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Does class matter in anti-austerity protests? Social class, attitudes towards inequality, and political trust in European demonstrations in a time of economic crisis

Hylmö, Anders LU orcid and Wennerhag, Magnus LU (2015) p.83-109
Abstract
In this chapter, we compare the class composition of four types of anti-austerity demonstrations—Occupy/Indignados, trade union, May Day and other anti-austerity protests—with “new social movement” demonstrations. This allow us to, firstly, scrutinize whether contemporary anti-austerity protests attract more participants from the lower classes—in particular the working class—than from the upper strata. Since austerity policies tend to affect the general population differently, and in particular worsen the social conditions for the lower classes, it is interesting to see whether these policies mobilize the groups that are primarily affected by them. In this comparison, we explore and analyze survey data from 75 demonstrations collected... (More)
In this chapter, we compare the class composition of four types of anti-austerity demonstrations—Occupy/Indignados, trade union, May Day and other anti-austerity protests—with “new social movement” demonstrations. This allow us to, firstly, scrutinize whether contemporary anti-austerity protests attract more participants from the lower classes—in particular the working class—than from the upper strata. Since austerity policies tend to affect the general population differently, and in particular worsen the social conditions for the lower classes, it is interesting to see whether these policies mobilize the groups that are primarily affected by them. In this comparison, we explore and analyze survey data from 75 demonstrations collected within the research program “Caught in the Act of Protest: Contextualizing Contestation” (CCC). Secondly, we use the same data to examine the impact of social class on political attitudes among protesters, focusing issues that have been at the forefront during the last few years’ wave of protest: deepening social inequality, welfare privatization, and distrust in political elites. This analysis allow us to scrutinize to which degree the “framing” of the protests possibly contributes to the demonstrators’ attitudes towards austerity measures, economic inequality and their governments—or if the attitudes of the protesters are best explained by their individual social class, or even the national context in which the demonstration takes place.

Social class is measured in two different ways. First, with the recently developed occupation-based Oesch class scheme, in which class is conceptualized as the individual’s “objective” position in the labor market. Secondly, we focus individuals’ self-categorizations of which class they belong to, i.e. their class identity, which can be seen as the “subjective” side of class. Our analysis also show the different merits of these two conceptualizations of class for analyzing political protests. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
social class, demonstrations, protest, anti-austerity protests, sociology, Social movements
host publication
Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis
editor
Giugni, Marco and Grasso, Maria T.
pages
83 - 109
publisher
Ashgate
ISBN
978-1-4724-3918-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
52372205-87f0-4907-a0dd-07147900f1a6 (old id 8232919)
alternative location
https://www.academia.edu/19088580/Does_class_matter_in_anti-austerity_protests_Social_class_attitudes_towards_inequality_and_political_trust_in_European_demonstrations_in_a_time_of_economic_crisis
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:55:27
date last changed
2018-11-21 21:01:35
@inbook{52372205-87f0-4907-a0dd-07147900f1a6,
  abstract     = {{In this chapter, we compare the class composition of four types of anti-austerity demonstrations—Occupy/Indignados, trade union, May Day and other anti-austerity protests—with “new social movement” demonstrations. This allow us to, firstly, scrutinize whether contemporary anti-austerity protests attract more participants from the lower classes—in particular the working class—than from the upper strata. Since austerity policies tend to affect the general population differently, and in particular worsen the social conditions for the lower classes, it is interesting to see whether these policies mobilize the groups that are primarily affected by them. In this comparison, we explore and analyze survey data from 75 demonstrations collected within the research program “Caught in the Act of Protest: Contextualizing Contestation” (CCC). Secondly, we use the same data to examine the impact of social class on political attitudes among protesters, focusing issues that have been at the forefront during the last few years’ wave of protest: deepening social inequality, welfare privatization, and distrust in political elites. This analysis allow us to scrutinize to which degree the “framing” of the protests possibly contributes to the demonstrators’ attitudes towards austerity measures, economic inequality and their governments—or if the attitudes of the protesters are best explained by their individual social class, or even the national context in which the demonstration takes place.<br/><br>
Social class is measured in two different ways. First, with the recently developed occupation-based Oesch class scheme, in which class is conceptualized as the individual’s “objective” position in the labor market. Secondly, we focus individuals’ self-categorizations of which class they belong to, i.e. their class identity, which can be seen as the “subjective” side of class. Our analysis also show the different merits of these two conceptualizations of class for analyzing political protests.}},
  author       = {{Hylmö, Anders and Wennerhag, Magnus}},
  booktitle    = {{Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis}},
  editor       = {{Giugni, Marco and Grasso, Maria T.}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-4724-3918-5}},
  keywords     = {{social class; demonstrations; protest; anti-austerity protests; sociology; Social movements}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{83--109}},
  publisher    = {{Ashgate}},
  title        = {{Does class matter in anti-austerity protests? Social class, attitudes towards inequality, and political trust in European demonstrations in a time of economic crisis}},
  url          = {{https://www.academia.edu/19088580/Does_class_matter_in_anti-austerity_protests_Social_class_attitudes_towards_inequality_and_political_trust_in_European_demonstrations_in_a_time_of_economic_crisis}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}