The “art of making do” is not just an individual attitude, but a real social philosophy, a way of being in the world that reflects continuous adaptation to often precarious economic, political and environmental conditions. “He who adapts, lives”: a proverb that summarizes one of the most profound traits of Mediterranean cultures. The ability to survive difficulties with creativity. It is based on a form of practical, collective intelligence and on a flexible conception of time and rules, in which improvisation becomes a virtue. Its roots lie in the long history of marginality and dependence that has marked the Mediterranean world, where making do has become a way of resisting and reinventing the imposed order. As in the film “The art of making do” by Alberto Sordi, this philosopher reflects a subtle balance between survival and cunning, reminding us that, in the Mediterranean, knowing how to adapt is often the most authentic form of intelligence.
Today this practice is expressed as a strategy of survival and collective agency: a transformative action which, despite economic or social constraints, reaffirms the dignity and autonomy of the subjects. In uncertainty, making do is not disorder but intelligence of the possible.
What ethics of adaptation and origin imply
The origin of the art of making do is to be found in the long history of marginality and fragmentation of the Mediterranean world. From colonization to the domination of great empires, through the scarcity of natural resources and economic dependence on external powers, Mediterranean peoples have developed a way of reacting to power structures through creativity and adaptation. According to the anthropological tradition, from Ernesto De Martino to Anton Blok, these forms of “situated intelligence” arise in contexts where survival depends on the ability to continuously negotiate with the uncertainties of reality.
The art of making do, in this sense, is not “deviant” behavior from the norm, but a cultural response to institutional shortcomings and the complexity of daily life. As a Sicilian proverb says: “Cu sapi fari, si salva”those who know how to do it are saved.
Making do means adapting, but not in a passive sense: rather it is an act of creativity that transforms the unexpected into an opportunity, the lack into a resource. The philosopher Edgar Morin described this ability as “complex thinking”: a logic that does not separate but connects, that addresses uncertainty as an integral part of life.
In Italy, this philosophy has historically expressed itself in the ability to invent temporary but effective solutions, to “do with little”, to solve practical problems in an unconventional way. This worldview contrasts with the modern, industrial and bureaucratic one, which favors planning and efficiency. In the art of making do, however, the value lies in the ability to react, in flexibility and in the relational dimension of living.
Between cunning and survival
Like many popular practices, the art of making do moves on an ambiguous border between virtue and vice. On the one hand it represents an example of resilience and creative intelligence; on the other hand it can degenerate into cunning, opportunism, or into that tendency to “get by” that many sociologists have read as a trait of Italian culture. “Law made, deception found”, the proverb indicates not only an individualistic attitude, but a systemic distrust towards institutions and a preference for informal solutions.
However, reducing the art of making do to a defect would be a mistake: it reveals a form of micro-resistance to power, a way of reclaiming one’s autonomy in contexts of economic or political dependence. As Gramsci observed, a “spontaneous philosophy” survives in popular practices, a wisdom that arises from below and reflects an ethic of everyday ingenuity.
Cultural resistance and form of agency
In times of economic, climatic or social crises, the art of making do takes on the value of a collective strategy of survival and affirmation of agency, that is, the ability to act and influence one’s destiny despite structural constraints. In many communities, for example in Southern Italy, in the Maghreb or in rural Greece, “making do” means building solidarity networks, exchanging favors, creating informal micro-economies and rebuilding margins of control over one’s daily life.
It is a form of resistant subjectivity, which does not reject the system but reinvents it from below, rewriting its rules. In the human sciences, this practice approaches the logic of DIY by Lévi-Strauss and Sherry Ortner’s reflections on agency as a transformative capacity: even in conditions of disadvantage, individuals and communities find creative ways to reaffirm their dignity.
From this perspective, the art of making do is a way to actively exist, to reclaim spaces of autonomy and meaning.
