Provides a prosopographical analysis of the Italian government Committee for the study of the social and welfare legislation («Commissione Rava» 1918). In particular, this research highlights the historical significance of Administrative Science as a kind of knowledge on social reform and underlines the level of cooperation between profoundly diverse political cultures in their attempt to tackle the «social question». Furthermore, it focuses on the constellation of political élites, scholars, journals, cities and State institutions that, between the 1880s and the First World War, created a space for reform entangled with a network of relationships.
Keywords: «Commissione Rava», Social reform, Prosopography, Elites, Liberalism