What does Capitalism do to Contentious Politics? What does Contentious Politics do to Capitalism?

According to several scholars, the global crisis that began in 2008 should bring capitalism back in the analysis of social movements. But beyond the context of the crisis, we build on the neo-institutionalist argument according to which different institutional “regimes” co-exist and different societies are characterized by different forms of capitalism, we would like to explore the relationship between varieties of capitalism and varieties of protest. We propose to adopt a broad international, comparative perspective and a broad historical perspective. Panel 1. Mapping Multiple and Interlocking Inequalities in the Workplace Chair: Stéphane Moulin Moulin is Professor of Sociology, University of Montreal. He has recently co-edited Les catégories sociales et leurs frontières The main goal of the panel is to analyse how social structures have changed in recent years. The analysis of inequalities in the workplace must take into account multiple and interlocking dimensions and factors (income differentials, differential access to employment continuity, to full-time jobs and/or upper level qualifications, etc). What are the general trends coming out of the variations induced by these? What kind of mapping could we do ? Panel 2. Employment Regimes and Protest Chairs: Marcos Ancelovici and Pascale Dufour Ancelovici is Professor of Sociology at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). He co-edited the book Un Printemps rouge et noir: Regards croisés sur la grève étudiante de 2012 Dufour is Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Montreal and Director of the CPDS. Her last book is Trois espaces de protestation mondiale. France, Canada, Québec. We are looking for papers that compare different types of welfare capitalism and employment regimes and analyze the main processes through which the institutional nuts and bolts of the political economy shape the form and scope of contention. We are interested in papers focusing on immigrant, gender, and youth labor organizations, on trade unions, on informal economy activism, and on struggles around precariousness. Panel 3. Housing Regimes and Protest Chair: Marcos Ancelovici Capitalism is a complex and multi-layered system of social relations. This is particularly apparent for housing issues, where different types of housing co-exist (private, publicly funded or subsidized, non-profit, etc.), involving different rules, norms, and actors at play in the field. In this panel, papers could investigate how the housing market and housing public policies shape struggles for housing in different societies. Panel 4. Land Regimes and Resistance Chair: Pascale Dufour Accumulation processes involve land privatization and concentration but also extraction of natural resources. These activities often go hand in hand with authorities forcing local populations to accept so-called “development” projects. In many countries, mobilizations have emerged to resist these transformations. We are looking for papers that analyze the effects of land regimes on collective action and everyday resistance in communities. Panel 5. Care regimes versus protest in contexts of austerity. Are the frontiers between different forms of engagement moving? Chair: Pierre Monforte Prof. Monforte is lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of Leicester. He recently published Europeanizing Contention. The Protest against Fortress Europe in France and Germany. Since its beginning, the sociology of collective action has drawn a clear distinction between forms of engagement and repertoires that relate with care and compassion and those that relate with political protest. This panel would welcome contributions that analyse and maybe challenge this frontier. How austerity measures affect the activities and strategies of social movements and charity organisations ? To which extent the general context of growing inequalities and precarity affects the engagement trajectories and the strategies of action of the activists ? To which extent and how the crisis and austerity measures lead to new configurations and multi-organisational alliances ? Panel 6. Urban Regimes and Civic Engagement Chair: Michele Micheletti Prof. Micheletti is the new holder of the Lars Hierta Chair of Political Science at Stockholm University. She has recently published Political Consumerism: global responsibility in action. Stockholm Slussen, Stuttgart 21, and Taksim Square are just three examples of urban renewal projects in Europe today that have met with protests and grown controversial. Citizens have questioned their public value, environmental effects, costs, funding, and how cultural historic, democratic and commercial needs are balanced in their planning and financing. They have demanded answers on the role of special interests in them. Their criticism reflects broader concerns on the impact of the global economy on their local lives and even whether representative democracy is the best anchoring mechanism to ensure that such projects reflect the common good, as they often require private capital and public-private partnerships to be completed. How does the renewing of common areas in Europe and elsewhere to include more market entrepreneurialism affect citizens’ involvement in their pre- and post-planning stages? Do the increased involvement of private capitalism and even development of more market-oriented governing ideologies (e.g., new public management’s competitive bids, contracting out, etc.) imply that citizen action now must take place in a “public-private” rather than “political” opportunity structure? This panel seeks papers that address the effects of increased private involvement in urban planning and renewal on mobilization, protest, and collective action repertoires. Panel 7. Is a Political Economy of Protest Possible? Theoretical Perspectives Chair: Georges Ross Prof. Ross is Hillquit Professor emeritus at Brandeis and ad personam Chaire Jean Monnet at the University of Montreal. He published recently, The European Union and its Crises. How can we bring capitalism back in the study of social movements and collective action? Is classical political economy sufficient to understand protest and contention? Is there anything to learn from Marxism and its recent developments? This panel invites papers exploring different ways of conceptualizing and theorizing the weight and influence of the political economy on contention. Panel 8. Youth Political Participation in Times of Crises Chairs: Valérie-Anne Mahéo and Dietlind Stolle Valérie-Anne Mahéo is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at McGill University (Montreal, Canada). Prof. Dietlind Stolle is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science, at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), and the Director of the CSDC. Her latest book is Political Consumerism. Our era is characterized by democratic deficit, economic crises and rising inequalities. These phenomena affect particularly though not exclusively young generation. The question of this panel is how and why young people engage in politics in such times of crisis? First, do all youth turn their back on electoral politics ? And why are some disengaged more than others? Secondly, why are some youth engaging in other non-electoral ways? Finally, what is the impact of participatory inequalities and the diverse modes of engagement on democracies?