1,720,985 research outputs found
Giustizia, uguaglianza e differenza. Una guida alla lettura della filosofia politica contemporanea
No full textParticipatory deliberative democracy: toward a new standard for assessing democracy? some insights into the Italian case
No full textstatus: Publishe
Mobilizing against the odds. Solidarity in action in the platform economy
Get PDFThe relationship between working conditions and the development of collective solidarity has been much debated in sociology over the past century. The article contributes to this debate by exploring two recent cases of worker mobilization in the context of the Italian platform economy, concerning Amazon delivery drivers and food delivery couriers. Both groups developed specific identity frames in the course of their mobilizations in four Italian cities between 2018 and 2019, which differed significantly. The article explains those differences through a theoretical framework that bridges social movement and labor studies. While Amazon delivery drivers adopted a mobilizing strategy aimed narrowly at improving their conditions as Amazon workers, food delivery couriers elaborated a broader identity framing as precarious platform workers. The difference can be connected to specific features of labor organization, in particular regarding the diverse conditions met by digital innovation in the two sectors: While Amazon drivers belong to a technologically advanced segment (e-commerce) of a traditional sector (logistics), food delivery couriers are part of a new, platform-based sector. The article shows how such sectoral variation affected ways of collectively organizing, forms of solidarity and identity framing.European CommissionMarie Skłodowska-Curie ActionCOntesting GOvernance by NUmbers: The Mobilizations of Food Delivery Couriers across Europe in Time of the Pandemic (COGONU)Open Access funding provided by Scuola Normale Superiore within the CRUICARE Agreemen
Labour conflicts in digital age. A Comparative Perspective
No full textFrom Deliveroo to Amazon, digital platforms have drastically transformed the way we work. But how are these transformations being received and challenged by workers? This book provides a radical interpretation of the changing nature of worker movements in the digital age, developing an invaluable approach that combines social movement studies and industrial relations. Using case studies taken from Europe and North America, it offers a comparative perspective on the mobilizing trajectories of different platform workers and their distinct organizational forms and action repertoires. This is an innovative book that offers a complete view of the new labour conflicts in the platform econom
Resistance and struggle in the gig economy
No full textAs the global gig economy has grown in size and relevance, gig workers across the world have increasingly attempted to organise conflict and resistance as well as to defend their interests and demands more systematically. Their attempts at collective action have been articulated through a diverse array of organisational forms and practices, which have varied across sectors, types of platforms and localities. In the chapter, we provide a theoretical framework to understand both how collective action emerges also within such a precarious world of work and why it takes very different forms of organising across the globe. By reviewing the burgeoning international literature on labour conflict and organisation in the gig and precarious economy, we show how various agential and contextual factors, especially those related to the political and social context of mobilisation, combine with precarious labour processes to produce collective organisation and conflict
With or Without U(nions)? Understanding the Diversity of Gig Workers’ Organizing Practices in Italy and the UK
Get PDFSince 2016, mobilizations of gig workers across European countries have become increasingly common within location-based services, such as food delivery. Despite remarkable similarities in workers’ mobilization dynamics, their organizational forms have varied considerably, ranging from self-organization, to work councils, to unionization through rank-and-file or longstanding unions. To start making sense of this diversity in organizing practices, we compare two cases of mobilization in the food delivery sector: in Italy, where workers have initially opted for self-organization, and in the UK, where they have organized through rank-and-file unions. Drawing on interview and observational data gathered between 2016 and 2018, we find that the diversity of organizational forms across the two cases derives from the interaction between agential and contextual factors, namely: the capabilities of rank-and-file unions and the political tradition of militant organizing of the environment within which gig workers are embedded. These findings contribute to the emerging debate on labour relations in the gig economy by showing the central role that factors external to the labour process and to the institutional context play in shaping the structuring of labour antagonism in a still lowly institutionalized sector characterized by transnationally homogenous challenges.Introduction Understanding variation in precarious workers' organizing practices: Insights from the extant literature Understanding the varity of organizing practices in the gig economy Case selection, methodology and data Introducing the cases: Riders' mobilizations in the UK and Italy Exploring differences in organizing forms Discussion and conclusions Acknowledgements Reference
Student movements in the age of austerity. The cases of Chile and England
No full textSeveral recent episodes of massive student protests in countries in Europe, Latin America, and Africa, raise the question of whether we are witnessing to a new surge of student protests. This profile offers an interpretation of the socio-economic and political processes that have caused contentious reactions among students, paying special attention to changes in the major characteristics of the higher education sector. In last decades, governments of all colors have enacted laws promoting the outsourcing of personnel, the managerialization of governing bodies, and the introduction of tuition fees as well as cuts to public funding. These changes are inspired by a new paradigm, which promotes the ‘discipline of the market place, the power of the consumer and the engine of the competition.’ In this context, various forms of resistance and opposition can be observed. Here, we focus on three dimensions: (1) financing and autonomy of universities; (2) governance and managerialization; (3) precarization of labor conditions. The profile shows how recent protests in Chile and England are related to changes in the afore-mentioned dimensions. We conclude that the reappearance of students as political actors is related to the emergence of a range of distributional conflicts stemming from the implementation of the neoliberal agenda in the field of higher education
Contesting higher education : student movements against neoliberal universities
No full textUsing new research on higher education in the UK, Canada, Chile and Italy, this rigorous comparative study investigates key episodes of student protests against neoliberal policies and practices in today’s universities.
As well as examining origins and outcomes of higher education reforms, the authors set these waves of demonstrations in the wider contexts of student movements, political activism and social issues, including inequality and civil rights.
Offering sophisticated new theoretical arguments based on fascinating empirical work, the insights and conclusions revealed in this original study are of value to anyone with an interest in social, political and related studies
Towards a critical theory of social movements : an introduction
No full textFirst published online: 22 December 2017In this introductory essay, we first argue that social movement studies have not paid enough attention to the dynamics of capitalist transformations. Second, we identify the epistemological biases of the discipline. Third, we propose some solutions to fill this gap, namely exploring the relations between the dynamics of the accumulation process and the social movement formation processes
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