The course will be organized through online classes with the help of conceptual slides, photos and videos.

The course is dedicated to social movements studies and to their several theoretical approach: Structural approaches, Historical Sociology, Sociological Intervention, Cultural approach, Historical and Contemporary Social Movements; Action Research, : Marxist theory;  Collective behaviour and collective action theory; Relative deprivation theory; Value added theory; Resource Mobilization; Frame Analysis, Theory; New Social Movements; and Virtual movements, clicktivism and hacktivism.

Particularly, attention will be paid to the relations between those actors in the context of contemporary democracies. Moreover, we will analyse in details pieces of empirical research on social movements and protest, by emphasising the methods used in this research. 

Compulsory Readings:

Donatella della and Mario Diani, Social Movements: An Introduction, Blackwell, 2020 

Donatella della Porta, Massimiliano Andretta et al., Late Neoliberalism and its Discontents in the Economic Crisis, London, Palgrave-McMillan, 2017.

Massimiliano Andretta, Protest in Italy in times of crisis: a cross-government comparison, in “South European Society and Politics”, 23/1, 2018: pp. 97-114

Other Readings

 McAdam, D. (1986). Recruitment to high-risk activism: The case of freedom summer. American journal of sociology, 92(1), 64-90.

  Douglas McAdam, Conceptal origins, current problems, future directions, in: Douglas McAdam, John D. McCarthy, Mayer Y. Zald (ed.), Comparative perspectives on social movements. Political opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings (Cambridge studies in comparative politics), Cambridge 1999, pp. 23–40)

Tilly, C. (2007). Democracy. Cambridge University Press., Introduction pp. 1-24

Touraine, A. (1983). Solidarity: The analysis of a social movement: Poland, 1980-1981. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]; New York: Cambridge University Press; introduction

 Della Porta D. and Diani M. (2006), Social Movements: An Introduction. Palgrave: chapter 3, pp. 58-82

Williams, R. H. (2004). The cultural contexts of collective action: Constraints, opportunities, and the symbolic life of social movements. The Blackwell companion to social movements, 91-115.

212. Schaefer Caniglia, J. Carmin, Caniglia, B., & Carmin, J. (2005). Scholarship on social movement organziations: Classic views and emerging trends. Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 10(2), 201-212.

Chase S. E., Chase, S. E. (2007). Multiple lenses, approaches, voices. Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials, 57(3), 651-679.

Della Porta D. and Diani M. (2006), Social Movements: An Introduction. Palgrave: chapter 1, pp. 1-23

Buechler S.M. (2008) The Strange Career of Strain and Breakdown Theories of Collective Action in: Snow, D. A., Soule, S. A., & Kriesi, H. (Eds.). The Blackwell companion to social movements. John Wiley & Sons, pp. 47-66

 McCarthy, J. D., & Zald, M. N. (1977). Resource mobilization and social movements: A partial theory. American journal of sociology, 82(6), 1212-1241.

Snow, D. A., & Benford, R. D. (1988). Ideology, frame resonance, and participant mobilization. International social movement research, 1(1), 197-217.

Snow, D., Soule, S., and Kriesi, H., Mapping the Terrain in: Snow, D. A., Soule, S. A., & Kriesi, H. (Eds.). (2008). The Blackwell companion to social movements. John Wiley & Sons, pp. 3-16

Rucht, D. (2008), Movement Allies, Adversaries and Third Parties in: Snow, D. A., Soule, S. A., & Kriesi, H. (Eds.). The Blackwell companion to social movements. John Wiley & Sons, pp. 197-216

Readings of the course  and topics covered by Prof. Massimiliano Andretta 

Massimiliano Andretta e  Riccardo Guidi, Political consumerism and producerism in times of crisis. A social movement perspective? In “Partecipazione & Conflitto”, 10/1, 2017 246-274

Massimiliano Andretta, Transition Times in Memory, in Donatella della Porta, Massimiliano Andretta et al., Legacy and Memory in Movements: Justice and Democracy in Southern Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018,  pp. 24-53.

Massimiliano Andretta and Elena Pavan, Mapping Protest on the Refugee Crisis: Insights from Online Protest Event Analysis, in Donatella della Porta (Ed.), Solidarity Mobilizations in the ‘Refugee Crisis’: Contentious Moves, London, Palgrave-McMillan, 2018.

Massimiliano Andretta e Donatella della Porta, Contentious precarious generation in anti-austerity movements in Spain and Italy, in “Revista OBETS”, 10/1, pp. 37-66.

Massimiliano Andretta e  Donatella della Porta, Dynamics of individual participation: surveying Italian protestors, in “Journal of Civil Society”, 10/4, pp. 373-392.

Gianni Piazza, Locally unwanted land use’ movements: the role of left-wing parties and groups in trans-territorial conflicts in Italy, in Modern Italy, 16:3, 2011, pp. 329-344.

In-depth oral exam in each of the review sessions. For attending students only, the assement will be done through an elaboration of a research paper on one of the issues of the class and a midterm oral or written examination. In the latter case, students will present their paper project during the class and will have a maximun of one year period to elaborate and implement the project.

Online examinations will be done here: 

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/channel/19%3a3082ac4b282a4de6a08ba45f71e63b6c%40thread.tacv2/Generale?groupId=91d34f4a-cf40-4d3d-a94c-dda4c2cd7436&tenantId=c7456b31-a220-47f5-be52-473828670aa1

Students passing the examination with a score above 24 may if she wishes access research activities alternative to the work placement program in our department reseach centres: the Observatory on Politics (OPI; http://opi.sp.unipi.it/)  and Institutions and the Medialab (http://medialab.sp.unipi.it/)

Here the link to the virtual room of the class:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/channel/19%3a9ca205e347d6481492d0bba40c2e4fce%40thread.tacv2/Generale?groupId=878c58fc-6f0c-45db-9d44-7cf4860d6f34&tenantId=c7456b31-a220-47f5-be52-473828670aa1