ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on those findings from Naples to stimulate reflection on the effects of ideological superimposition and governance. It argue that anthropological fieldwork in the classic fashion can be done across the social spectrum in western urban settings and that the findings can help to increase understanding the dynamics that are critical at the local level. Note however that the problematic significance of such understanding extends beyond ethnographic specificity. The Naples popolino use the word to describe themselves as ordinary people. The platform from which author further work has sprung. As testified by the Naples case, such delegitimation will engender citizens' distrust of, and disaffection with, key democratic institutions. The implications and ramifications of this kind of distrust and disaffection reach far beyond the implosion of a powerful lite who enjoy no authority in the sense of their moral right to rule.
