An­drea Zisa

I study alliances between economic elites and intellectuals that shape public debate, especially during democratic crises and welfare state transformations. I adopt a long-term perspective on welfare institutions as outcomes of struggles between class interests, where ideas and moral values play a crucial role. 

In the MORALITES Project, focusing on Italy, I analyze how discourse coalitions emerge between intellectual elites in civil society and organized economic interests, mediating between partisan worldviews and "common sense." Drawing on Gramsci and Bourdieu, I examine historical and contemporary cases to understand how intellectuals position themselves within these coalitions. 

This work matters particularly in the post-truth era, where shaping discourse increasingly means shaping authoritarian realities. Against analyses of populism as purely political and temporary, I examine the economic imaginaries that old and new intellectuals convey into public debate. Grounded in historical patterns, my research contributes to conversations about power, civil society, and legitimation in the contemporary crisis of the liberal democratic order.