The ideas and findings presented in this book were assembled over the last twenty years from a great deal of field research and an ever growing body of literature, and through an ongoing discussion with many students and colleagues in various parts of the world. My former students and associates of Lams (Laboratory of Research on Social Change) at the University of Milano contributed directly to some of the ideas on contemporary movements presented here. Together with its companion The Playing Self, the first version of this book was written with the linguistic assistance of Adrian Belton and at its intermediate stage it was improved substantially by the careful and supportive editing work of Timo Lyyra, to whom I am deeply endebted. I am grateful to Jeffrey Alexander and Steven Seidman, who wanted the two books to be part of the series on Cultural Social Studies. I wish also to thank Catherine Max, social sciences editor at Cambridge University Press for her support in the editorial and production process.

I would like to dedicate this book to my family, my roots in the everyday; and to my readers in different regions and cultures of our incoming planetary society: together we share the responsibility of this little portion of knowledge represented by the present book.