Rethinking Social Change in Comparative Perspective

Cuny Hunter College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

In recent years, across multiple democratic nations around the world, a diverse array of citizens have come together in cities to give common expression to contemporary anxieties. The focus of their attention varies, but has, at different places and times, included immigration and the influx of refugees; the sustainability of public welfare programs; what are perceived as declining life chances; and a variety of forms of socio-economic differentiations. For social scientists, multiple questions have arisen around these developments. Is there a common thread and if so, do they represent new forms of social assortment? Or are they instead, ephemeral responses to temporary social stresses, with no long-term consequences? The research supported by this award addresses these questions. The research is important for several reasons. The first is that social scientists rarely have the opportunity to study major social shifts as they are taking place. But equally important, policy makers and others concerned for the general welfare need to better understand the significance of what has happened around them. To pursue these issues and the challenges they might represent to democracy, anthropologist Dr. Ida Susser, of the City University of New York, will explore the social and temporal dynamics that shape the "Squares" movement, known in the United States as "Occupy," in two cities of the European Union, Paris and Barcelona. The research will provide an account of these contemporary efforts at social transformation, analyzing how conceptions of time might shape political action, the social composition of activist groups, and the material experiences of occupation. Data will be collected through participant observation, open-ended interviews, digital ethnography, and the analysis of primary and secondary materials. Together with colleagues in Spain and France, the esearcher will follow selected community organizations and new political parties formed in the aftermath of Squares actions. They will assess long-term impacts including effects on national discourse and democratic poiltics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.