ABSTRACT
After the Second World War, the process of decolonization and relative affirmation of new nation states on the international scene and the intensification of phenomena such as urbanization, immigration, and industrialization caused a revolution in the idea of marginality as an interpretational theory of change. This led to a different way of analyzing this phenomenon that, beyond the relevant differences between the various approaches of both a theoretical and ideological nature, certainly represents a noteworthy step forward in sociological research. The recuperation achieved by Merton within structural functionalism based on a less abstract view, oriented toward research, and above all attentive toward the structural and conflicting dynamics of the system finds in the theories of development and modernization a clear definition of marginality as a nonsecondary, structural factor of the system.
