Social Movements and Transformation
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Social Movements and Transformation Series Editor Berch Berberoglu, Sociology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA This series tackles one of the central issues of our time: the rise of large- scale social movements and the transformation of society over the last thirty years. As global capitalism continues to affect broader segments of the world’s population workers, peasants, the self-employed, the unem- ployed, the poor, indigenous peoples, women, and minority ethnic groups there is a growing mass movement by the affected populations to address the inequities engendered by the globalization process. These popular mass movements across the globe (such as labor, civil rights, women’s, environmental, indigenous, and anti-corporate globalization movements) have come to form a viable and decisive force to address the consequences of the operations of the transnational corporations and the global capitalist system. The study of these social movements their nature, social base, ideology, and strategy and tactics of mass struggle is of paramount impor- tance if we are to understand the nature of the forces that are struggling to bring about change in the global economy, polity, and social struc- ture. This series aims to explore emerging movements and develop viable explanations for the kind of social transformations that are yet to come. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14481 Lorenzo Cini · Donatella della Porta · César Guzmán-Concha Editors Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism Dynamics of Contention and Their Consequences Editors Lorenzo Cini Donatella della Porta Faculty of Political Faculty of Political and Social Sciences and Social Sciences Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Florence, Italy Florence, Italy César Guzmán-Concha Institute of Citizenship Studies University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland Social Movements and Transformation ISBN 978-3-030-75753-3 ISBN 978-3-030-75754-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75754-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa- tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: A-Digit, Getty Images. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To the people who struggle for a free education for all Acknowledgments The idea to write this book came during the preparation of the conference on “The Contentious Politics of Higher Education. Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism”, that we organized at the Center on Social Move- ment Studies (Cosmos), Scuola Normale Superiore (SNS), at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence on November 16 and 17, 2017. The event was part of a research project on the contentious politics of higher educa- tion, financed with internal funds by SNS. While our research focused on Chile, England, Italy, and Quebec, in the conference we were interested in expanding the reflection on other recent episodes of massive student protests in countries in Europe, Latin America, and Africa. From the theoretical point of view, our aim was to bridge the fields of social movement studies with the research on the politics of higher education. For sure, all those protests address the neoliberal transforma- tions of the system of higher education, enacted by governments of all political leanings, promoting the outsourcing of personnel, the manage- rialization of governing bodies, the introduction of tuition fees as well as cuts to public funding. The outburst of the economic crisis in 2008 has represented a decisive watershed in this process of marketization: as many governments across the world have adopted the neoliberal and pro- austerity agenda as a way out of the crisis. These measures accelerated the implementation of neoliberal reforms in countries where they previ- ously did not exist. Although differences between countries continue to be pronounced, national higher education systems are becoming more vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS alike in the sense of being more market-oriented, even in countries with a strong state intervention tradition. Such transformations were not only aimed at meeting effective and well-structured policy designs, but they were also triggered by the logic of vested interests, power relations, and social conflicts. Over the past ten years, students of all around the world have indeed contested these policies and their implementation with different degrees of success. We want to express our gratitude to all those who participated in that conference. We are particularly grateful to Thierry Luescher and Manja Klemencic for their very insightful keynote addresses. As with all our endeavors, we have also enjoyed the stimulating and supportive environment of the Center on Social Movement Studies. We are grateful to our colleagues there with whom we had very stimulating discussions on the topic of the neoliberal university and its challenges. We are particularly thankful to Lorenzo Bosi, Rossella Ciccia, Riccardo Emilio Chesta, Daniela Chironi, Marco Deseriis, Andrea Felicetti, Anna Laviz- zari, Chiara Milan, Mario Pianta, Andrea Pirro, Martin Portos, Lorenzo Zamponi. Finally, we want to express our biggest thanks to Liam McLean and Elizabeth Graber from Palgrave for their constant help and huge patience in supporting and bearing us! Contents 1 Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism. Forms of Organization, Alliances, and Outcomes 1 Lorenzo Cini, Donatella della Porta, and César Guzmán-Concha 2 What Moves Students? Ritual Versus Reactive Student Demonstrations in Mexico City 27 María Inclán 3 Contentious Institutionalized Movements: The Case of the Student Movement in Quebec 55 Luc Chicoine and Marcos Ancelovici 4 Structuring the “Structureless” and Leading the “Leaderless”: Power and Organization in the Student Movement at the University of California 75 Sarah L. Augusto 5 Tweeting #FeesMustFall: The Online Life and Offline Protests of a Networked Student Movement 103 Thierry M. Luescher, Nkululeko Makhubu, Thelma Oppelt, Seipati Mokhema, and Memory Zodwa Radasi ix x CONTENTS 6 Movement Leadership in an Era of Connective Action: A Study of Hong Kong’s Student-Led Umbrella Movement 133 Chi Shun Fong and Samson Yuen 7 From the Classrooms to the Roofs: The 2010 University Researchers’ Movement in Italy 157 Gianni Piazza 8 Worker–Student Unity Against Outsourcing at the University of Johannesburg: Disrupting the Neoliberal Paradigm Through Direct Action and Alternative Relations 187 Francesco Pontarelli 9 From Revolt to Reform: Student Protests and the Higher Education Agenda in England 2009–2019 213 Hector Rios-Jara 10 Chile’s Student Movement: Strong, Detached, Influential—And Declining? 241 Nicolás M. Somma and Sofía Donoso 11 Ever Failed? Fail Again, Fail Better: Tuition Protests in Germany, Turkey, and the United States 269 Didem Türko˘glu Index 293 Notes on Contributors Marcos Ancelovici is a Canada Research Chair in the Sociology of Social Conflicts and an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). He has published numerous articles and chapters on the global justice movement, anti- austerity protests, and housing struggles, as well as co-edited Un Print- emps rouge et noir: Regards croisés sur la grève de 2012 (Écosociété, 2014) and Street Politics in the Age of Austerity: From the Indignados to Occupy (Amsterdam University Press, 2016; available in open access). Sarah L. Augusto is an Associate Professor in the Department of Soci- ology and Criminal Justice at Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. Her research and teaching interests include social movements, inequali- ties, sex & gender, and pop culture. Her current research focuses on lead- ership and organization in diffuse, decentralized, non-hierarchical social movements. Luc Chicoine is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the Université du Québec à Montréal and a member of the Canada Research Chair in the Sociology of Social Conflicts. His research focuses on student movements and its institutional repression. Lorenzo Cini is a political sociologist in the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Florence, Italy. His latest publication