Abstract

Where do our institutions stand and what normative effects do they have on today’s societies? To answer these questions Donolo examines the relationship between “minds and institutionsµ, i.e. the concrete perception of social actors when they deal with institutions. Institutions which are “intelligentµ when they function as the “lightly built bridgesµ of the book’s title, i. e. when they manage to successfully channel all the resources of the “social capitalµ accumulated in a social history. The normative matrix in post-modern societies is the result of a complex connection between different attitudes, opinions and plans of social action, that cannot be reduced to a simple opposition of compliance/non-compliance.