case ln point is that offive
III will serves the useful function of protecting the new family middle-aged siblings. four sisters and a brother. One of the sis-
But it also pre- ters is on speaking terms with the brother alone, 50 that for her
I against demands that might be made upon it by the old. children, relationships with their four aunts and cousins are
\ vents cooperation among members of the family. 9 The division of land
more restricted than they would be ordinarily. L~nd Tenure and
Family Organization in an Italian Villag , PhD dissertation , Har-
In his study of a peasant community near Rome, Donald S. Pit- vard University, 1954, p. 194.
kin remarks that relatives (parenti) "do not constitute an isolated
In principle there is a close and unbreakable bond between the
Friends are luxuries that the Montegranesi feel they cannot af-
individual and his godparents (compare and comare): those who stand ford. Prato , for example , pairs off with a certain man when they work
with one at the altar become spiritual parents and- - in principle - -one
on the same job , but he does not see this man off the job and
he does
must love and revere them under all circumstances. According to not consider him a special friend. What visiting the Pratos do is with
peasant opinion , one s godfather and godmother ought to be regarded
the parents of their prospective son- in- law , and these visits take place
and to regard themselves, as " second parents In fact , however , they only on special occasions like Easter. All of the peasants who were
are not expected to do more than take a friendly interest in the godchild
asked said that they have no special friends but that they " get along with!
offer him good counsel , and , if they can afford to , make him a small
everybody
1 gift at Christmas and at Easter. The godchild
, for his part , addresses Peasants sometimes exchange labor or make each other small
them with particular respect and brings them gifts on the holidays. It loans of bread or cash , but they do so from self- interest, not from char-
is bad form to have unpleasantness with one s compare or comare , but ity or fellow- feeling. No one expects help from another if the other
this does not always prevent one or both parties frorn predatory acts
stands to lose by helping. The peasant who works for another keeps a
against the other. Prato s autobiography, for example , includes this careful record of his hours. Even trivial favors create an obligation
passage:
and must be repaid. When a visiting social scientist said he planned to
At this time there was no work , taxes had to be paid , and my
family was growing. Once my leave the key to his house with a neighbor for a few days while he
compare asked me if I wanted to was
go work for him as a year-round hand. I was very glad to do so, away, his landlord pointed out that such a thing would be foolish.
You
and we agreed that he was to pay me three
quintals of grain a would needlessly create an obligation which you would have to repay. "
year , I , 000 lire a month , and my food. He promised that since
my family was growing he would give me the " family allowance As the Montegranesi see it , friends and neighbors are not only
A year passed and I didn t see the allowance. He kept telling me
potentially costly but potentially dangerous 'as well.
it was the fault of the Social Security Office. No family, they
In such a case as this, many-- but by no means all-- Montegranesi think , can stand to see another prosper without feeling envy
and wishing
would submit to being cheated rather than go to law with a godparent. the other harm. Friends and neighbors are , of course , peculiarly liable
fact , in selecting godparents , peasants take pains to find someone with to envy, both because they know more about one s business than do others
whom they are not likely to have business relations. To have a compare and because they feel themselves to be more directly in competitic-n.
with whom one cannot in decency go to law may put one , as Prato dis- The apprehensions people have of what may come from too close
covered , at a disadvantage. (It is an interesting sidelight on family attachments to friends and neighbors are suggested by the following TAT
relations that for this reason one does not choose a godparent from stories:
among close relatives: it is taken for granted that one is likely to have There were two fathers of families who loved eacJt other very
much and always worked together for the welfare of their fami-
lawsuits or other unpleasantness with them. lies. One day there was some wage work and they planned to-
gether how they could get it. They succeeded and the work began
--- * * , " (~-
ETHOS IN PRACTICE 123
very well but then between the two of them jealousy began to more upon self- interest than upon any sense of obligation: a fellow-
grow so much that in the end they hated each other and finally
one day one of them killed the other and the two families were townsman is a person who one is sure to see many times again, a suf-
left in their misery. (7BM) ficient reason for treating him differently than others. Maria Prato
bought a sewing machine from a woman who was leaving Montegrano to
There was a poor man who had absolutely nothing and found live in Rome. The machine turned out to be defective, and Maria lost
himself in great misery. One day someone gave him two pigeons
and he, instead of eating them , tried to raise them and , iri fact, what was for her a large sum, Since we are ~_sani" , she said indig-
he raised them very well. He becam~ the subject of envy when
he had reached this happy state. And one of the envious ones one
nantly, " she should have spoken clearly to me. She should have said
day poisoned a little grain and threw it to all the pigeons who all 'The machine has this defect. ' She knew of the defect and was able to
died, leaving the poor man in his misery as before. (19) hide it when she demonstrated the machine in her house. If it had been
I who was selling the machine I would have sa- , 'We are paesani. This
There was a widow who had five children. In order to support
them she succeeded in finding a job in a bakery. So with this machine is not for you. ' And I would have sold it to an outsider
labor things went well. Some of the neighbors , however , had a ti~re " Maria s understanding of the conventions was correct, but she
great envy for this woman and , in fact , they ruined her. One day left out of account the fact that the woman who was moving would not
while she was a little distance from the ovens somebody threw
some poison into the dough so that many persons who ate the have to suffer the normal consequences of acting unconventionally, i.e.,
bread became ill. And it was decided that the woman had done she would not encounter Maria or the other townspeople again.
this. She was thrown out of the bake shop, put in jail, and had to
leave her ,children on the street, (17GF) Aside from the need to protect his family from envy and from
One can protect one s family from the envy of friends by not having claims on its resources , the Montegranese has a strong reason to avoid
any. But one cannot avoid having neighbors. Moreover , there is always close attachments. He is afraid that his women may be seduced. He
the possibility that one may have an urgent need of them-- the house may does not permit a companion to get on familiar terms with his household
catch on fire or it may be necessary for someone to run for the midwife. 10. When Paolo heard of Maria s misfortune he said that he himself
Accordingly, relations among neighbors are generally good. (That it is had sold a machine of the same model and with the same defect
to someone from Basso. " It was wrong for that woman to sell the
the need neighbors have of each other which makes relations good is seen
machine to Maria , he remarked,
from the fact that when one moves into another part of town the ex- But why did you sell a defective machine to a woman of Basso?"
neighbors soon cease to greet each other when they meet on the street. he was asked by the visiting social scientist.
Because , he explained patiently, " the foresti~re buys it and
However , one takes the precaution of tempting one s neighbors as little goes off. It is his problem after that. But if I sell it to a paesa
tist persisted.
as possible: a piece of sausage or an egg is carried home under the
what can I do? I see him every day. It would not be good. "
But is it right to steal from a foresti~re ?" the social scien-
apron so that they will not see it and become envious.
Being a fellow- townsman (E.~_sano) is not an important tie except Ah" , said Paolo That is not stealing. He tries to gYP
and I try to gyp him. It is a different matter altogether. E un
possibly when outsiders are involved:" The tie , in any case , is based imbroglio. "
* *

because he would take advantage of his first opportunity. So would a to the use of defensive weapons, especially stubborness , suspicion
relative or a godfather. "Keep the closest watch on cousins and god- secrecy, and lying.
fathers , is the protective male s maxim. As a rule , however , both in Montegrano and among intellectuals
who write about southern Italian society, differences in style of behav-
ior are seen not as variations On a single theme but as altogether dis-
tinct characters , characters which are formed by class position.

Among the gentry self- interest is not universally material advan- The peasant lays great stress on class differences and imagines
tage in the short-run. A few gentlemen would probably be willing to that the upper class is a conspiracy against him. Obviously, he thinks
make some sacrifice of material goods to obtain prestige, public rec- . there are differences of interesse between rich and poor. It follows
ognition, " glory Under the right circumstances this motivation might that the rich will be quick to pursue their interesse and that in doing so
be politically important. At present it is not, for in Montegrano there they will exploit the poor; to hi s mind it would not be reasonable or
are no opportunities to obtain glory in any manner whatever. At pres- natural for them to do otherwise.
ent then , the gentry are as exclusively preoccupied with material ad- In general the peasant is correct in imputing his motivations to
vantage as are the peasants, and so it is approximately correct to say the gentry. But he err s in attributing to them an energy and an ability
that amoral familism is the ethos of the whole society--of the upper to act in concert , which they do not possess. For example , some peas-
class as well as of the lower. 11 ants think that the school has not been improved because the gentry in-
There are , however , some important differences in the strategies tend to keep them illiterate in order to exploit them more readily. This
open to the various classes for the expression of the common ethos. argument assumes , of course , that the gentlemen are foresighted
Artisans , merchants , clerks , landowners , and professionals all have enough to make provision now for a situation which will exist 20 or 30
opportunities of one kind or another to take the offensive against each years hence , and that they have talked the matter over and have agreed
other and against the peasant; they are " exploiters " because they have upon a policy. In fact, the upper class, however selfish it may be in
the pos sibility of being such. The peasant , especially the landless one, its attitude toward the peasant, is not capable of such effective action
is altogether without power. As one of them said sadly, "Only the peas- in this or any other matter.
ant has no one from whom he can steal." He is restricted by necessity An even more fantastic allegation-- but one which is interesting
for this very reason as an example of how fa r the peasant thinks the
11. McDonald comments that in Calabria " homogeneous values are gentry will go in pursuit of their opposed interesse is that the town
shared by all classes; differences of behavior between the classes
are more a function of the distribution of social and technological officials deliberately suppressed a supply of circulars whieh told how
power than of different value systems; worker-cultivator norms to emigrate to America. If any such circulars existed , the reason they
imply higher class behavior.
were not distributed was almost certainly ordinary indifference and
incompetence. That, however , was not Pasquale I s view of the matter:
They hid the circulars so that no one could go: They are a- This, of course , is mostly myth. The peasant' s secretiveness
fraid that if a worker goes to America he will get rich there and
come back as a tourist and be in a better position than they are. is by no means " instinctive ; he is willing to talk freely of h).s affairs
They wouldn t be the top dogs any more. Also, they are afraid w en 1t 1S to 1S a vantage to a so.
that if too many families leave there will be nothing left for them
to do. .. no one left to work--and if no one works , how will they To both sides , then, the gentry and the peasants , the war of all
eat? For it' s the peasant who does the work. against all appears as a class war. Intellectuals who study the southern
In the upper class view , the peasant has a specific character which Italian society, influenced as all intellectuals must be by Marx, are
is to be explained by his class position. Be is stubborn , suspicious prone to the same error.
secretive, and crafty. He never tells the truth. Dr. Gino describes
with pained amusement the behavior of peasants who have known him all
their lives and have always been well treated by him. They come to him
with the greatest suspicion--as if by coming they were serving his pur-
poses, not theirs--and lie about their symptoms. Women , the doctor
says, are especially apt to conceal their ailments from him. When he
asks where it hurts they say, " Here But they wince when they are
touched somewhere else. It hurts here?" he will ask. , they
will say. And so finally he has to guess.
They are so suspicious that if I were to visit them profes sion-

ally and give them something, they would begin to wonder just
how much the government is paying me that I can afford to come
to their houses and give things away.
As the gentry sees it , the peasant' s suspiciousness is a hangover
from centuries of oppression. There was a time (presumably now past)
when he had to be suspicious to survive; suspiciousness , accordingly,
sons , the father concludes , "if someone asks you how many
has become deeply ingrained in his character-- in fact , instinctive. goats your father has, the answer is , you don t know.
Now he will not tell the truth under any circumstances.
13. The inve-stigators had no difficulty getting ' answers from peasants.
12. Dr. Gino tells a story about a peasant father who throws his hat Upper class people were more reserved. From the standpoint
upon the ground. "What did I do?" he asks one of his sons. of the peasant there was nothing to be feared from giving infor-
You threw your hat upon the ground" , the son answers, where- mation to " the Americans ; they came from , and would soon
upon the father strikes him. He picks up his hat and asks another return to, a different world. Moreover , many smaY favors and
son, "What did I do?" " You picked up your hat" , the son replies some large ones were to be had by cooperating. For the upper
and gets a blow in his turn. " What did I do?" the father asks the class , however , the situation was entirely different. For them
third son. "I don t know , the smart
one replies. "Remember America was not so far away; who could tell how their informa-
tion might be used? And for the upper class, who could not ac-
cept small loans and handouts of food and old clothes, there was
no material incentive to cooperate.
/.~' .,
~.:;" :~;.
.. .;=:~' : "~
CHAPTER SEVEN
ETHOS IN PRINCIPLE
How men behave and how they should behave are different
matters. In the Montegrano view , a man is under the necessity of
~I , contending against brutal and capricious nature for the survival of
his family. He must, therefore , be preoccupied with the interesse
of the family and ready to do those things-- including those ungenerous
and unjust things--which will serve its advantage. Knowing that all
other men are under the same necessity, he must fear their aggres-
sion and protect himself against it by remaining aloof or by striking
first when that can be done safely.
Montegrano s conception of how men should behave has of
course been influenced by the Catholic Church. It would be a mistake
however , to suppose that the Montegrano view is even approximately
that of the church.
The Montegranesi get little religious instruction. A peasant
grandmother tells her grandchildren the stories of miracles and sa-
cred things which she heard from her grandmother. At six a child
learns his catechism , a meagre list of questions and answers which
is likely to be forgotten soon after the priest has given a simple test.
In school an hour a week is devoted to religion. In later life the indi-
vidual , if he goes to church--and many do not-- hears simple ser-
mons: the priest says, for example, that to be a good tatholic one
must love God , obey the laws of the church, and do right. On saints
days speakers sometimes come from Naples and Potenza to tell about
the saint whose holiday it is.
- 129 -
, " , "
130 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY ETHOS IN PRINCIPLE 131

This is the extent of the ordinary person s religious training. These judgments are made on practical grounds: no one has
Those few who could read the Bible are not discouraged from doing so heard of any noteworthy miracles performed recently by God; this or
but they are not encouraged either. A few peasant women have prayer that saint, on the other hand , has shown himself to be able and willing
books or the gospels , but most homes contain no religious literature. to afford protection (it is always protection that is asked) in a special
Every peasant has his children baptized but (according to a Mon- class of matters. Some peasants even believe that certain saints are
tegrano priest) most of them--especially the men-- do not take s~ri- more powerful than God.
ously the idea of life after death. They b~lieve there may be some The differences among the saints, or between the saints and God
kind of an after-world but that, whatever its nature , it will be the same are believed to be more in power and accessibility than in character.
for all. The hope of heaven and the fear of hell do not move them. Like God , the saints are capricious and demanding: however devotedly
For the typical peasant , God (or Christ, the terms are used one serves them , one cannot be sure of their favor.
interchangeably) is not a spirit of loving kindness or even of firm jus- The relation between the believer and God (saint or madonna) is
tice. He is a demanding and capricious overlord. He may not notice characteristically based on the interesse of each. One party wants to
one at all. If He does , He may distribute bounty or catastrophe ac- be honored with candles and masses. The other wants protection.
cording to whim. he has a dream which he interprets as a warning or if he is in a situ-
Many think of God as a hostile, aggressive force which must be ation which is particularly risky-- if his pig is sick , for example-- the
propitiated. A young woman , very angry with her father for getting peasant may think it wise to buy help from one who can perform mir-
drunk and making it necessary for her to leave a festa to take him acle s. He is careful , of course, not to pay until the miracle has been
home , sobbed What do I have to do to satisfy Christ? He never
does any nice things for me , and He always does these bad things to fetid town in the valley; his vogue may have spread to Monte-
grano from there.
me. I don t know what to do to satisfy Him. Five Madonnas are honored in Montegrano, and for some
Some Montegranesi pray more to the saints than people the connection between them and the mother of Christ
to God. Can- is extremely vague. (When a Montegrano boy who had studied
dIes are rarely left before the main altar; most people think it more for the priesthood attempted to explain to an old woman that
economical to leave them before the statue of a saint or madonna. there is only one Madonna , she laughed at him. " You studied
1 with the priests for eight years , she said and you haven
The most popular saint is S. Antonio di Padova , who in Mon- even learned the differences between the Madonnas! " ) The
Madonnas are: whose miracles
tegrano (but not elsewhere!) is the protector of animals and (1) the Madonna of Pompei,
are well known in Montegrano; (2) the Madonna of Carmine
thus of the peasant himself. S. the protector of
Pasquale is
women; those who are concerned about making a good marri- whose feast is celebrated in a nearby town; (3) the Madonna
age--and therefore plain girls especially-- bring candles to of Peace , who is honored in Montegrano with a feast and with
him. S. Giovanni Battista is the protector of the town; he is a statue erected after World War I and to whom mothers prayed
worshipped on public occasions. S. Rocco , the protector a- for their sons at war; (4) the Madonna of Assunta , the protec-
tress of one of the Montegrano churches; and (5) the Madonna
gainst plagues, is the most pop-
1.11ar saint in nearby Basso , a Addolorata , most commonly identified with the mother of Christ.
* * ,,*

performed; presumably he thinks that if the Deity were paid in advance In relation to the first of these statuses, goodness consists in
He would not perform His part of the bargain since He could not be working and sacrificing for the sake of the family, in giving the chil-
penalized. If my pig does not die before I sell him , the peasant dren the counsel they need to set them on the right road, and in being
says, " then I will give S. Antonio two candles. faithful to one s mate. (Faithfulnes s is of absolute importance in
The priests are of course distressed at the peasants ' impiety, women; it is not equally important in men, but it is not unimportant
but there is little they can do about it. If a priest reproaches him for either. )
placing candles before a saint instead of wcHshipping God , the peasant In relation to the other status , that of outsider-who-may-affect-
pays no attention; he thinks that the priest is acting on a mere whim family, goodness consists in not having to be feared. The good
the-
or that he has made some private deal with God by which , for favors man does not seduce another s wife or daughters, does not steal , and
received , he undertakes to get Him candles at the expense of the is not a troublemaker. The good woman is not covetous of her neigh-
saints. bors ' possessions and does not gossip. Stated positively, the good
person is amiable, minds his business , and does a favor for one in
need.
The following definitions of the good man or woman (the first
The ideas of right and wrong which are the peasant' s own (which four by men and the others by women) are representative of peasant
are not, that is , imposed upon him from the outside and imperfectly opinion:
assimilated by him) relate mostly to the central theme of his exis- Whoever goes stirring up people and doesn t leave them alone
or is always trying to cheat--and this may. be a man or a woman
tence: the family of procreation. Goodness and badness exist for him
is bad.Even in a discussion one can see quickly who is good
mainly in connection with two statuses , that of " parent" and that of and who is bad by their comportment when they speak. He also
outsider-who-may-affect- the- family. ,, is bad who seeing someone cross his land begins to yell and re-
prove them even when there is no injury. A woman is good if
she is honest (faithful) and minds her own business.
One who is not viewed as a parent or as an outsider-who-may-
affect- the- family is not judged at all. A group of peasants were
asked what sentences they would give to each of the following: a He is a good man who has never done harm to. anyone, treats
thief , an assassin , a swindler , a rapist, one who seduces a wife everyone with good will , and unites with friends and others.
or husband , an exploiter , and a prostitute. Savage sentences is bad , instead , who is haughty and is always looking out for his
were given to all except the prostitute. About half the respon- own affairs. A woman is bad who is mean to her husband and
dents would not punish her at all. " She is of no interest" , some above all , has a long tongue.
said. " It is her destiny , others said. The only one to give
the prostitute a severe sentence was a woman who remarked
These people ruin the family. " The comments of the others He is a good man who is worthy. That is , he is not haughty
showed that they felt the prostitute was the only one who did not and he is good with other people. A bad man is one who is dis-
represent a threat to the family.., courteous and who does not know how to be a friend to anyone.
,~*
~,*
'~"
A woman is good when she thinks of the affairs of her household who works hard , respects her husband , her family, and those
her husband , and her children. She is bad when she is a bad around her. A bad woman is one who is lazy and dirty and who
woman (unfaithful) or does not interest herself in her own af- is always mixing herself up in other people s affairs.
fairs. ' In an effort to discover the relative importance of certain values
(as well as the amount of consensus in the ordering of them) some peas-
He is a good man who interests himself in his family and ants were asked to express preferences between alternatives of the
thinks about the upbringing of his children and , further , who
does some good for other people poorer than himself who have following kind:
need. A woman is a good woman when she thinks about the wel-
Which is better:
fare of her family and bad when she betrays her husband or seeks
to instigate other bad things. 1. (a) she is anxious for her children to go to school and to
raise themselves and therefore she sometimes beats them , (b)
she is gentle and kind with her children and content to let them
A good man is one who is well disposed (has a buon animo), remain what they are.
who has good feelings and thoughts toward others,
worker-- is in fact all those things we think of as good. A bad
is a good 2. (a) he is a miser who works hard , (b) he is generous but
a loafer.
man is a man with an ugly temper--a delinquent , unpleasant. In
fact, when you say someone is bad you can mean many things-- 3. (a) he tries hard to improve his children 1 s position but
all the things we think of as bad. A good woman is a woman who he is proud , (b) he is not proud but he is content to let his chil-
is a good worker and virtuous. A ' bad woman ' can mean she is dren remain as they are.
bad in many senses. She may be a woman of the streets--a lost 4. (a) he married an ugly woman in order to get money for
woman as we say here--or she may be a malicious woman. his sisters ' dowries , (b) he married for love and let his sisters
stay single.
A good man is a man who does not speak evil of other people 5. (a) he provides poorly for his family but he is religious
does not say harsh things to people, gives good advice, and does (b) he is not religious but he provides well for his family.
not dishonor his family by going with other women. A man who
has a mistress is a bad man; he betrays his family and disgraces
Where--as in all of these choices-- qualities which would serve
his children. A man who steals or carries tales is a bad man. the advantage of the family had to be weighed against qualities which
A woman is good who respects the honor of her family, her hus- although valuable , would not serve it, there was a decided majority in
band , and her home by being faithful to her husband. An unmar-
ried girl who is loose is a bad woman. favor of the family-serving qualities.
The answers to the questions above were as follows:
A man or woman is good who demonstrates good will and Number Prefer Prefer Can
courteous toward others , is charitable when someone asks for Question Respondents Decide
something but, especially, minds his own business and doesn
criticize anyone or gossip. On the other hand bad man, it is a
or woman who breaks the eggs in someone else s basket.
A bad man is one who doesn~t. work , who goes to a wine cellar
every night, beats his wife , and steals. A goodwoman is one
On the other hand , when qualities which might offer a threat to Which is better:
the family were weighed against others which , although disliked , did 13. (a) he protects the honor of his sisters carefully, but he
not offer a threat to it, the preference was heavily in favor of the non- tries to seduce other people s sisters, (b) he does not try to se-
threatening qualities. For example duce girls and he is not very much concerned about his sisters
honor.
Which is better: 14. (a) he steals but he does not commit adultery, (b) he
6. (a) she is amiable but she covets her neighbor s posses- commits adultery but he does not steal.
sions, (b) she is often mean but she is not envious. 15. (a) she is a gossip but she works hard , (b) she is lazy
7. (a) she is avaricious but she never gos sips , (b) she gos- but she never gossips.
sips but she is generous. 16. (a) he steals now and then but he is not lazy, (b) he never
8. (a) she gos sips but she is never cruel , (b) she is some- steals but he doesn t like work.
times cruel but she never gossips. 17. (a) he neglects his father and mother but he does not
9. (a) he is avaricious but he is a loyal friend , (b) he is gen- steal , (b) he takes good care of his father and mother but he
erous but not especially loyal. steals often.
10. (a) he is pleasant and amiable but not steadfast, (b) he 18. (a) he is anxious to advance his children s position but
is a steadfast friend but often irritable and unpleasant. he is envious of his neighbors , (b) he is not envious but he is con-
11. (a) he is proud but he does not covet his neighbor s pos- tent to let his children remain what they are.
sessions, (b) he covets his neighbor s possessions but he is not Here the answers were as follows:
proud. Number Prefer Prefer Can
12. (a) he is honest but he curses the saints and the priests Question Respondents Decide
(b) he loves God but he is sometimes tricky.
The answers to these questions were as follows:
Number Prefer Prefer
Qu~ Respondents
Can
Decide
In comments accompanying their answers many made it clear

that they judged all questions by the single criterion of advantage or
threat to the family. No matter what the question or the answer , the
answer was likely to be justified by: "It is better for the family , or
Some questions posed a choice between alternatives in which it harms no one.
family-serving qualities were coupled with family- threatening ones. Whether a certain quality was regarded as family;;:serving or
Here , as one might expect, there was no consensus. Some people took family- threatening depended in some cases on how the respon-
one horn of the dilemma and some the other. For example: dent identified. Respondents making different identifications
-- ,' ':' " .. ',

ETHOS IN PRINCIPLE 139
Another check is " advice In the Montegrano view , one who
suppresses an impulse to do wrong does so because he remembers the

In the Montegrano view , action is the result more of forces play- advice of his parents: he remembers , for example, their having told
ing upon the individual than of motivations arising within him. The him that one who steals is likely to go to jail. The advice of parents
individual is indeed naturally impulsive; his impulses incline him toward would be acted upon more often if it were not for companions. They
bodily pleasures and in general toward self- indulgence. Unless checked invariably tempt one to follow impulse. They do this by giving advice
by other forces , they lead him-- from heedlessness rather than malice also , but " bad advice Thus in a characteristic TAT story:
to do wrong. Usually, however , impulses are checked and action There was a young man who always disobeyed his parents and
redirected by external forces. never listened to their advice. Every day he became worse and
worse and followed bad company-- friends who led him always
The most potent check is the fear of bodily injury. In Montegra- even farther down bad paths. He began to steal and commit bad
no physical punishment is used freely to inculcate a proper actions; but one day he was caught with some friends while steal-
spirit. Chil- ing and was taken to prison. But with his cleverness he was able
drenand even young girls who are willful in
men and women--especially to escape from prison and he remained many days hidden in the
woods. Then he was caught and condemned to prison and so for
the choice of a husband--are struck or beaten. In an unusual case , a
not having listened to the advice of his parents he found himself
girl in her twenties who insisted upon a marriage which her mother op- badly off and had to end his days in prison. (14)
posed was deprived of a dowry, refused food , and severely clubbed. 4 This assumption that conduct is largely formed by the influences
would give opposite answers although employing the same cri- that play upon one helps to explain , perhaps, why the southern Italian
terion. Thus , for example , in question 18 above , some of those takes such extraordinary precautions to protect the chastity of his women.
who preferred (b) did so because they identified with the envier.
rather than with the one envied, e. g., " I would prefer without A foreigner , seeing how elaborately the women are guarded , is likely at
a doubt to be envious and to be able to change the position of my first to suppose that the southerners are a remarkably lusty people and
children. " Even among those who identified with the envier
to suspect that, despite the precautions , their hot- bloodedness
must
different answers were possible , for some thought envy might
be self- defeating: e. g., " I prefer (b) because it is generally express itself in a high rate of illegitimacy and in much adultery and re-
said He who envies bursts r . and thus if an individual is envi-
ous of his neighbors it will be difficult to advance his children lated crimes of passion. He finds on inquiry, however , that the ille-
and thus it is better to leave them alone and not to envy anyone. " gitimacy rate is not extremely high (five per 1 00 ), that adultery is
The questionnaire would have been better had the questions ne-
cessitated a predictable identification , e. g., which is better , rare, and that crimes of passion are very few. Objectively there
father who. .. or a neighbor who. seems to be little reason for concern over the honor of the ladies. Yet
the southerners are obsessed with the subject. Why? Perhaps becaus
In such cases a daughter is not altogether without power , as
the following TAT story illustrates:"A girl of 15 years fell in parents to give their permis sion. And thus it happened. When
love with a young man and loved him very much , but her par-
ents were not willing. She did not know what to do. She finally
her parents knew that the girl was to have a child , they gave
decided to commit a bad action1:hat might in the end force her their permission and sought to hurry the marriage. Afterwards
everyone was very happy. (7)
, "
I in the general view the woman who is not forced to be chaste ceases Ii It is not too much to say that most people of Montegrano have no
to be so. The situation must be managed so that she has no opportunity, II morality except, perhaps, that which requires service to the family. 6
, if that is impossible, so that she will fear the consequences. In the If a peasant resists an impulse to do wrong, it is because he fears the
Montegrano TAT stories, a husband or father who discovers his wife law or public opinion, not because he is led to do right by love of God
or daughter with a lover "kills them both without giving the matter a conscience, or the fear of punishment after death. In fact good" and
moment' s thought. bad" are seldom used in a moral sense at all. To "do wrong " usually
This view of behavior as externally caused has the characteristics means to " act so as to bring punishment or l11isfortune upon oneself. "
of a self- fulfilling prophecy, of course. In a society in which everyone To say that one action is "better " than another means only that it is
believes that a man and woman will make love if they are not restrained more expedient. A peasant says that one who curses the saints is bet-
from doing so by outward circumstances , a man who finds himself alone ter than one who steals " because God pardons; if one steals, one may
with a woman is virtually compelled to make love, for not to do so would have to face the law and the law does not pardon. " Another explains that
imply a question about her charms or his virility. And a woman in such an adulterer is better than a thief because " if he gets caught the adulter-
circumstances, knowing that women who are tempted often forget the er gets a beating, while the other ends in jail. " To the peasant, the
advice of their parents, is likely to forget the advice of hers. In other better " man is the one who performs the " better " action , and the " bet-
matters the principle is the same. , ter " action is the one which is most advantageous.
In the Montegrano view , one who does evil ought to be punished The difference between moral and other valuation is that the for-
with the greatest severity, for blame and punishment contribute to the obligatOJ:Y, Standards are
I mer employs standards which are felt to be
pressure without- which everyone would be led into evil. One who suf-
donkeys. " "But the blame is not mine , Pinocchio says. " The
fers punishment does not, however , feel guilty.Instead he feels unfor- blame, believe it, little Marmot, is all Candlewick' s... want
tunate. Like Pinocchio , he may reproach himself for not having lis- to return home: I want to be obedient. . . but Candlewick said
to me ,'Why do you bother yourself with studying... ?'" "And
tened to the advice of his parents , but he knows that the evil lies out- why did you follow the advice of that fals e friend , of that bad
side himself: it was his misfortune to have listened to the wrong ad- companion?" "Why? Because I am a puppet without judg-
ment... "
visers. He was stupid in this , perhaps , but not evil. It is they-- the ,1--
Even this does not always operate. Until a generation ago , in-
advisers--who are evil , not he. It was bad luck that he should have
fants , including ones born in wedlock , were not uncommonly
come under pressure from them rather than from others. abandoned in Montegrano. Moreover , when emigration was at
its height , fathers who went to the New World often failed to
When Pinocchio learns that he is becoming a donkey- he cries send for their wives and children. The vast amount of talk
"Oh poor me! Poor me!" " My dear one , replies the Marmot, about the duty of the parent to the family, equal tQ. the talk a-
what can you do? Now it is destiny. It is written in the decrees bout the duty of female chastity, may signify a sense of inse-
of wisdom that all boys who are lazy and who dislike books, curity on this point too.
schools , and teachers. . . are tl'ansformed into so many little
~) --)--
obligatory when they are in some way associated with what is sacred. Two features of the situation sharply limit the pos sibilities for
Because they are sacred , their violation is felt as guilt. For most of gain by violent, illegal , or unfair means. One is that the criminal law
the people of Montegrano , nothing is sacred. This being so , they feel is sternly enforced. A pair of carabinieri with carbines over their
neither obligation nor guilt. As a Montegrano priest put it, shoulders is always within hailing distance, and a man may get six
The major part of our people do not even consider the possi- months in jail for cutting down a tree which does not belong to him. The
bility of evaluating their acts; for these people morality is what
most people do or it is what is legal , for they do not believ e in other is that there is danger of reprisals from people who feel them-
the spiritual life or in punishment afte~ death. selves injured. In a village so small and isolated there is no way to
" 1
The implications of all this for political life are clear. The state ( elude enemies for very long. There was a time when an injured party
exists to force men to be good. A regime is worthy of respect if it could work his revenge in secret by the use of magic. Nowadays it is
has plenty of power and uses it rigorously to enforce obedience and to not quite so serious to have an enemy; few people take the witches or
maintain law and order. A regime which uses its power solely to en- the " evil eye " seriously. 8 But an enemy can still find hidden ways to
force the law and not to exploit the citizen comes into being only when
came from other towns to the fair. It is possible , too, of course,
the rich and powerful take it into their heads to indulge themselves in that some Montegrano people got in trouble elsewhere.
the virtues of charity and justice. This does not occur very often , and. In the judicial district of which Montegrano is a part and which
comprises eight towns with a total population of 20 000, there
there is nothing the citizen can do to bring it about; like other good were the following arrests during 1954: murder , none; abduc-
things , good government is obtained by luck , not achieved by effort, tion , none; carnal violence , none; theft, 131; assault and bat-
tery, 124; drunkenness, 17; slander , 32; trespass, 191; and
enterprise , and sacrifice. wrong pasturing, 58.
There used to be witches in Montegrano who could ruin whole
families, but they are all dead now , Prato says. Other people,
including two or three old hags who take presents for casting
or undoing spells , disagree with this judgment and say that
One might expect that in a society so preoccupied with interesse there are spells of four degrees of seriousness: (1) " tied" (le-
gato this type is like a knot and is easily undone; (2) " der
and so untrammelled by a sense of obligation to kin , neighborhood , or ground" ( sottoterra) this is more difficult, but digging (meta-
community, the war of all against all would break out in violence. phorically speaking) will uncover the evil; (3) "dr.owned" (anne-
gato) --still more difficult ,
but it is possible in principle t o find
fact Montegrano is reasonably law-abiding. In 1954 there were no the body, i. e., the source of the evil; and (4) "burned" ( bruci
murders, abductions, or acts of carnal violence. There were 24 cases here the case is hopeles s because when a thing has been
consumed by fire nothing can be found.
of theft and 15 of assault and assault and battery. Two persons were If Dr. Gino s prescriptions do not help them, believers in
arrested for drunkenness and two for slander , and there were 29 cases witchcraft assume that their illness belongs to the 1iI'lagical
rather than to the medical realm and go to the witch for treat-
of trespassing and seven of wrongful pasturing. 7 rr,ent. The usual first assumption, however , is that a com-
plaint is medical.
In some of these cases the offenders were probably people who
, " , "

do harm. Prato had an enemy who stole into his fields at night and
would not, for most people , outweigh any advantage that could be had
cut down hi-s young fruit trees. This was an injury against which there
without danger by trickery or other unfair means. I~ short, the desire
was no possible protection. Gossip is another danger against which for the good opinion of others is a supporting but not a leading motive. 9
one cannot protect oneself. If, for example , his enemy spreads a
rumor about Maria , Prato would be undone. Under such circumstan-
ces, one takes pains to avoid making enemies. They, too , are- a luxury.
Vanity, or the desire to be liked or admired , is also a curb
aggression , but its importance is by no means as great as the others.
One would be ashamed (i. e., embarrassed) to be caught stealing, for
example, but the risk of being ashamed is a light thing in comparison
to that of going to jail or being beaten. One likes to be considered a
fine fellow. (liMy wife gives food to people who need it when we have
it to spare because the next day you feel good when you see the person
you helped pass by and you know he is saying to himself , 'Now there
a man who helped me ) But the satisfaction of being thought well of
On these matters John McDonald has commented in a per-

sonal communication Witches and the evil-eye have been losing
their importance in Calabria , too. They are usually only used
after the failure of more ' rational' methods or complementary
to them. "
Even those who scoff at witches are apt to pay heed to Some remote settlements in the mountains above Montegrano
cer-
tain common superstitions. From the standpoint of this chapter are virtually cut off from the larger society. Teachers , doc-
one of the most interesting superstitions is the belief that invi- tors, and priests never penetrate to them. The carabinieri
dious comment , even though made to flatter , will bring harm visit them only when murders are reported. Among these moun-
to the one who is put in the enviable light.
Thus a mother told taineers social life apparently comes very close to being a war
a group of ladies that when she was nursing her second child of all against all. When mountain people come to town for a
she had so much milk that she had to wear a rubber guard to fair , the townspeople treat them in the most gingerly fashion;
avoid soiling her clothes. One day when she was visiting a they would as soon stick you with a knife as talk with you
friend the milk began flowing and continued , the
until there was a townspeople say. This is not merely an expression of the nor-
puddle on the floor. Her friend remarked mal tendency to traduce the people of other places; the moun-
How lucky you are.
And here am I , who cannot produce a drop. " On her return taineers really are rough. But even among the mo\t)ltaineers,
home the woman found that her breasts were dry. They re- there are some restraints on aggression: magic still has a
mained dry, and she was unable to nurse her next babies. powerful hold on them (and so the physically strong must fear
""'0
the weak), and kinship obligations seem to be stronger and
more far-reaching than in Montegrano.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ORIGINS OF THE ETHOS

The mechanism which produces the ethos of amoral familism is
undoubtedly complex , consisting of many elements in a mutually re-
inforcing relation. The dreadful poverty of the region and the degraded
status of those who do manual labor , matters which were discussed at
length in Chapters Three and Four , are surely of very great impor-
tance in forming it; they are structural features,so to speak , in the
system of causes. If we turn now to other elements in the system , it
is not to depreciate the importance of these.
One of these other elements--and one which itself seems to be
of structural importance-- is the fear of premature death which is so
pervasive in Montegrano. As an earlier chapter showed , the Monte-
granesi are extraordinarily apprehensive. They are fearful , especially,
that they may take sick and die , leaving their children " on the street"
or that the children themselves may die. Fifteen of the sixteen Monte-
granesi tested told TAT stories about the unexpected natural death of
a parent or child. Altogether they told 45 such stories. That this pre-
occupation is unusual may be seen from the fact that orily two of the
northern Italian peasants tested told such stories (these told one each)
and only 12 of the 30 Kansans told them (these told 16).
One of the TAT pictures shows a boy contemplating a violin which
lies on a table before him. Eievem of the 16 Montegran~si saw the boy
as an orphan; of these , eight saw him as a beggar , one as dying of hun-
ger , one as mistreated by a miserly uncle , and one as a neglected bas-
tard. The boy was not an orphan or a beggar for any of the northern
- 147 -
, . ," ,' ...
148 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY ORIGINS OF THE ETHOS 149
Italians; most of them thought he was an ambitious lad highly motivated than those of her first. At the age of 11 or 12, he was sent out as a
to become a violinist. Of the 30 Kansans, none thought he was an orphan servant. His later childhood memories are of unrelieved misery--of
or a beggar falthough five called him " poor ); 13 said he was being forced looking after livestock in the winter rain , of going for wood in deep
against his will to practice. 1 snow , of being hungry. His step-sister , with whom he was later on
That fear of premature death and of leaving one s children " on the bad terms, bossed him with a stick.
street" should so preoccupy the people of Montegrano is not surprising. His wife remembers that when she was a very small child her
Until after the Second World War , when an.ti- biotics came into common step-mother would send her and her sisters from the room while she
use , the death rate there was high--never less than 15 per 1 000 and in fed milk and eggs to herown children. She and her sisters got only
some years probably as much as 40 or 50. Until recently the probabil- bread and not always enough of that. At six she went into domestic
ity that a child would lose one or both of its parents before coming service in Calabria. Every morning, she carried water from a foun-
maturity was high. tain to a house. "I would rather have my children die than live the
Not only was the death rate high. Poverty was (and is) so acute kind of a life I lived she said.
that most parents could make no provision for the support of their chil- Maria Vitello s mother and father died at the ages of 33 and 36
dren in the event of their deaths. To be an orphan almost always meant leaving five children. She was sent to relatives in Naples as a ser-
to be a beggar as well. vant. Of her childhood she said
Many of the people who are now so fearful lest their children be- I remember most being maltreated and hungry. I was often
come orphans were orphans themselves. Others were brought up by beaten. I beat my children today but it is a light thing in com-
parison. I remember something that used to happen over and
step- fathers or step-mothers. Until a few years ago it was a fortunate over again. My aunt would send me to the store to buy three-
child who lived out his childhood with both natural parents. quarters of a kilo of rachitelli (a kind of macaroni). All the way
to the store I woul d say to myself rachitelli rachitelli . Then
Even when both parents lived , children were (and are) often sent when I got to the store somehow it would come out ' vermicelli
at a very early age to earn their keep among strangers as servants and (a different kind of macaroni). When dinner came everyone would
have his dish of macaroni except me. My plate would be empty.
apprentices. The cruel padrone is as familiar to the Montegrano imag- I would go hungry. Sometimes my uncle would get drunk and beat
ination as the cruel step- parent and step-sibling.
me.
The importance of such childhood experiences is unmistakable in Pasqualina s father died a few days before she was born. Her
many life histories. Prato , for example can hardly remember his mother remarried and had three more childr en. The step- father was
father , who died when he was a small child. His mother remarried and kind , but before long he went off to America. In time he wrote to his
according to him , treated the children of her second husband much better wife to join him and sent her money. She sold their house and land
bought clothes in which to travel , and made ready to sail. Eight days
The stories told about this picture are reproduced in Appendix B.
before the scheduled departure the father cabled that they were not to
* * ..."
come. His employer , he said ,
would not keep him if his family were Not living with grandfathers and grandmothers and uncles and aunts
there. After that he never wrote again , and the mother supported five and not regarding them as members of the family in a real sense
, the
children as best she could. Her disappointment left her " nervous Montegrano child- -unlike the one who is brought up in an extended fam-
"I don t think anyone--even in those days-- got more beatings than I ily--sees his parents as his only possible source of protection , support,
did" , Pasqualina recalls. and affection. He supposes that if they die he will be " on the street"
In Montegrano an orphan does not move into the household of relatives
as a matter of course. They may not be able or willing to take him at
all. If they are ,he may have to work as a servant; at best he cannot
Of course, people elsewhere have had much the same experience. expect to be treated as an equal by them. Montegrano has many Cin-
Throughout most of history and in most parts of the world , parents derellas.
could expect to die young. Not everywhere , however , has this made The hypothesis that the extraordinary apprehensiveness of the
people as apprehensive as they are in Montegrano. Obviously other Montegranesi was produced by two factors in association--a high death
circumstances must be taken into account to explain the Montegrano rate and the absence of the extended family--could be disproved by show-
ethos. ing that the same apprehensiveness exists also among a people who have
Family organization is one such circumstance. In some societies the extended family (though it could not be proved correct by the lack
the family is large enough and strong enough to offer assurance that such an example). It happens that in the province of Rovigo in northern
the death of the parents will not mean catastrophe for the children. Italy such families have existed for several generations. They were
Where the extended family exists , a child whose parent dies is still described by a nineteenth century traveller as follows:
part of the family. In some cases the child even feels as strong an at- I remember , when I was a boy half a century ago , I used in
the autumn holidays, to make excursions to the neighborhood, of
tachment to uncles and aunts as to mother and father. In other cases Padua where I was acquainted with some families of authentic
(e. g., the Russian of the last century) the main attachment is to peasants... The families were not small units, composed of a
husband ,a wife and a child or two , but great patriarchal groups
the community as a whole. In such societies the loss of parents may aggregations of several families , connected by ties , of blood , who
be of little importance; there are plenty of others to take their place. collectively worked a farm of which they were tenants. Usually
it was let to the whole race of them , and they obeyed the orders
If the attachment of the child to the extended family or community is of their chief , who was the oldest man among them , the father
strong, that to its natural parents may be correspondingly weak. grandfather , great- grandfather of the various generations repre-
sented in the community. What nestfuls of children! Hardly did
this case the emotional shock of the parent' s death is less. I appear in the yard before they emerged from all si1es , running
With a few exceptions (see Table 5) Montegrano households con- to meet me in their tens because they knew I could teach them
new games and scatter some half- pence among them. There was
sist of the members of one nuclear family and of no others besides.
..... " * , ~.
152 THE MORAL BASIS 0F A BACKWARD SOCIETY ORIGINS OF THE ETHOS 153
only one kitchen, and the girls and the Titianesque brides were
responsible in turns for t~e cooking. ..2
Some of ' thesefamilies are to be found today. Thematic apper-
If we ask why the peasants of Montegrano did not develop the
ception tests of 10 peasants who grew up in " stem " families in the prov-
institution of the extended family, the answer is perhaps to be found
ince of Rovigo revealed a striking absence of the fearfulness so charac-
principally in the circumstances of land tenure. Patriarchal or " stem
teristic of the Montegranesi. As Tables 3 and 4 in Chapter Six and the
families could exist only where peasants could get reasonably secure
first pages of the present chapter have shown , the northern peasant is
poSsession of adequate amounts of land. In the Po Valley and center
not preoccupied with the prospect of calamity and sudden death.
of Italy, the feudal system ended and land became an alienable com-
Whether or not" stem " families have relieved anxiety about the
modity long before the Unification. 4 Many of the wealthy retained
possible death of parents in Rovigo, they seem to have trainec;l the peas-
their lands and took an active part in the development of a progressive
ant to act organizationally. In these families the father (or , if he is
agriculture. These wealthy owners found it to their advantage to rent
dead , the eldest brother) organizes the labor force of the family and -
land to large families of peasants on a more or less permanent basis.
superintends all its affairs. There was a time when he was an auto-
Having relative security on a sizeable tract , the peasant family had an
crat. Nowadays he takes advice from a council of his sons and sons - in-
incentive not only to increase its numbers so that it would not have to
law. Subject to his authority and that of the council, each of them has
employ labor but also to accept the discipline of a single head who
responsibility for one part of the joint enterprise: one son looks after
the animals, another does the marketing, and so on. Profits are shared
would plan and direct the work of all. Even today " stem " fa milies are
the most numerous among renters wl1,o produce tobacco, rice, hemp,
according to work done and disputes are arbitrated by the head of the
and other labor- intensive crops.
family.
In much of the south , on the other hand , feudalism survived almost
Either because they have learned in the family to subject them-
selves to the discipline of a group or for other reasons, the peasants I undisturbed until the Napoleonic Wars, Land was the inalienable prop-
of Rovigo , unlike those of Montegrano , are able to work together. Some
erty of the aristocracy of church and state. During the nineteenth cen-
tury feudalism was gradually abrogated. Feudal desmesnes were made
participate in a farmers' association and there are cheese-making and
other cooperative undertakings in the district. marketable and many cultivators of the south bought them. After Uni-
fication, high taxes forced many petty owners who had gone in debt for
Quoted by Helen Douglas Irvine in The Making of Rural Europe land to sell it to the few who had capital. In some places the nobility
George Allen and Unwin Ltd.. London , 1923 , p. 37.
continued to hold large estates; unlike the large owners of the north
Of course family type is not the only important difference between
the northern and the southern peasant. The northerners tested however , these were absentees who took no interest in thEtmanagement
had more education , were in closer touch with the modern world of their property. Petty proprietors bought them out in some places;
and were relatively well off.
The historical contrast drawn here is based on McDonald cit
* *
these generally worked the land with hired hands rather than through Babies are usually nursed for about a year , but if they reach that
renters. The peasants accordingly had neither incentive nor opportunity age at the beginning of summer , the nursing may be continued because
to organize a family to provide labor and management for the enterprise. of the difficulty in hot weather of finding food which will not cause en-
Meanwhile population increased rapidly and small farms became smaller teritis and diarrhea. A few women nurse for longer periods in an effort
by inheritance. For more than a generation there have been few farms to prevent conception , but this is uncommon. 5
in Montegrano large enough to support more than a small , nuclear fam- It is taken for granted that it is useless to try to toilet train a child
ily. As Table 11 , Appendix B , shows , th~re are only 27 " stem " fami- before it has reached the age of two. If a young chil-d makes a mess on
lies in Montegrano; all but four of these live on farms. the floor , the parents may point out to it where it should go , but they
do not become annoyed or angry. Usually children have " trained them-
selves " by the time they are two-and-a- half or three.
Before she is four a girl is told to keep her dress down. Boys
What has been said so far may help to explain the apprehensive- are not taught modesty so soon.
ness of the Montegranesi, but it does not explain other aspects of their Even those children who are not wanted get a great deal of pet-
ethos , espe cially their selfishness in all relations except that of par- ting and affectionate play from parents and older siblings. In general,
ents to children, and their tendency to think of the individual as moved the parents are extremely permissive.
principally by forces outside of himself. Children are punished when they are naughty, however , and some-
Some light on these matters may be gained from an account--albeit times even when they are not. Parents and teachers believe that an oc-
a sketchy one--of childhood training in Montegrano. casional blow helps a child grow up to be more "refined" and to " find,
The arrival of a child is always celebrated as a joyous event , but itself better off in life As a mother explained
in those homes where there are already three or four children, the new It can be said with justice according to the proverb , 'Slaps
and spanks make nice children --and the mother spanks because
one, after its first reception , is likely to be regarded with mixed feel- she wishes them well.
ings , especially by the older sisters who will have to be responsible As a rule , the parent exercises influence over his children by
for much of its care. punishing or threatening to punish rather than by offering rewards or
Peasant babies are swaddled immediately after birth and kept appealing either to the child' s desire to please ' or (in the case of older
swaddled until they are from five to seven months old. Twenty years
There are great variations in these practices from one town to
ago the baby s arms were tied down by the swaddling; nowadays they another, a circumstance which should afford opportunities to test
remain free. A peasant mother fastens" her swaddled baby in a basket theories regarding the effects of specific practiceS'-on personal-
ity development. For example , in a town near Montegrano , the
and carries. it to the fields where it dangles from a tree while she works. women do not carry their babies to the fields; instead they wean
Some upper class women swaddle th~rr children briefly or not at all. them as soon as possible and leave them in others ' care.
" (
children) to its willingness to cooperate on grounds of mutual respect. That children will be impudent, willful , selfish , ungrateful , and
A TAT story by a 17- year-old girl is interesting because of what it full of naughty tricks is taken for granted. Naughty tricks will be
reveals about the normal and abnormal in these matters: punished with blows, of course, and in the end the child will thank its
There was a terrible little girl who was very naughty and con- parents for having made so many sacrifices for it and having set it
tinually angered her mother. Many times her mother beat her upon the right road.
hoping to make her more calm but nothing happened. One day
the mother promised her a pretty doll if she would only be good. In his autobiography Paolo Vitello tells with great relish of the
The little girl did become good and when the mother bought her many Pinocchio- like tricks he played as a child-- how at the age of five
a doll the little girl kept it with her -always , night and day, and
she was no longer naughty. Now she is grown and married and he nearly set his little sister on fire when he lit a straw cigarette while
has two children of her own. (7)
his parents were away, how he teased his uncle into killing a lamb
Sometimes the anger smoldering inside a peasant breaks out which belonged to his father and then hid the carcass under the bed
suddenly and vents itself upon the children. Many adults in Montegrano
how when his father sent him to the store to buy nails he bought a pipe
remember dreadful beatings. which they received now and then from one
instead , how he gathered poisonous weeds for the rabbits instead of
parent or the other. Such outbursts are comparatively rare nowadays.
grass , and so on. After all these tricks Vitello was beaten, but it is
Whether that is so or not, most people seem to think that an occasional clear from his account that both he and his parents regarded his naugh-
outburst is of no great importance if the parent is affectionate in be-
tines s not only as cute but also as evidence of a lively and enterprising
tween times. Of 28 peasants who were asked which is better , a man
spirit.
who loves his children but beats them when he is drunk or a man who
It is relevant here to note that such childish naughtiness consists
never pays much attention to them , 21 said the first, six said the sec-
typically of deception. The child practices being " foxy furbo ) by de-
ond , and one was unable to decide.
ceiving his parents. They enter into the game by punishing him (for
To improve their characters , or perhaps merely for entertain- if there were no risk there could be no game!), but they also stand on
ment, children may be frightened with horror stories about death and the sidelines , so to speak, and applaud his cleverness.
other gruesome subjects. How memorable these experiences may be Any illness is treated with great concern in Montegrano , and a
suggested by a TAT story told by a young man: child who suffers from an indisposition is pampered. Most parents
This picture represents the figures of death as they used to
describe it when we were children in order to frighten us , consider that their children are "delicate When Vitello had measles
and
appropos of this. . . this is what happened to a friend of mine. he was kept out of school a whole year. In this there was nothing un-
One night they were talking about death and how ugly death is usual.
and that sometimes death appeared to a person in order to take
that person away forever. Then the boy went away with a great Punishment , although freely given , does not enta!l any sugges-
fear of death. In fact , that night he dreamed that death had ap- tion of withdrawal of love by the parent , and it often has no connection
peared to him to take him away with her. Such was his fright
that he fainted and was ill for-two days. (15) with a principle of right and wrong. In his autobIography, Prato tells
how when he was a small boy he became the favorite of a young priest He was sixteen when one night his father forbade him to leave
who carne from Naples to visit in Montegrano: the house because of a failing on his part. But instead some
friends let him know that there was to be dancing at F- that
One day (Prato says) I went to the public square and some night, so Paolo found the means to escape from home. At the
honest men who were there told me that if I would make ten somer- dance they all got drunk and as they walked home they dropped
saults they would give me some money. I made them promptly, their instruments on the ground. When Paolo returned to his
and they gave me 40 centimes. I brought the money to my mother home , he found his father waiting up for him. The usual blows
who was surprised , but I explained it to her. She told it to the followed. We see that Paolo , notwithstanding all the blows
priest who was very angry because the somersaults could be very rained upon him , kept always his own character.
dangerous to me. He bound my hands behind my back and gave
me only a slice of bread and a glass of water for 24 hours. In the Montegrano view a child' s natural indolence and naughti-
In this story the priest exhibits a characteristic hypersensitivity neBs are overcome only by the strenuous exertions of its parents.
to the question of health , a characteristic severity in punishment, and They must force the child to take the right road. The typical parent-
a characteristic failure to establish a relationship between the pun- child relation is that of Geppetto to Pinocchio: the father long-suffering
ishment and an antecedent wrong- doing. Prato was not punished be- and forgiving, the child cruelly exploiting his love until finally over-
cause he had done wrong to somersault; he was punished to teach him come with remorse. The Pinocchio story is repeated again and again
that doing somersaults would be dangerous. (Whether his account of in one form or another. Here, for example, is a TAT story told by
the incident is accurate or not is of no consequence here , of course; Vitello:
this at least is what he now supposes to be intelligible behavior. Two parents had an only son and they were willing to undergo
all kinds of sacrifices in order to see that their son learned a
An older boy s naughtiness is carried on with " bad companions profession better than theirs. But the son did not appreciate
Vitello s autobiography continues: their sacrifices. In fact , he would not study and liked instead
to go and play and make bad companions. His parents tried in
Paolo already had become worse and disobedient. In fact every way. They punished him many times but it did no good
he had a close friendship with two other boys who taught him because he was very willful. Many times they would close him
even more bad habits. Paolo , although a big boy now , was still in his room but instead of studying he would go to sleep. Years
timid and these friends , by taking him along with them , destroyed passed and the boy grew up. Then he wished to make repara-
the timidity. They taught him to dance and to play the mandolin
tions, but then it was too late. His parents had grown quite old
and together they would go about playing serenades. and thus he had to go to work in order to live. He was very,
Pranks and punishments followed one after another. One prank very sorry that he wasn t able to do anything but hoe the
ground. (1)
was a love affair.
Not surprisingly, a grown-up Pinocchio thinks of himself as still
And so Paolo began to make love and one time he was sur-
prised by the parent of a girl while he and the girl were in a ) a child who ought to gratify his mother by making her will his. The
shack together. But he escaped marrying the girl. following TAT story was told by Vitello about a picture showing an el-
At sixteen he was still a naughty boy and, in retrosJ:lect, he is derly woman standing with her back turned toward a tall young man:
proud of his naughtiness. The autobiography continues: A poor woman , a widow , had made so many sacrifices to
raise her only son, but this young man at 18 fell in love with a
girl who , first of all , was not suitable, And besides , the mother much to say that the Montegranesi act like selfish children because they
wanted him to finish his studies first, while he wished to abandon
them in order to marry. Because his mother absolutely did not are brought up as selfish children,
want it, he one day escaped from the house and went far away. The reliance upon blows to direct behavior and the capricious
The mother , poor thing, remained desolate and did not know what
to do, But her son , who was really a good child , after a while
manner in which punishment is given, Punishment, it has been noted
understood that he had done something bad when he left his mother is unrelated to any principle of " oughtness ; at one moment the parent
because it had been she who had raised him , and now he had left
her alone, After a few days he returned to the house and threw kisses and at the next he cuffs. If gratification and deprivation- _ II good"
himself at the feet of his mother , crying and begging her pardon, and " bad" -- depend upon the caprice of one who has power , no general
She , out of her great joy, pardoned him, From then on they lived
happily, (6 BM) principles can be internalized as conscience. The individual may try
When Pinocchio does finally marry it is hard for him to stop being to propitiate the power holder , but he will not be surprised if his ef-
a wayward boy, He would like to run away from his wife as he did from forts fail and he receives ill when he deserves good. To receive ill
his mother , and he would like also to come crawling home like a good will be " bad fortune " Nei-
and to receive good will be " good fortune
boy to beg forgiveness. Here is another TAT story by Vitello: ther, of course , will have any relation to principle, Having no internal-
There was a man who had a wife and many children but he was ized principles to guide him , the individual will depend upon the promise
corrupt with bad habits and did not wish to work, He squandered of rewards and punishments to tell him how to act, The punishment he
all his money by gambling and was causing his family to die of
hunger, Until finally it ended with his fighting with his wife and receives will serve the function of the guilt he would feel if he had a
he left the house in search of a fortune. But after a while he be- conscience, His relation to all holders of power-- the state and God , for
gan to be sorry, He thought constantly of his children and of his
wife, left in misery, and so one fine day he gathered his courage example--will be formed on the model supplied by his parents,
and returned home. From then on by his work the family was
able to live, (15)
In this account of childhood in Montegrano , two things stand out

as of special importance:
1. The indulgence of parents toward children and their willing-
ness to allow children to be selfish and irresponsible-- carefree
until all at once at the time of marriage the grown child must assume
the burden of looking after a family of its own, Perhaps it is not too
Peasant parents are indulgent toward children of both sexes, but
girls are not permitted to be carefree, A girl begins very early
to keep house and to take care of younger children, When she is
about 16 she begins work on her corredo , the sewing and embroi-
dery of which keep her busy for years, Propriety requires that
she be confined to the house und~r the eye of her parents and
older brothers, Resistance to parental authority-- but not naugh-
tiness-- ismore or less exp ected of her,
CHAPTER NINE
THE FUTURE
That the Montegranesi are prisoners of their family-centered

ethos-- that because of it they cannot act concertedly or in the com-
mon good-- is a fundamental impediment to their economic and other
progress. There are other impediments of pervasive importance,
of course , especially poverty, ignorance , and" a status system which
leaves the peasant almost outside the larger society. It would be
foolish to say that one element in this system is the cause of back-
wardness: all these elements--and no doubt many others as well--
are in a reciprocal relation; each is both a cause and an effect of all

of the others. The view taken here is that for purposes of analysis
and policy the moral basis of the society may usefully be regarded as
the strategic, or limiting, factor. That is to say, the situation may
be understood , or altered, better from this standpoint than from any
other. 1
Amoral familism is not a normal state of culture. It could not

exist for long if there were not an outside agency-- the state-- to main-
tain order and in other respects to mitigate its effects. Except for
the intervention of .the state, the war of aU. against all would sooner
or later erupt into open violence , and the local society would either
perish or produce cultural forms-- perhaps a religion of great auth-

ority--which would be the functional equivalent of the " social contract"
See the discussion of the concept of the strategic (or limiting)
factor in Chester I. Barnard, The Functions o f the Executive,
Harvard University Press , 1938 , pp. 202- 205.
- 163 -
164 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE FUTURE 165
philosophers used to write about. 2 Because the larger society has Nevertheless , it may be impcs sible to bring about the changes
prevented indigenous adaptation of this kind without making possible that are needed. There is no evidence that the ethos of a people can be
the full assimilation to itself of the local culture, the Montegrano changed according to plan. It is one thing to engineer consent by the
ethos exists as something transitional , and in this sense , unnatural. techniques of mass manipulation; to change a people s fundamental view
Clearly a change in ethos cannot be brought about by the delib- of the world is quite a different thing, perhaps especially if the change
erate choice of the people of Montegrano. It is precisely their inabil- is in the direction of a more complicated and demanding morality.
ity to act concertedly in the public interest which is the problem. And It must be acknowledged , too , that the Montegrano economy
besides , how can a people " choose " a morality? If they could choose would not develop dramatically even if the villagers cooperated like
it, it would be because they already possessed it. bees; establishing an ambulance service , for example, might make
The possibility of planned change depends upon the presence of the village a more nearly tolerable place in which to live, but it would
an " outside " group with the desire and ability to bring it about. If all not contribute materially to its economic development. Although it
Italians were amoral familists, no such group would exist. In fact, would be foolish to deny that a talented entrepreneur might use orga-
the political left , the church , and the industry of the north all contain nization to accomplish the seemingly impossible, the sad fact is that
elements which might inspire and support reform in the south. Montegrano s isolation and relative lack of resources give it a compar-
It is tempting to compare the ethos of the Montegranesi with that ative disadvantage which no amount of cooperation can overcome. Some
of their very early ancestors as described by Fustel de Coulanges small irrigation facilities might be established by group enterprise
in The Ancient City . The early Indo- Europeans were amoral
familists too, but their families consisted of thousands of persons and these might make possible a small cannery; at best, however , such
and the bonds within the family were immensely strong. developments would have little impact on the poverty of the village.
It must be acknowledged that there is danger of the spread of a- Nevertheless , the ability to act concertedly might, if it was marked,
moral familism from the south. J. S. McDonald has written in
a personal communication: eventually have irnportant economic effects, albeit ones visible far
There is some evidence that the Montegrano ethos may be from the village itself. Group action to improve the schools , for ex-
spreading in Italy. The proportion of southerners in Rome
large immigrant population has been rising progressively. They ample, might have the effect in the long run of enabling the young Mon-
probably will not alter the main structure of Rome s formal or- tegranesi to enter a larger labor market and to enter it on more favor-
ganization just as the Montegrano folk have not destroyed what
the state has given them. However , such a ~ot of southerners at able terms. Group action might also eventually increase trans-oceanic
the top of Italy s administrative hierarchy and social elite may migration , thus relieving the pressure of population on local resources.
have depressing repercussions. On the other hand , my work in
Australia suggests that Veneti do have a welcome effect on Cala- In comparison with these indirect effects, the direct ones immediately
bresi: in two towns here I have found Veneti leading Calabresi
visible in the village would probably be negligible.
into formal and informal economic and recreational organiza-
tions. Southern Italians are, I feel , much less critical of north- In order for concerted action--and therefore economic develop-
erners than vice versa; in fact, they admire them in many ways. ) ment either in the village or elsewhere-- to take place, it would not,
This attitude bodes well for the assimilation of southern to north-
ern Italy if close communication can be established and the of course, be necessary that amoral familism be replaced by altruism.
northerners are not amoralized in the process.
, " , ~.

Indeed , individualism (or familism) is a very good thing from an eco- A few persons, at least , rnust have the moral capacity to act
nomic standpoint , provided it is not so extreme as to render concerted as leaders. These need not act altruistically either; they may lead
action altogether . impossible. In some underdeveloped lands , economic because they are paid to do so. But whether they give leadership or
development can take place only when bonds of custom and tradition sell it , they must be able to act responsibly in organizational roles and
which prevent the individual from acting rationally in his self- interest ./ to create and inspire morale in organization.
are loosened or broken. Such societies present more difficult prob- Voters and others must not destroy organization gratuitously
lems to the planner than does one in which people can be depended or out of spite or envy; that is, they must be willing to tolerate it when
upon--as the Montegranesi can-- to act on the basis of rational calcu- it does not interfere with them.
lation. The villagers ' anxiety to get ahead and their readiness to adapt In attempting to create these minimal conditions, two general
themselves, morally and otherwise, to whatever is conducive to their approaches are open to planners. One is to eliminate the underlying
material well- being must be. counted great advantages from this stand- conditions which produce the objectionable features of the ethos of a-
point. moral familism and to create instead conditions which will " naturally
However , amoral familism must be modified in at least three i. e., without further interference by the planners - - produce an ethos
respects in order for organization , and thus economic and political consistent with the essential r€quirements of economic and political
progress , to be possible: development. This approach depends crucially upon the possibility of
1. The individual must define self or family interest less identifying and changing the key elements in the causal system , some-
narrowly
than material , short-run advantage. He need not cease to be family- thing which may be impossible.
minded or even selfish , but--some of the time, at least-- he must pur- One of the difficulties in the way of manipulating the causal ele-
sue a " larger " self- interest. For example , he might prefer to take i ments is change. Certainly the complex of causes which produced the
some of his income in prestige or in the intrinsic satisfaction of orga- ethos of amoral familism is changing rapidly and in fundamental re-
nizational behavior as a " game " rather than in material reward. Or spects. According to the view taken here , high death rate and the re-
he might forego present for future advantage
, for example by estab- lated fear of orphanage and neglect were of decisive importance in
lishing a reputation for fair dealing. At the minimum no more than forming the Montegrano ethos. Today, however , because of anti-
what is usually called " enlightened" self- interest would be necessary. biotics , the death rate is very low. Whereas a few years ago it was a
I do not think , on the whole , that there is more selfishness among us rare child who gJ:ew up with both natural parents, now it is a rare one
than in America " Tocqueville remarked the only difference is that who does not. The drop in the death rate has been accompanied by a
there it is enlightened , here it is not. Each American knows when to
sacrifice some of his private interests to save the rest; we want to
See the discussion of the moral functions of the exe'eutive by Bar-
nard cit ., especially Ch. . XVII.
save everything, and often we lose it all. ,,
Democracy in America , Knopf edition, Vol. II , p. 123.
......,. .,. ~.

THE FUTURE 169
less dramatic drop in the birth rate. Most young peasant couples are Such changes will not at once be reflected in a new ethos. The
trying to have two children and no more. To the extent that they suc-
present ethos will tend to perpetuate itself for a long time, even though
ceed , the personality and ethos of the new generation will doubtless be
many of the circumstances which gave rise to it no longer exist or no
changed. To grow up as one of two children in a family including the
longer operate in the old way. Long established ways of thinking and
natural parents is an altogether different experience than to grow up as
valuing have a life of their own independent of the particular conditions
an orphan or as one of several half- brothers and half-sisters. which gave rise to them. This is what has been called " culturallag
The dreadful poverty of the Montegra ~esi also helped to form
It will be seen , therefore , that it is not sufficient for the planner
their ethos. Poverty is no less today, nor is it likely to be in the fore-
to change the situation which produced the present ethos. He must es-
seeable future. Indeed , by an objective measure-- for example , per timate the nature and rate of development of the ethos which will emerge
capita consumption of protein--most villagers are probably
somewhat when the new conditions finally make themselves fully felt. Of course
worse off than were their grandparents , whose land
the productivity of this must be mostly a matter of guesswork.
had not been reduced by erosion and depletion. At any rate
, whatever Some guesses may be made with confidence , however. If the ave-
may be the actual trend of their consumption, the Montegranesi feel rage income were increased by a large amount, people would sooner or
it to be less, for their wants are vastly greater now than before; what
later act on a broader conception of self- interest. 7 In other words , the
was satisfying to their fathers and gradfathers is intensely dissatis-
rate at which prestige, the intrinsic satisfaction of work , and other
fying to them.
such non-material rewards would be substituted for material ones
This is especially true in the matter of status , and , as it was
would increase with income. There would be an accompanying increase
argued above, la miseria is as much or more the result of humiliation in the number and importance of public service roles , i. e., roles which
as of hunger , fatigue , and anxiety. The contempt of the upper class for people are paid (in money or other satisfactions) to assume. If commu-
~ the peasant may be somewhat less now than it was a generation ago.
nications between the south and the rest of Italy--and indeed the rest of
About this it is very difficult to judge. But it is clear that in the last
the world--were greatly improved, the standards of other places would
twenty years the peasant has become far more sensitive to his inferi-
rapidly gain acceptance in the villages. If free movement of labor be-
ority, and it seems likely that his sensitivity will grow fast, while the
tween occupations and between regions were permitted and encouraged
others ' contempt diminishes slowly. 6
the standards and habits of the south would be quickly changed.
Wartime studies showed that American soldiers were most dis- The village of southern France described by Wylie,
~atisfied with their rank in those units where opportunity for pro- . cit
motion was greatest. The writer has the impression that the exemplifies, perhaps , the adaptation the ethos of amoral fam-
same phenomenon may be observed among American Negroes. ilism would make to improved economic circumstances. The
As his opportunities for mobility improve , the peasant may be- average income in Peyran ~ seems to be at least twi~e that in
come more hostile and aggressive as well as less miserable. Montegrano.
."".
manual labor were to lose its stigma and the peasant were tv have a would be impossible to afford them suitable occupational roles in such
dignified status and opportunity for social mobility, a new spirit would places.
soon be evident. The change in outlook that is needed might conceivably come as
Obviously, however , these changes are not likely to occur. How the by- product of Protestant missionary activity. 8 There is little
despite the much improved economic situation of Italy as a whole, is prospect, however , that Protestants will be permitted to proselytize in
the income of the south to be greatly increased? How , short of whole- southern Italy.
sale migration- -an event which the north would regard as a catastrophe A more nearly practicable possibility (it would be better to say,
is the southern peasant to acquire the ways of the north? And how , as a less obviously impracticable one!) might be to carryon educational
long as he is miserably poor , is the peasant' s degradation to be relieved? efforts from provincial centers through a special staff of government
Changing the ethos, if it could be done deliberately, would entail workers ass i g n e d to cultivate a sense of community responsibility.
some dangers. Eliminating the conditions which gave the present ethos The extreme centralization of power in the hands of the prefect, which
its peculiar character would not assure that the new ethos would not is now one of the conditions preventing the development of a competent
have other .features that would be worse. It would be too bad if the plan- political style in the villages, could be used to further an educational
ner succeeded in changing indifferent Fascists into ardent Nazis. More- program. Instead of approving or disapproving local measures on
over , there is the danger that the objectionable features of the ethos purely bureaucratic grounds as at present, the prefects might make pro-
may serve latent functions of the greatest importance. The concept of gress toward responsible local action in the public interest a condition
interesse, for example , may have a latent symbolic function which trans- of approval. At present it would be futile for a delegation from Monte-
cends its manifest one. To devalue the concept interesse may be to grano to go to the prefect with a plan for , say, an ambulance servi-ce.
devalue the family as well. The prefect would have no authority in the matter or , if he had , he
The other general approach open to the planner is the manipula- would be unwilling to share it. This is one reason why Montegrano peo-
tion , not of the underlying situation , but of the actors themselves. For pIe do not make such proposals. If , however , s office were
the prefect'
all practical purposes, this is the " old- fashioned" technique of educa- administered with educational objectives in mind , he might tell the
tion. Probably the best education for the people of Montegrano would
In Brazil Protestantism is reported to have created among its
be to have among them for two or three decades a couple of dozen mid- adherents an' unprecedented participation in group affairs and to
dle and upper class families who felt a sense of civic responsibility have reduced illiteracy, dishonesty, and gambling. See Emilio
Willems, " Protestantism as a Factor of Culture Change in Bra-
and who would serve in a' more or less self-conscious way as teachers zil" Economic Development and Cultural Change , Vol. III , No.
and leaders. This is not feasible, however. Eve;n if persons with the 4, July 1955, pp. 321- 333.
If the Roman Catholic Church assigned priests..from northern
required qualities existed in sufficient numbers and even if they were Europe and the United States to missionary work in southern
willing to live in poor , backward , isolated places like Montegrano, it Italy, very much the same effect might be produced. But this
apparently is out of the question also.
....., , "
officials and leading citizens of several towns that if they could agree Measures to improve the schools would have the interest and
upon a workable plan he would approve it and help them put it into ef- support of the villagers. Formal education has always been an
avenue
fect. In short , the centralized power now used to frustrate local action indeed the only avenue--of social mobility. To have it opened to him
could be used to promote it. Proposals to reduce the power of the pre- would give the peasant the sense he lacks of being a valued member of
fect are unwise if the possibility exists of changing the character of the the larger society. The individualistic character of the ethos would
office. of course , the spread of education: when educa-
assist, not impede ,
The suggestion made here is for the rapid devolution of as many tion is a practicable way of getting ahead of one s neighbors , it is
governmental functions as possible from the ministries in Rome first eagerly sought.
to the provincial prefects and then from them to local bodies which Public television might be used to advantage in adult education, as
demonstrate capacity for self- government. The function of the prefects it has been in Puerto Rico , but in the long run establishment of indepen-
in this process would be essentially two- fold: (a) to encourage local dent weekly newspapers serving districts of two or three villages would
action and to reward it with resources and authority, and (b) to prevent probably be more valuable. A local newspaper would give the peasants
corruption--and eventually the cynical assumption that corruption ex- an incentive to learn to read (why should one learn to read if he lives
ists-- by maintaining the closest watch on the manner in which public where there is nothing to read ?), but it would do much more besides.
functions are performed. It would create a sense of community, a conception of a common good
Improvement of the schools should be the first concern of such and an agenda for public-spirited action.
an administration. The minimum schooling guaranteed by the consti- If the administration of local affairs were fully decentralized,
tution should in fact be provided everywhere and it should be made this in itself might bring an independent local press spontaneously into
clear that gifted children of any social class will be sent out of the existence. When local public opinion has power. to decide issues of
village to continue their schooling at public expense. Extraordinary importance, there exists an incentive for someone to attempt to mold
effo1."ts should be made to bring devoted teachers into the villages; a that opinion. "The more numerous local powers are , Tocqueville
rotation plan which would give them incentives to serve in remote vil- observed ,.. the more profusely do newspapers abound.
lages and guarantee them an eventual return to the city might help. Teachers and other local leaders should assist the villagers to
At any rate, teachers should be made to feel that they are part of a undertake simple ventures in cooperation and community action. Per-
national network and that there is no danger of their getting " lost" haps the best starting place would be the organization of village soccer
intellectually or professionally in a village. Vocational training should teams. Although few villagers have ever seen the game properly
be widely. offered , but in the skills needed in industry rather than agri- played , they have a great deal of interest in it. (When the returns of
culture. (Unless the peasantry is pushed off the land to make farms important games come over the radio , even peasants gather at the
larger , a commercial agriculture employing modern techniques is 9. ~. cit. , p. 112.
impossible in most of the south.
* *
175
174 THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE FUTURE
bar to hear them. Recently some Montegrano boys formed teams. one may find readers in the upper class and that some of
them may be
They had to quit after one game , however , because Mayor Spomo re- influenced to take a slightly different view of the local society and of
fused them the use of the only suitable field. ) A soccer team would their place in it.
give a few people ' experience in cooperation without overtaxing their
ability to cooperate. It would also help to draw the upper and lower
classes together: in southern states, as in Amer-ica, a good athlete is
admired regardless of his social status , and there is no doubt that up-
Unfortunately it is necessary to end this discussion on a cheer-
per and lower class boys would play together as equals in Montegrano. less note. If all of the measures that have been suggested here were
Having a team in common would give the gentry and the peasants some-
pursued actively and effectively, there would be no dramatic improve-
thing to talk to each other about- It would help to create a sense of ment in the economic position of the village.
These measures would
community. Games between villages would give rise to a " " feeling lighten somewhat the heavy burden of humiliation which the peasant
and when a district winner went off to play in national competition bears and this might dissipate the grim melancholia-- Ia mis ~ria
some identification would doubtless be felt with the district and even .which has been the fixed mood of the village for longer than
anyone can
with the nation. remember. But even with humiliation gone, hunger, fatigue, and anxi-
Success in one such venture might lead to others of more tangible ety would remain. Under the best of circumstances, it will be a very
value-- to the formation of a credit union , perhaps, or of business long time before the people of Montegrano have enough to eat.
enterprises organized for profit. Nor would there be a. dramatic change in the ethos of the Monte-
The upper class should be encouraged to take leadership in local
granesi if such measures as these were carried out. Under the most
affairs. Italian observers are, apt to conclude that the southern gentry
favorable conditions it might take two or three or four
generations for
are so full of hate for each other and for the lower classes that nothing nature to restore and reinvigorate the social bonds
which have been
constructive can be expected of them. The example of Montegrano
withered and desiccated for a century or more.
suggests that this is an exaggeration, or at least that there are excep- Finally, it must be said that there is little likelihood that any
tions to the rule. ' There it is not class antagonism which makes the such measures will be tried. Even if it were certain--which it is not,
gentry indifferent to the common good; rather it is the same concept of course-- that they would work, they probably would not be tried.
of interesse which affects the whole society, and the gentry, although Nations do not remake themselves in fundamental ways by deliberate
self- interested , are less narrowly so than the others. Because of
intention any more than do villages.
their better education , moreover , they are more open to reasonable
discussion and persuasion. It is even pos sible that books like this
....'"
F.....
'tJ
,""
179
Table 1. Amount of Education (highest grade completed)
Persons 21 Years of Age and Over , M ontegrano L 1954
Elementary Middle Univers-

Less than School (5 School (6- ity (over
...1 Elementary Grades) 8 Grades) 8 Grade All
No. No. No. No. No.
Males 299 32. 568 62. 1 915 100
Females 681 62. 393 36. 1091 100
All 980 48. 961 47. 2006 100
Source: Municipal records.
Table 2. Illiteracy by Class, Persons Aged 10 39,

Montegrano , 1951
Class* Percent Illiterate

Laborer
Farmer ( country- dweller)
Jli
Farmer (town- dweller)
Artisan
Merchant
Office Worker
Professional
Landed Proprietor
All
A person belongs to a given class if the head of the household in
which he lives belongs to that class. The illiterates in the of-
fice worker and professional categories are women.
It is doubtful how much significance can be attached to these data.
Apparently all those who have finished five grades of school are ipso
facto counted as literate; in fact , many who have been out of school.a
few y ears can read or write only a few wor ds. It seems certain that
by any reasonable standard the number of illiterates would be higher
than that shown here.
Source: Census schedules.
..,..,
180
181-
Table 3. Land Use in Montegrano , 1954 Table 5. Numbers of Farms by Size of Farm , and Percentage of
All Cultivated Land in Farms of Various Sizes , Montegrano , 1951
Use Acre Percent
All
Size of Farm Number Total Area Percentage of All
433 100 (acres) of farms (acres) Cultivated Land
Unproductive 028 Under 2. 5 114 148
Forest 280 235 1257 22. 1
Pasture 834 108 980 17.
Orchards 916 15- 1111 19.
Cultivated , 735 25- 942 16.
Fallow 640 Over 50 1247 21. 9
Source: Local tax records. All commercial

farms (50 acres
and over) 3300 58.
All farms 550 5685 100.
Table 4. Use of Cultivated Land in Montegrano , 1954 Source: Local tax records.
Use Acres Percent
Table 6. Income of a Montegrano Farm Laborer Famil
All 735 100 Year Ending October 31 , 1955
Vegetables 170 Days Earnings Net Val-

Dry beans Emp- Cash in kind Total ue Farm 1
Irrigated vegetables loyed Wage Meals Other Earnin s Products Gifts 2
Cultivated trees and spec ialties

Father 180 $114. $62. 33 $28. 06 $204. 69
600 Mother
Olives 14. 25.
129 Daughter
Grapes 116 42. 28. 71. 20
363 Son 10.
Figs 106
20. 31.17
All 385 176. 124. 31. 332. 107. 14.
Grain 816 Total Income $482. 22
Wheat 519 1. Includes 9 bushels of wheat worth $29, vegetables worth $10 , and
Barley and Oats 247
Corn home produced meat worth $90 minus $21. 75 for cash farm expenses.
No deduction value has been attributed to labor.
Forage 149 Includes $12. 09 given to the girl by her grandmother for her trousseau.
Source: Local tax records. During the year the family received an additional $12. 09 which had
been earned previously and $38. 25 for various servi~s to a visiting
social scientist. This last sum is not listed above because it was not
normal income , i. e., it would not have been earned except for the
accident of the visitor s presence.
182
183
Table 7. Expenses of a Montegrano Farm Laborer Family
Year Ending October 31 , 1955
FOOD
Grain (6Al lbs. $37. 63
Macaroni and spaghetti (153 lbs. 16. Table 8. Minimum Corredo (Trous seau) for a
Flour (61lbs. ) Farm Laborer s Daughter
Salt (87 lbs. )
Wine (3 gallons) 3. 16 12 sheets 38.
Potatoes (272 lbs. 24 pillow cases 11. 28
Meat (5. 5 lbs. 12 nightgowns
Olive Oil (2 qts. 8 slips
Sugar (2. 6 lbs. ) 8 table cloths and napkins for six 25.
Fish (1. 5 lbs. 4 table cloths and napkins for twelve 58.
Vinegar 1 light blanket 12.
Onions 1 wool blanket 22.
Milling of grain 73. 3 coverlets 14.
CLOTHING 1 blanket (puff)
pots and pans 24.
Shoes (purchase and maintenance) 18.
Bed linens 1 linen chest
Trousseau 1 grain chest 16. 12
74. 4 mattress
Other 15. 32.
118. 1 straw mattress
HOUSEHOLD 12 towels
Soap 4 grain sacks
Fuel tableware
Alarm clock baskets
Barber 12 pairs of stockings
:Paint 1. 45 3 pairs of shoes 11.
Miscellaneous 17. 5 dresses 24.
DEBT REPAYMENT
10. $ 362. 10
MEDICAL
FARM
Lamb
Taxes
Fertilizer
Rent of harrow 1. 60
Blacksmith
Basket
Pick axe
Chicken wire
Miscellaneous 21. 75
GRAND TOTAL
$ 241. 86
.""
184
185
Table 10. Expenses of an Artisan Family
Year Ending December I , 1955
FOOD
Table 9. Percentage Distribution of Age at Death Grain (110 Ibs.
All DeaLhs, 1948- , Peasants and Others , Montegrano Milling of grain $ 6.
Macaroni and spaghetti (212 Ibs. 22.
Age at Death Peasants- Salt (40 Ibs.
Others -
1 year or less Wine (6. 5 qts.
20. 8 - 1. 68
13 months - 7 years 8. 1 Meat (17. 51bs.
8 - 30 Fish (29. 7 Ibs.
31 - 60 Cheese (5 Ibs. )
15. 14. Olive Oil (1 litre)
61 - 80
37. 28. Candy
over 80
15. 40.
All 100.
Fruit and vegetables
10.
100. Eggs (11 doz.
Source: Municipal records. Sugar (8. 5 Ibs.
Other 1. 87
74.
CLOTHING
Shoes (purchase and maintenance)
Bed linens 26.
Umbrella
Other 1. 76
29. 63.
HOUSEHOLD
Soap
3. 18
Fuel and Electricity 12.
Barber
Horne repairs
53.
Wedding gift
Nursery school
Miscellaneous
83.
DEBT REPAYMENT
MEDICAL
Doctor
Medicines 40. 47.
FARM
Threshing and grinding
Pig 14.
Taxes
Hired labor
Fertilizer 16. 16
Pig feed
Rent of oxen
Miscellaneous 1. 54 57.
GRAND TOTAL
$ 329.
......
Table 11. Composition of Households by Social Class, Montegrano 1951 cr--
Artisan- Upper All

Laborer Farmer Merchant Class Other Families
No. No. No. No. No. No. %
Cate
A. Nuclear Family 128 192 431
(hus band- wife -children)
B. Incomplete Nuclear Family
(widow or widower-children)
C. Expended Family
(hus band-wife -children -one
or more relatives)
All 157 254 567 70. 1
Cate
A. Stern Family
(hus band-wife -unrnarri ed
children-married son and
his family)
B. Incomplete Stern Family
(widow or widower-unmarried
children-married son and his
family)
C. Fraternal Joint Family

(married brothers and their
families)
D. Married Brothers and Sisters
and their Families
All
Category III
A. Childless Couples
B. Brothers and Sisters
C. Unrelated Persons
D. Miscellaneous Composition 128
All 209 25.
TOTAL 208 323 124 809 100.
Note: The categories are taken from Donald S. Pitkin , "Land Tenure and Family Organization
in an Italian Village , PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1954,p. Ill.
--.J
.....,
APPENDIX B
RESPONSES TO A THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST
Here are reproduced the responses of all Italian and some rep-
resentative Kansas subjects to one thematic apperception test picture,
that of a boy contemplating a violin which lies on a table before him.
The Italians were all agricultural laborers or petty proprietors; the
northerners had more education and income than the southerners.
All of the northerners and all of the adult southerners were married
and had children. The rural Kansans were also married. For the
Kansas TAT' s the writer is indebted to Professor Bert Kaplan of the
University of Kansas. The Kansas TAT' s are not considered repre-
sentative of a rural- American ethos; they are included here only to
provide a contrast which will highlight what is characteristically Ital-
ian in the others.
SOUTHERN ITALIAN (MONTEGRANO)
1. Man , age 47 . There was a poor boy who was an orphan and had
been left nothing by his parents. He had nothing to live on, but in
order to live during the day he would play his guitar and thus earn
something. One day, however, some urchins began to laugh at him
and since he answered them back , these urchins broke his
' guitar , and
so the poor boy found himself desperate because he had lost every-
thing that he had and nothing was left to him except the blackest des-
pair. One of the boys, however , repented and felt sorry for what he
had done and took the little boy to his home where he could work and
earn.
2. Woman, age 34 There waB a little boy who had been left an or-
phan and he was very sad and unhappy. He thought surely this must
be the end for him. In fact he was not able to study or work because
he was very little , and thus the future for him looked sad , and the
only thing that remained was for him to go out and beg alms and that
is what he did.
3. Woman, age 41. . A little boy, left an orphan , lived by begging,

charity, and by playing his guitar. One day his one possession , that
is the guitar , broke and the child cried because he nO!) longer knew
what to do. Then a gentleman saw him and gave him a new guitar.
4. Man , age 32 . Two parents had an only son and so they were willing
to undergo all kinds of sacrifices in order to see that their son learned
a profession better than theirs. But the son did not appreciate their
sacrifices. In fact he would not study and liked instead to go to play
and gain bad companions. His parents tried in every way. They pun-
ished him many times , but it did no good because he was very lazy.
Many times they would close him in his room , but instead of studying
he would go to sleep. Years passed and the boy grew up. Then he be-
came aware of the evil he had done and wished to make amends , but
then it was too late. His parents had grown quite old , and thus he had
to go to work in order to live. He was very, very sorry that he wasn
able to do anything but go hoe the ground.
5. Man, age 30 . There was a poor boy who had been left as an orphan
and he had nothing to live on but charity. One day someone gave him
- 191 -
192 APPENDIX B APPENDIX B 193
a guitar. It was a little old. The boy thought that if he could only
succeed in learning to play it well he might very well make his for- he sat down on the track. Then he became very sleepy and then came
tune , and so from morning until night he the tragedy. A train did come and the poor child was found all in bits.
would try to learn something
about it , never ceasing and never tiring. One day a gentleman
saw
him who was much moved with compassion by him. The gentleman 11. Man, age 58 . Here we have a picture of a boy in front of a guitar
took the boy home and let him study. and he seems very sad. Perhaps it is because he has been left
The boy knew very well how to without
parents and now he is thinking of what he can do to earn his bread. And
profit by his good fortune and indeed became a very fine maestro.
he decides to go and play the guitar in the streets, begging alms until
6. Woman , age 37 . There was a boy who cried continuously because he finds work.
he couldn' t succeed in learning to play, and he was constantly unhappy
about it. But he continued with his intention and finally after 12. Boy, age 18 . This boy has lost his mother , and now he is very sad
many, because he doesn t know what to do at this moment because
struggles and much effort he ended up well and succeeded in becoming
a very good artist. bastard , he has no one. He is thinking sadly of the misery ,hebeing
must
a
bear , but it will not be like that because the father who had ignored him
7. Woman, age 29 . There was a poor boy whose father and mother will look after him , send him to school , and start him on a good path.
had both died and he was left very poor. He wondered how he coulci Girl, age 18. There is a poor child left without
get by, and finally he decided the only thing he could do would be to
13.
mother or father
go around playing his guitar and begging alms. and dying of hunger. One day he was given a guitar and he decided to
And in fact this was play it in the streets and thus he earned something which allowed him to
the way he spent his whole life.
live. In the end , when he had grown older he found work and could be
8. Man , age 40. There was a boy who from the time he was little more at peace. Then he married and now he is happy.
made little instruments out of paper , so much enamored was he of
music. But he was not able to go to school because his family had 14. Girl , age 17 . There was a family that lived happily and well until
not the means. However he was not discouraged and continued by both parents died within a short time of each other
, leaving a nine- year-
himself to learn something. How many times he would cry because old boy who was given to the care of an uncle who was supposed to look
he wasn t able to make happen what he wanted to happen. But then after his well- being.But the uncle , who was a rniser , treated the boy
finally he was able to become a member of a small orchestra , and very badly. The boy, alone and sad, cried continually without being
from then on his ability became in a short while excellent. He became noticed. And thus he had to live for a long time until
, becoming older
a fine player and a musician of great fame. he succeeded in freeing himself from the tutelage of his uncle.
Thus
he lived more happily.
9. Woman, age 30 . There was a young boy in a poor family who
wanted very much to study, but there was no possibility. Even during 15. Boy, age 18 . Here is a sad little boy. He is the son of a well- to-
intervals of work he always sought to learn something. Then finally do family. He had a particular affection and attachment for a little
it was his fortune that an uncle from America sent him money so that guitar which he preferred above all others of his toys. But one day
he could study and he became a fine profes sional. while he was amusing himself playing the guitar it fell and broke.
cried hard , notwithstanding the promise of his. parents that he would
10. Woman , age 36 . There was a poor lad who had been left an or- have a new one just like the old one. Certainly this would not have hap-
phan , both his mother and his father having died. And having no one pened if we were dealing with the story of a peasant' s child.
else, he was truly poor. He spent his day playing a guitar and begging
for alms. When night came , he slept wherever he found himself. One 16. Man, age 42 . This little boy. has certainly had a lot..of sorrows.
night he was very tired , having played all day without having earned a First his mother died. Then his father died and he was left alone.
thing. It was already night- time and he found himself order to live he went about playing in the streets
, but one day even the
, as it happened guitar , which one could say was the sale source of life to him , broke
near a railroad track. And without thhtldng that a train might
come by, and became good for nothing. That is why the child is sad--
because he
APPENDIX B APPENDIX B 195
194
is thinking that he was born to this earth only to bear sorrows and that would learn to play the violin, and the boy said that he would without
peace from
he will never have any peace. But one day his fortune changed because fail. The father dies, and the boy does not give himself any
the absence of his father. But he does not have the courage to pick the
a gentleman interested himself in the boy, took him off the street, and violin up in his hands even though he wants to study, .. because he hates
put him in a college to study, and then afterwards he got a good job. the instrument which deprived him of his father. Finally he succeeds
in overcoming his melancholy and he begins to study with passion first
NORTHERN ITALIAN (ROVIGO) of all because he had promised his father , and then because of the great
passion he has himself. Like his father he will be a great artist.
Man, age 37 . There was a boy whose parents were not rich ,- but
Man, age 32 . Here is a little boy all wound up in his own thoughts.
1.
had only just enough to get by on. From the time he was little he was 3.
weak in health and unwell, so that he was often near death. He had been He is sitting in front of a little table on which there is an illustrated
newspaper spread out. The boy is looking at a weapon. It is a partic-
sent to school for some time , but studies fatigued him, and the boy. suf- ular moment in the life of the world , has learned what
fered because he could not be like the other children.
He spent his and the little boy
time at home sitting by the radio listening to music , and this seemed is happening in Hungary where a people is rebelling against slavery.
to interest him very much. Whenever the band came to town, he never is looking at the weapon and he is wondering how he can make it func-
tion and how he can use it. The boy has always been happy- go- lucky,
lost the opportunity to hear all the music, and many times his -parents
would hear him singing over at home music that he had heard. One day but now the stories of the things that have happened and photographs
seen in the newspapers awaken his fantasy. He would like to help that
the boy heard a beggar playing a violin and he was impressed by what
it was possible to do with that instrument. From then on , the boy suffering people, but he does not know what to do because he is little.
thought of nothing else , and he decided that he would like to be able to But his inclination to want to help them is still there even though he does
play the violin. For many days he said nothing about it to his
parents. not know how to help. He feels rancor against those who have caused
Perhaps he thought that they would not be able to satisfy him because these things, and this feeling will follow him until he is a man. He will
the instrument was expensive, His parents however , seeing him sad never be able to forget all of the things he has heard , and when he is
and more thoughtful than usual, asked him why he had changed so. The grown his thoughts will always turn to that part of the world where there
boy then told them what he intended to do. The parents made some sac- are so many pe ople who suffer. He will continue to condemn and to
rifices and bought the boy a violin because they wanted to make him
hate all those who have behaved so inhumanely toward the Hungarian
happy. They even sent him to town to a music master. The boy wishes people.
at all costs to succeed because he has a passion for music. He spends Woman, age 34 . A little girl is thoughtful because she finds herself
many hours a day practicing his violin so that when he is grown up he 4.
She is thinking about her mother who is far
will be a fine violinist and will be able to repay his parents for their
good
far away from her family.
away from her and whom she has not seen for a long time. The mother
sacrifices and expenses on his behalf. In fact he will become a
violinist and he will make his parents, who did so much and sacrificed has left her alone, and the little girl is always thinking about her and
for him, very happy.
wishing to see her as soon as it is pos sible. The mother of the little
girl was a very capricious woman who loved her little girl but put her
Woman, age 28. There was the son of a great musician, a violinist. in a boarding school in order not to have her with her b.ecause she wished
2.
The son loved the father very much , and when the father played , the son to be free , and the child hindered her by her presence from doing what
never missed the occasion of listening to him. One day the father, while she wanted. The father did not oppose the capriciousness of the mother
playing in a theatre, felt very ill but he continued to play all the same.
and now the little girl is in the boarding school. She does not like it there
The boy, however , was aware of this, and as soon as the father finished because she wanted to be at home with her mother , but her mother has
playing his piece the son ran out to see his father who had been carried abandoned her anyway, and she will remain in the boarding school for
many years yet. When the child is grown she will certai'!.'l1.y not be able
to a room , the father having fainted. He found him near the end of his
life because of an unexpected paralysis. The father, when he saw his
to pardon her mother for having kept her far away and for having neglec-
son, told him that he would die happ y if he would promise him that he
ted her in favor of her capriciousness.
APPENDIX B APPENDIX B 197
196
pistol, which wounded one of the boys he was playing with. At the
Man, age 36 . This is a boy who is thinking about how he wants to
5.
play the guitar, but up to now he has not succeeded in doing what he screams of the boy, all ran away and the wounded one was saved by a
miracle. The boy, filled with fear , returned horne , put the pistol away,
wants and has not SO far even succeeded in understanding how to do it. and sat at the little table to study, hoping that his parents would not
He has in front of him a book which is to teach one to play without a find out anything. But the parents had heard all about what happened
teacher, but after a while he was not able to playas the book said. He
is thoughtful on this account, but he will study some more because he before they even got home , and they gave the boy a lecture , feeling,
wishes to become a fine guitarist. He wants to study in order to better
however , a little responsible for what had happened and that luckily
there were not serious consequences.
his condition and to be able to have, one day, a better life. The boy
is very intelligent. His parents are peasants, but the boy has shown Man , age 27. A boy is sitting in front of a table with his head in
himself to be so interested in .this study that they have sought to make 8.
him happy by letting him study his instrument in order that they might his hands thinking. He is thinking of what he would like to be when he
is big, and the violin that is before him is the subject of his thoughts.
one day have the satisfaction of seeing him achieve what he wishes. The violin has been in the house for many years , and the father plays it
The boy will succeed in becoming a fine guitarist because his th~ught for amusement in his free hours after work and on Sundays. The boy is
is fixed on this. He will leave his parents when he has learned his in-
from a poor family and cannot have everything that he wishes. His
strument well , and he will go and play in a dance orchestra , and he will
make a good position for himself. His parents will be very happy about
father gave him the violin so that he could amuse himself. The boy is
him and his job , remembering the hard work they had to bear in order
looking at the instrument, not because he thinks he can play it or learn
seems to him very beautiful , and
it, but out of interest in an object that
to go forward in life. he thinks that he would like to construct with his own hands something
like it. The boy wants to become an artisan and make violins , guitars,
6. Woman, age 41. This boy is seated in front of a table where there mandolins, and other instruments of that kind. He is thinking about this
is a violin and some sheets of music. He is very thoughtful because and he will tell his parents. They will do all they can SO that the boy
he does not succeed in learning to play the violin , but everything is may be able to do what he wants, and they will send him to a school for
difficult at the beginning. His music teacher gave him some music to artisans that he may learn his trade. The boy will continue his studies
learn to play, but the boy tried it for a long time , and now he is dis-
for many years and he will succeed in becoming a fine artisan and he
couraged because he has not succeeded in playing it as he wished.
is tired and he has put the instrument down and now he is looking at
will be able to assure himself of a modest living but a secure one.
it. The boy, however , is willing, and if at the beginning it does not
become a great 9. Woman , age 32. A boy is looking at a violin and he is wondering
turn out very well, in time he will learn and he will
artist. The parents allowed him to study because they had not yet
what he can do in order to learn to play it. He knows that it takes money
to learn and to go to school , but he hopes to succeed in learning by mak-
thought about what he could be when he grew up. When the boy said ing his parents , and also some relatives , help him. His uncles love him
that he wished to learn to play the violin, his parents did not oppose him very much , and they would be able to give him the little money he needs
because they wanted their son to be what he liked. for the lessons, His parents, however , are not so happy that he wants
Man, age 50 . A boy wasleft at home to study. His parents had left to learn to play the violin , and they would rather that he work in the
7.
him alone at home because they had to go out, and they told him to be fields with them because they have need of his help. , The boy has seen
some players at the cinema and a great passion to play the violin too
good and to study and to do his school lessons. But the boy, after his
parents had gone, soon got tired of studying and began to wander about has corne to him. His parents have bought him the violin, but they are
the house looking in all the drawers and closets. He found a gun, and not able to let him study because they have need of his work in the fields.
right away the idea carne into his mind of doing something that was a The boy, in order not to be in disagreement with his parents, stu.;iies
little bigger than he was. He felt himself stronger than the other boys, only in the hours when he is free from work instead of going out with the
and he thought of going out to let them see the gun he had. When he got other boys to amuse himself. He will become a fine violinist, and he
outside, he met the other children and began to play with them, and will go to play in a dance orchestra , but he will conti~ue to live with his
parents and even to help them with their work.
then to frighten them he pointed the gun at them. A shot carne from the
APPENDIX B 199
198 APPENDIX B
Woman , age 36.A little boy wants to learn to play the violin and his violin if he would just pick it up and play it-- but he can t quite
make up his mind whether he wants to or not. He s thinking also that

10.
spends all his free time after school trying to play it. But he is not if he 'd practice and play real well, maybe some day he would become
able to because he does not know music nor the instrument, and thus he great and go out before large audiences and entertain the people, and
wastes time. His parents do not want their son to be a lazy boy. The get very rich. Pretty soon he s going to make up his mind to play the
first time the parents saw the boy with the violin they thought that he violin and become a great violinist.
was just fooling around. But now they have seen that the boy even neg-
homework in order to amuse himself
Woman, age 35- 40. This little boy has grown tired of practicing
lects school and does not do his
4.
with the violin, although he does not succeed in learning to play because his violin lesson. He is thinking about doing something outside. While
he really has no will to do it. His parents have told him that there are
two things --either he must set himself to studying the violin seriously
he is thinking about it, his mother probably tells him to get back
without wasting time , or he may amuse himself with it but only after practicing so he probably does. As time goes by, he learns to play
real well-- perhaps gets so he enjoys it. He has a pet dog that always
he has finished his school work. The boy is now thinking on this but howls when he practices. As he grows older, he becomes quite accom-
can t decide. The violin is only a whim for him , and he has no desire
to learn to play. He will thus decide as his parents think. He will plished , and plays in an orchestra.
study what he is given to study at school , and then when he has time Man, age 35- . There s a boy thinking about his violin. He s prob-
5.
and inclination he will amuse himself with the violin.
ably disgusted becal+se maybe he s supposed to practice with it.
It looks
like he s got a bad eye. I donno know much about that picture. (What
RURAL KANSAS happens?) I donno. He just ain t playing his violin.
1. Man, age about 30 . It looks to me like a little kid' s got to take

violin lessons , and he seems to be pretty bored. It looks to me as
though he s dreaming about some other kids outside--maybe there s a
good ball game going on, I don t know. His mother probably wants him
to be a great concert violinist someday, but he seems pretty bored.
His mother probably gets her way; the little boy has to stay in and prac-
tice his violin lessons. (But in the end) he turns out to be a big league
ball player.
2. Woman, age about 30 . In a little village in Germany there lived a
large family. There was not much opportunity for the children to go
to school because there was a big family. This little boy had his head
set on being a great musician. There was not much of a way to make
any money, but he saved every penny he could get to later go to school
and buy a violin. His brother and sisters all laughed at him for having
a great ambition , but he said, "I'll show you. " So he worked and slaved
day after day. He studied at night. When he was old enough , he went
away to college. It was not easy. But his family can all truthfully say
they are proud; for today he is one of the nation s leading conductors.
3. Man , age 35- . There s a young boy looking at his violin. He

probably been told he should practice his violin. He s thinking it over
trying to decide if he really wants. to or not. I believe he would enjoy
~ -- - -~-~ ~-~ ~~-~ --.....--- ~-~.
_--
J;.
t:J
trJ
-"",
INDEX 203
Agriculture, 43 , 48- 51. Crop Rotation, 49.
Amoral familism , 10 , II , 85, Death (age at), 184.
, 88 , 89, 92, 94, 96 , 98
100 , 101 , 102, 103, 147 , 163- Death Rate , 55, 148, 167.
66. Dickinson , R. E., 16.
Anti- clericalism , 18 , 25, 98. Don (title), 70.
Artisans , 22, 47 , 58 , 69, 73- Douglas , Norman, 115- 16.

74, 185.
Dowry, 55.
Authority, 34, 38.
Education, 20- , 33, 35, 74,
Bari , 43, 44. 75, 172- , 179.
Bayne, E. A., 94, 95. Elections, 26, 27 , 28 , 37, 40-
, 101 , 103.
Birth control , 39, 76, 100.
Carabinieri (see Police).

Ethos , 10 , 107, 129, 147 , 164,
168 , 169, 175.
Catholic Action, 90.
Family, 85, 108 , 116, 132,
Catholic Church (see Church). 135, 137 , 150 , 153.
Change (see Social Change). Farm labor , 40 , 46 , 50 , 71
Charity, 17 , 57, 86. 182.
Christian Democratic Party, Fascism , 33 , 58 , 96- 98.

25- , 28- 29, 38 , 86, 101 Fatalism , 35, 39- 40.
102, 103.
--.J Friedman , M., 107.
Church , 17 , 18, 57 , 89, 129,
164, 171.
Fustel de Coulanges , 164.
Clark , M. Gardner , 59.

God , 112- 14, 129- 32.
Class (see Social Class). Gypsies, 46.
Climate , 43. Health , 56, 62.

Commune (administration of), Hospital , 31.
19- 20. Ignorance , 33 , 36.
Communism (and Communist Illiteracy, 21- 22, 33 , 40 , 179.
Party), 23 , 27, 34, 36, 37
, 86, 98 , 101 , 103, 104.
Incomes, 51- , 181.
Interesse , 115- 17, ~29, 131
Consumption, 54- 65, 182, 185. 142, 170 174.
Credit, 51 , 56- 57. Isolation, 43- 44, 61.
204 INDEX
Land Ownership, 40 , 46 , 71 Priests , 17 , 21 , 25, 70 , 75,
79, 93- 94, 181. 89, 98 , 132, 142, 171.
Land Tenure , 48- , 93 , 153. Professional Class , 48 , 70
Land Use, 180. , 75, 92, 99.
Landed Proprietors, 48 , 70 Protestants , 171.

79. Religion, 18 , 129- 32.
Levi , Carlo , 33 , 34, 35. Rovigo , 109, 151 , 1. 94.
Lucania (see map), 16. Saints, 130- 32.
Marriage, 45. Schools, 20- , 30 , 91 , 172.
McDonald , J. S., 11 , 16 90- Sharecropping, 50- 51.
, 144, 153 , 164.
Social Change , 59- 63, 164,
Merchants, 47 , 69. 169.
Migration , 58- 59, 90 , 170. Social Class (and Class Rela-
Miseria , 63- 67, 168 , 175. tions), 19, 35, 37, 61 , 69- 82,
179.
Monarchist Party, 26 , 104.
Social Mobility, 72- 75, 173.
Mussolini , 96.
St. George (Utah), 1'5, 37.
Nenni Socialists , 24.
Sumner , W. G., 10.
Newspapers , 16, 44, 173.
Tenure (see Land Tenure).
Office Workers, 47 , 70.
Thematic Apperception Test,
Peasant, 34, 37 , 39, 55, 62- 65, 109- , 138 , 139, 147,
69 (defined), 73, 75, 76 , 81 152, 156 , 159, 160 , 189- 99.
, 100 , 108.
Tocqueville , A. de , 7, 166.
Pinocchio , 109, 140- , 159,
160. Upper Class, 16 19, 34, 35,
, 69, 71- 72, 76- 84, 168
Pitkin , D. S., 118- 19, 146- 47. 174.
Pitt- Rivers, J. A., 67. Weber , Max , 90.
Police , 20 , 21 , 39, 59, 74 , 76. Willems, E., 171.
Political Parties , 23 , 31 , 102, Wylie, Lawrence , 31 , 169.
103.
Potenza , 15, 16 , 19, 43 , 45.
Poverty, 33 , 35, 51- , 63- 67.

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THE REGION OF LUCANIA

cJ Photographs by the Author

This publication was downloaded from

Placing this file on a website server or reprinting this

THE REGION OF LUCANIA

cJ Photographs by the Author

Printed in the United States of America Chapter 3. The Economy

Chapter 4. Class Relations

Chapter 7. Ethos in Principle 129

Chapter 8. Origins of the Ethos 147

Chapter 9. The Future 163

Appendix A. Education and Illiteracy, Land Use , Levels

Appendix B. Responses to a Thematic Apperception Test:

rr.' progres s of all the rest depends upon the

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY INTRODUC TION

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

somewhere in it a significant element of public spiritedness or even

matic apperception tests in the Rovigo district and supplied informa-

made a grant- in-aid.

Americans are used to a buzz of activity having as its purpose

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY IMPRESSIONS AND QUESTIONS

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

IMPRESSIONS AND QUESTIONS

The police ( carabinieri) also are under a separate authority,

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY IMPRESSIONS AND QUESTIONS

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

IMPRESSIONS AND QUESTIONS

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY IMPRESSIONS AND QUESTIONS

SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS

Six answers, each having a strong appeal to common sense, are

Most people in Montegrano are desperately poor. Many have

no notion of what it is possible to accomplish politically and they can-

Conservatives or Socialists, or anything else. . Such matters had nothing

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

THE MORAL BASIS FOR A BACKWARD SOCIETY SOME USUAL EXPLANATIONS

Like poverty and ignorance, they are general conditions which , so to

the Communist vote was heavy, and the proportion of laborers

Montegrano is as poor as any place in the western world, This

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY

proportIon 0 t em are ln ln ancy.

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY

62. THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY

/. . c Unlike the primitive , the peasant feel :-himself part of a lar-

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY THE ECONOMY

Peasants often complain that they have no recreation, and they

Although the political incapacity of Montegrano cannot be ac-

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY CLASS RELATIONS

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY CLASS RELATIONS

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY CLASS RELATIONS

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY CLASS RELATIONS

There are some peasants in Montegrano who think the gentry

THE MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY

so would avoid the necessity of serious explanation or discussion.

sound of the bells brings a corresponding satisfaction: it reminds

'-t CHAPTER FIVE

A very simple hypothesis will make intelligible all of the behavior

Maximize the material , short-run advantage of the nuclear