Transcending marginalization : the mobilization of the unemployed in France, Germany and Italy in a comparative perspective

Simone Baglioni , Britta Baumgarten , Didier Chabanet (1, 2) , Christian Lahusen

1 TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique
2 INRETS - Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité

Mobilization by the unemployed was long considered highly improbable. The obstacles have been abundantly outlined in the literature and related to powerful forces of social and political atomization. However, at least in the light of the recent rise of collective action by the unemployed in Europe, such analyses require substantial qualification. For this reason, we want to engage in a more timely and differentiated analysis of unemployed mobilization, its conditions, structures, and dynamics. For this purpose, we aim to study comparatively the protest waves since the late 1990s in three European countries—France, Germany, and Italy—where the unemployed succeeded in organizing themselves and acting on their own behalf for a significant period of time. Our study is geared primarily to developing explanatory hypotheses and presenting comparative empirical data for a subject that remains understudied in social movement analysis.

Mots clés: mobilizations; France; Germany; Italy; unemployment

Domaines: Science politique

Simone Baglioni, Britta Baumgarten, Didier Chabanet, Christian Lahusen. Transcending marginalization : the mobilization of the unemployed in France, Germany and Italy in a comparative perspective. Giugni, Marco. The contentious politics of unemployment in Europe : welfare States and political opportunities, Palgrave Macmillan, pp.152-168, 2010. ⟨halshs-00557510⟩