Nascent state

The nascent state (Statu Nascenti) is defined as a psychological process of destructuration-reorganization where the individual becomes capable of merging with other persons and creating a new collectivity with a very high degree of solidarity. This concept was first defined by Francesco Alberoni, a prominent Italian sociologist, journalist, and professor in Sociology, in his book Statu Nascenti. However, the concept is referred to in much of his work. In his book Falling in Love and Loving, Alberoni defends that there are similarities to be found between massive collective movements and love relationships:

Up till now, sociologists, psychologists, and philosophers have displayed a sort of repugnance or embarrassment in admitting that there is something in common—or better, something identical—to be found both in great historical processes like Islam, the French Revolution, or the Russian Revolution and in such personal, banal phenomena as the experience of falling in love. [...]

In an analogous way, the falling-in-love process is the simplest form of a collective movement. [...]

The definition given of the falling-in-love process (i.e. the nascent state of a collective movement made up of two people) offers us a theoretical slot in which to position this mysterious phenomenon of collective movements. Not only, but the same definition provides us with an extraordinary tool for investigating the nature of all such movements.

Therefore, falling in love is seen as the nascent state of a collective movement formed of two people only. According to Francesco Alberoni, the phenomenology of falling in love is the same for young people and adults, for men and women and for homosexuals and heterosexuals. This is because the structure of the nascent state is always the same.

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