Da Mauss a Zelizer: il denaro come mediatore nei rapporti familiari

The paper offers a literature review of studies on money as a mediator of family relationships. Starting from the gift-system, it focuses on intra-familiar exchange of special-purposes money in the pre-modern societies (M. Mauss, M. Douglas e B. Isherwood). Then, it continues by underlining the way that modern money, or «all purpose money», has transformed family relationships in modern society according to some classical sociological authors (K. Marx, M. Weber, G. Simmel). In the third part, dedicated to contemporary society, the article shows recent sociological perspectives related to the cultural approach to money (V. Zelizer, J. Pahl) which have showed the existence of a earmarking process of money within families. In the last part, it offers some empirical evidence on special meanings of money given by Italians by discussing results from a survey carried out with 46 in-depth interviews with Italian young-adults and their parents, focussing on one particular economic transaction: money given by young-adults to their parents while living together. Evidences show that this form of exchange has different meanings and consequences in the life-cycle of Italian families.