Editorial: Italian cultural studies. Being on the side of the future

This is the editorial for the Italian Cultural Studies guest edited issue of JOMEC Journal, published in November 2015. It outlines the conditions of cultural crisis as well as of social and political discontent in Italy during the last years of Silvio Berlusconi’s government, highlighting the demand for a commitment to improved ethical and democratic standards in contemporary Italy. This editorial also suggests a possible way to pursue such an ethico-political commitment, assigning particular importance to public pedagogy and cultural politics