Transcending Marginalization: The Mobilization of the Unemployed in France, Germany, and Italy in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Mobilization by the unemployed has traditionally been considered a highly improbable phenomenon. However, recent observations challenge such a supposition. Our article compares protest waves in France, Germany, and Italy, where the unemployed successfully organized themselves and acted on their own behalf for several months. We argue that mobilization of the unemployed-although it empirically proved to be a possibility-remains very fragile, particularly depending on beneficial "windows of opportunities." Our analysis is above all interested in deciphering macrostructural conditions and opportunity structures, arguing that the unemployed benefited from external developments causing changes in potential mobilizing resources, and brought about new allies and political entrepreneurs. At the same time, however, these opportunity structures were actively exploited and, at the same time, their opening was fostered by the mobilization itself.

Employment Status, Social Capital, and Political Participation: A Comparison of Unemployed and Employed Youth in Geneva

“…Membership in voluntary associations appears as an important predictor of participation in all three kinds of political activities. The associational involvement of youngsters supports their political participation, confirming the wealth of studies showing the importance of the social capital stemming from voluntary associations for becoming involved in politics (Baglioni 2008; Mahoney and Van Deth 2010; Maloney and Rossteuscher 2009).…”

“…The impact of associational involvement on political participation represents a well‐established research tradition (Verba et al 1995) and was recently addressed both in general (Baglioni et al. 2008; Maloney and van Deth 2010; Maloney and Rossteuscher 2009) as well as more specifically in works on the political participation of migrants (Berger et al 2004; Eggert and Giugni 2010; Jacobs et al 2004; Morales and Giugni 2011; Tille 2004; Togeby 2004).…”

The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Europe

“…The social connectedness of the unemployed has been an important resource for their mobilization in several other countries, such as France, where contemporary organizations of the unemployed have tried to enlarge and strengthen their mobilization potential by frame bridging, that is, by undertaking several problems and linking them ideologically (Fillieule 1993, 141). The ability to bridge and bond different issues and different groups seems to be one of the "compensatory" resources that the "poor" can use for their mobilization (Baglioni et al 2008).…”

“…But in light of recent European examples of the collective action of the unemployed as described in this volume, such a view would need to be revised. A number of theoretical approaches have attempted to analyze the conditions that are conducive to the collective actions of the unemployed (Baglioni et al 2008;Giugni, Berclaz, and Füglister 2009). One pioneering approach was that of who argues that unemployed people's passive or militant behavior depends on the way they are organized, on the one hand, and on the nature of their relations with the state, on the other.…”

Conceptualizing Culture in Social Movement Research

“…By contrast, in Italy and France the unions do not have such a close relationship with one political party. There are also more divisions among the Italian and French trade unions themselves, which has resulted in some parts of the trade unions supporting the unemployment protests (Baglioni et al 2008). Differences in the role of trade unions in the various countries result from structural positions and internal organizational practices that have grown over decades.…”