Abstract

While the situation at the R-T factory may not be typical of the state of industry in South Italy in every particular, it is common knowledge that it represents a situation which occurs quite frequently in new industrial undertakings in the South Italy. Their hectic experience obviously underscores the necessity for management, seeking to set up facilities in the South, to familiarize itself with the way in which the residents of this underdeveloped area interpret the new economic phenomena brought about by the industrialization of their home towns. It carries with it the broader implication that new enterprises finding themselves in similar situations in any backward area must think of themselves not only as centers of business and production but as cultural centers for the shaping and orientation of people who are facing the delicate and difficult passage from agricultural and artisan activity, as well as chronic unemployment, to the industrial way of life. In the view of the author, this is extremely dangerous reasoning. The lesson of the R-T factory's painful experience is plain. The success of a new Industrial enterprise in Civita Incognita or any depressed, backward area, regardless of location, depends upon the cooperation of the local population.