Italian society radically changed during the 20th century. This course examines those transformations by focusing on the role of social conflicts, with particular attention to the republican period. Students will be introduced to conceptual tools for studying struggles and their impact on social representations and institutional evolutions. The course highlights diverse epistemological approaches (historiography, sociology, cultural studies) to address Italian social effervescence in fields such as local self-government, sexual liberation and gender equality, peace and disarmament, reform of the Roman Catholic Church, and ecologism. How did these social forces transform Italian society, its representations, and its democratic institutions?