ITALIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

The article considers the literature on the idea of freedom since the Seventies in the Western world. This idea of freedom founds the neo-liberal capitalist evolution, and it is radically connected to human desire, which takes shape as the acquisitive desire to order the world without regulations. The paper focuses on the term minimalist narcissism to define contemporary Western subjectivity. Analysis of the literature on freedom and neo-liberal capitalist evolution represents the state of the art on some characters of Western society. The article analyzes in depth this theme, with particular attention to studies published in Europe since the Sixties and Seventies. Scholars, as Girard, Deleuze and Guattari note that human desire has a peculiar social role, particularly among youth people. On the one hand, desire is felt to be a root of violence, according to Girard. On the other, desire is regarded as a creative social force, according to Deleuze and Guattari. In order to reach a recomposition of instances of desire, we may look to perspective of New Humanism. In an educational perspective, education and relationality inherent to New Humanism balance human desire and responsibility. A New Humanism, in the levels of society, culture and personality may limit the drift of Western desiring society.