Italy remains an enigma for many observers. Recent Social Trends in Italy, 1960-1995, the sixth volume from the international Comparative Charting of Social Change program, provides a new and convincing schema for its comprehension. It shows that three essential institutions have structured and unified Italian society: the family, the church, and political parties. While the state remains a weak institution, it is important as a regulator of the economy and of society through the welfare state. The book, which contains a long introduction by Alberto Martinelli on the uneven modernization of Italy, shows the usefulness of analysing social change through study of a series of macro-social trends. These trends range from life-style structures to fertility, leisure, consumption, inequality, religion, and family, among others. This sixth national profile provides more arguements in favour of a hypothesis of diversification, rather than convergence, of modern societies. As Henri Mendras writes in the preface of the book, "The more we change, the more we remain ourselves: that is the conclusion of our comparative research, and the Italian study provides further ample proof of it."

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"The authors have done a diligent job in marshalling the appropriate empirical indicators for the task of demonstrating how Italy had changed over the period under consideration. The inclusion of public opinion information and data on social behaviours with which Italianists in the English-speaking world are not familiar is a real plus. Martinelli's introductory essay and the delineation of the three keys to reading Italy's social trends are extremely well done." Professor Anthony C. Masi, Department of Sociology, McGill University.