  By reviewing the application of the renormalization group to different
theoretical problems, we emphasize the role played by the general symmetry
properties in identifying the relevant running variables describing the
behavior of a given physical system. In particular, we show how the constraints
due to the Ward identities, which implement the conservation laws associated
with the various symmetries, help to minimize the number of independent running
variables. This use of the Ward identities is examined both in the case of a
stable phase and of a critical phenomenon. In the first case we consider the
problems of interacting fermions and bosons. In one dimension general and
specific Ward identities are sufficient to show the non-Fermi-liquid character
of the interacting fermion system, and also allow to describe the crossover to
a Fermi liquid above one dimension. This crossover is examined both in the
absence and presence of singular interaction. On the other hand, in the case of
interacting bosons in the superfluid phase, the implementation of the Ward
identities provides the asymptotically exact description of the acoustic
low-energy excitation spectrum, and clarifies the subtle mechanism of how this
is realized below and above three dimensions. As a critical phenomenon, we
discuss the disorder-driven metal-insulator transition in a disordered
interacting Fermi system. In this case, through the use of Ward identities, one
is able to associate all the disorder effects to renormalizations of the Landau
parameters. As a consequence, the occurrence of a metal-insulator transition is
described as a critical breakdown of a Fermi liquid.
