Gianni Piazza - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Gianni Piazza

Partecipazione e Conflitto, 2008

Con questo fascicolo prende avvio il progetto editoriale di Partecipazione e Conflitto. Un proget... more Con questo fascicolo prende avvio il progetto editoriale di Partecipazione e Conflitto. Un progetto ambizioso che nasce dall'esigenza di creare uno spazio di approfondimento autonomo dedicato allo studio delle dinamiche di trasformazione dei sistemi politici contemporanei, con un focus specifico sull'analisi della partecipazione e dei conflitti politici e sociali che le caratterizzano. Una rivista non solo sulla partecipazione, ma di studi politici e sociali che riconosce una centralità agli aspetti della partecipazione, nella loro intrinseca ambivalenza, e nel loro legame costitutivo con le dinamiche di conflitto. La riflessione sui limiti e sulle potenzialità della partecipazione accompagna da sempre la ricerca politica. Lo spazio semantico del termine "partecipazione" è molto esteso, tanto che al suo interno ricadono fenomeni così eterogenei da poterla definire solo in termini minimali, come una forma di agire in cui si condivide con altri una stessa esperienza 1. Nel corso degli anni, la ricerca empirica ha evidenziato che il fenomeno partecipativo ha un rapporto ambivalente con il potere e con il cambiamento, e non è di per sé, sempre e comunque, un processo positivo ed emancipatorio. Diverse discipline-sociologiche, politologiche, antropologiche, storiche, psicologiche e filosofiche-hanno messo in luce la natura ambivalente della partecipazione che si dispiega fra legittimità e uguaglianza. Come ha mostrato Alessandro Pizzorno, se da un lato vi è un nesso fra partecipazione e legittimazione del potere e del sistema politico, dall'altro la partecipazione è anche "un modo di lottare, con mezzi che ora possiamo chiamare politici, contro le condizioni della disuguaglianza proprie della società civile". In altri termini, la partecipazione organizza collettivamente e permette di agire su una struttura di disuguaglianze e di mettere in questione i valori che la supportano e le danno forma. "Il problema della

and Transformation of Radical Movements in Italy between 1978 and 1985

Come decidono gli attivisti all’interno dei Centri Sociali? Uno studio comparato delle occupazioni in una città italiana (How activists make decisions within Social Centres? A comparative study in an Italian city)

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Mar 1, 2012

The Social Centres in Italy are autonomous groups set up by left-wing radical activists, who occu... more The Social Centres in Italy are autonomous groups set up by left-wing radical activists, who occupy and/or self-manage unused buildings, where they organize political campaigns, social and countercultural activities. In this article, a typology of decision-making and internal democracy models, based on decisional method and preferences' treatment adopted (Consensual vs. Majoritarian), is here proposed and tested through the binary comparison of two Social Centres, as empirical cases, in the same city (Catania in Sicily), with the most dissimilar characteristics (campaigns/activities, political ideological orientations, national networks, legal position, attitude towards institutions). The research, methodologically founded on participant observation, the analysis of self-produced documents and a set of semi-structured interviews, provided unexpected findings, entailing an explanation through the procedure of re-identification and/or cultural recollocation of Pizzorno. As a consequence, the diverse models of decisionmaking and internal democracy adopted by activists of the two Social Centres seem to be depended on their different ends, collective identities and political-ideological orientations

Emotions in shrinking spaces for migrant solidarity

Contentious Migrant Solidarity, 2021

HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2008

Voices of the Valley, Voices of the Straits

Scienze politiche e sociali, ricerche, auto-inchiesta

Emotions in shrinking spaces for migrant solidarity

Contentious Migrant Solidarity, 2021

More than Four Decades of Squatting: Cycles, Waves and Stages of Autonomous Urban Politics in European Cities

This chapter aims at comparing different periods of squatting in nine European cities. Due to the... more This chapter aims at comparing different periods of squatting in nine European cities. Due to the disparities in the data and development of each squatters’ movement, the analysis is mainly focused on the Central-Northern Europe cities (Berlin, Copenhagen and Paris), on the one hand, and the Southern Europe cities (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Rome), on the other. This geographical distinction finds significant similarities among the squatters’ movement of each group of cities. Piazza and Martinez summarise the nature, duration, patterns and continuity/discontinuity of the protest cycles, waves of contention and the specific stages that signalled the evolution of the squatters’ movements. They also identify socio-spatial and political opportunity structures in order to explain the cyclical shifts of squatting.

Partecipazione e Conflitto

Non disponibil

Political Protest and Collective Identities in

Protest movements have been recognized as significant contributors to processes of political part... more Protest movements have been recognized as significant contributors to processes of political partici-pation and transformations of culture and value systems, as well as to the development of both a national and transnational civil society. This series brings together the various innovative approaches to phenomena of social change, protest and dissent which have emerged in recent years, from an interdisciplinary perspective. It contextualizes social protest and cultures of dissent in larger political processes and socio-cultural transformations by examining the influence of historical trajectories and the response of various segments of society, political and legal institutions on a national and international level. In doing so, the series offers a more comprehensive and multi-dimensional view of historical and cultural change in the twentieth and twenty-first century.

Sites of Mobilization: Putting protest in place: contested and liberated spaces in three campaigns

Putting Protest in Place: Contested and Liberated Spaces in Three Campaigns

The CSPS-WP series welcomes reports of ongoing research or well-researched articles that raise qu... more The CSPS-WP series welcomes reports of ongoing research or well-researched articles that raise questions about the way the world is politically, economically, and socially organized. It presents theoretically-informed analyses of social and political processes. It presents articles by authors working at the frontiers of social and political sciences, providing a forum for an international community of scholars. The coverage ranges across a broad landscape, from history to contemporary affairs, from treatments of individuals to nations to world culture , from discussions of theory to methodological critique, from First World to Third World. The effort is to bring together theory, criticism and concrete comparative observation. The CSPS-WP series is willing to consider also papers of substantial length (up to 70-80 pages) by filling the gap between quarterly publications and monographs. It is a peer-reviewed international series. All submitted papers are then subjected to a double bli...

In this article are presented the findings of a research in progress on Italian social centres, d... more In this article are presented the findings of a research in progress on Italian social centres, defined as autonomous groups set up by left-wing radical activists (mainly students and unemployed youth), who occupy and/or self-manage unused buildings in the cities, where they organize political campaigns, social and countercultural activities. In particular the research is focused on their practices and conceptions of politics and democracy, related to both their internal decision-making and their external interactions with other groups and organizations within broader social movement decisional arenas. Two empirical cases, the main and long lasting social centres in Catania (Sicily)-the CPO Experia and the CSA Auro-are studied and compared, proposing and applying a reworking of the analytical framework of models of democracy within social movements: the Deliberative model and the Assembleary model are here conceived as the opposite poles of a continuum in which social centres can be...

Squatted Social Centres Activists and ‘Locally Unwanted Land Use’ Movements in Italy: A Comparative Analysis Between Two Case Studies

Contested Cities and Urban Activism, 2018

Squatted Social Centres are urban protest actors, but not only. They are spatially localised in t... more Squatted Social Centres are urban protest actors, but not only. They are spatially localised in the city centres or in the peripheral/working-class districts, but their reach of action is often also regional, national, and global. In fact, they are often engaged in broader protest campaigns and social movements. In particular, research on LULU—Locally Unwanted Land Use movements in Italy has highlighted as Social Centres activists are central actors, bringing generational resources, political-organisational experiences, and repertoires of action. While often labelled as violent by the media and the authorities, they are integrated into protest networks through their participation in mobilisations and a growth in bonds of mutual trust, contributing to turn the struggle from NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) to NOPE (Not On the Planet Earth). They nevertheless can bring elements of internal tensions to the movement with respect to more moderate and institutional actors involved. In this paper, based on previous and current field research—participant observation, semi-structured interviews—we focus on the role played by Social Centres activists within two LULU movements in Italy, the No TAV and No MUOS movements. The interactions of the Social Centres militants with other movement groups and activists have been analysed, highlighting both the internal tensions and conflicting and cooperative relations. We have confirmed their ability to attract youth participation and to favour the cross-issues and cross-territorial scale shift, but we have also noted their ability to maintain the unity of the movement, notwithstanding the large difference with other groups. Moreover, the positive and negative feedbacks of their involvement in the LULU movements have been pointed out, as well as the differences in terms of modalities of cross-fertilisation with other movement members and of geographical characteristics affecting the level of participation. Lastly, we have noted the ability of SCs activists to involve their “urban constituency” in extra-urban mobilisations, and to mobilise together for a common goal with other groups and organisations, with whom they usually have difficult relationships, of non-collaboration or even open conflict.

In this article, we focus on the way in which the LULU (Locally Unwanted Land Use) movements agai... more In this article, we focus on the way in which the LULU (Locally Unwanted Land Use) movements against great infrastructures have framed the issues of corruption and organized crime in Italy, with particular reference to the mafia system, and the struggle against them. Even though they may seem minor issues, they are present in many territorial struggles, from North to South: indeed, we have chosen to analyse – using documents and semi-structured interviews with key informants – as empirical cases the No Tav, No Bridge and No Muos movements. Considering the frame analysis of the activists we have found the same mechanisms of frame bridging, which connect corruption and mafia with other issues in the movements, and frame extension from the particular cases to the general issues. Moreover, the corrupt and mafia systems outlined by the Lulu activists merge into a unique "corrupt-mafia system" that produces unwanted public works. Indeed, we have defined the Lulu movements as ter...

Contesting Development: Critical Struggles for Social Change

Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2011

... 9. Corporate Mobilization on the Soybean Frontier of Mato Grosso, Brazil 132 EMELIE KAYE PEIN... more ... 9. Corporate Mobilization on the Soybean Frontier of Mato Grosso, Brazil 132 EMELIE KAYE PEINE Addresses a paradox: Why do ... and cultural beliefs of Afro-Brazilians have been suppressed in Brazilian civic education through an ideology of whitening (embranqueamento). ...

Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2011

This series brings together the various innovative approaches to phenomena of social change, prot... more This series brings together the various innovative approaches to phenomena of social change, protest and dissent which have emerged in recent years from an interdisciplinary perspective. It contextualizes social protest and cultures of dissent in larger political processes and socio-cultural transformations by examining the influence of historical trajectories and the response of various segments of society, political and legal institutions on a national and international level. In doing so, the series offers a more comprehensive and multi-dimensional view of historical and cultural change in the 20th and 21st century.

Quaderni di …

Con questo fascicolo prende avvio il progetto editoriale di Partecipazione e Conflitto. Un proget... more Con questo fascicolo prende avvio il progetto editoriale di Partecipazione e Conflitto. Un progetto ambizioso che nasce dall'esigenza di creare uno spazio di approfondimento autonomo dedicato allo studio delle dinamiche di trasformazione dei sistemi politici contemporanei, con un focus specifico sull'analisi della partecipazione e dei conflitti politici e sociali che le caratterizzano. Una rivista non solo sulla partecipazione, ma di studi politici e sociali che riconosce una centralità agli aspetti della partecipazione, nella loro intrinseca ambivalenza, e nel loro legame costitutivo con le dinamiche di conflitto. La riflessione sui limiti e sulle potenzialità della partecipazione accompagna da sempre la ricerca politica. Lo spazio semantico del termine "partecipazione" è molto esteso, tanto che al suo interno ricadono fenomeni così eterogenei da poterla definire solo in termini minimali, come una forma di agire in cui si condivide con altri una stessa esperienza 1 . Nel corso degli anni, la ricerca empirica ha evidenziato che il fenomeno partecipativo ha un rapporto ambivalente con il potere e con il cambiamento, e non è di per sé, sempre e comunque, un processo positivo ed emancipatorio. Diverse discipline -sociologiche, politologiche, antropologiche, storiche, psicologiche e filosofiche -hanno messo in luce la natura ambivalente della partecipazione che si dispiega fra legittimità e uguaglianza. Come ha mostrato Alessandro Pizzorno, se da un lato vi è un nesso fra partecipazione e legittimazione del potere e del sistema politico, dall'altro la partecipazione è anche "un modo di lottare, con mezzi che ora possiamo chiamare politici, contro le condizioni della disuguaglianza proprie della società civile". In altri termini, la partecipazione organizza collettivamente e permette di agire su una struttura di disuguaglianze e di mettere in questione i valori che la supportano e le danno forma. "Il problema della