Direct Social Action: Coping with the Crisis and Pursuing Change in Times of Crisis in Italy

The economic crisis and the related public policies have been dramatically influencing both the daily life of European citizens and the public debate throughout the continent in the last few years. Several episodes of political contention have been shaped or, at least, influenced, by the social and economic context. In this context, research on collective action has increasingly focused on forms of participation that escape the traditional state-addressing repertoires of action and focus on a self-changing society. Boycotts, solidarity action, political consumerism, alternative finance (e.g. crowdfunding, food banks), collective purchasing groups, occupations, self-‐management, free legal advice and medical services, to mention just a few. There seems to be an increase in the types of collective action that we define as Direct Social Actions: actions that do not primarily focus upon claiming something or other from the state or other power holders but that instead focus upon directly transforming some specific aspects of society by means of the very action itself. How do these forms of action relate to the context? Which social and political groups are more likely to adopt these forms of action? Are these practices considered alternative or complementary to protest? How is the prefiguration of political change embedded in these practices? How compatible are they thought to be in respect to state and market? We answer these questions for what regards the Italian case through a wide set of methodologies, including the coding of organisations’ website, an online questionnaire and qualitative interviews.