Prof. Giovanni A. Travaglino

Mafia groups are a persistent global threat, generating violence and causing intense social and economic harm. Yet their relationship with society remains poorly understood, and very little research has examined how citizens navigate the moral and behavioural dilemmas posed by their presence. Mafias’ relationship with society is fundamentally political – these organisations challenge the state’s sovereignty and its capacity to establish and sustain social order. They govern territories, shape social norms, and cultivate forms of consensus and legitimacy among citizens. This talk outlines a research agenda for integrating social and political psychology into the study of mafia groups. Central to this approach is the idea that mafias operating in established democracies create situations of contested authority, in which the state’s sovereignty is challenged, whether directly or indirectly. This creates a psychological environment signalling that formal political and judicial institutions do not exercise full, uncontested authority over parts of the territory and its inhabitants. Drawing on experimental and survey evidence, I examine how attitudes, values, and contextual cues shape citizens’ behavioural orientations toward compliance, resistance, and cooperation with mafia authority among both adolescents and adults. I conclude by considering the extent to which these dynamics generalise to other forms of organised crime and across different geographical and cultural contexts.