Student Movements in Late Neoliberalism: Dynamics of Contention and Their Consequences

322 Pages·2021·5.566 MB·English

by  Lorenzo Cini, Donatella della Porta, César Guzmán-Concha

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND TRANSFORMATION
Student Movements in
Late Neoliberalism
Dynamics of Contention and Their
Consequences
Edited by
Lorenzo Cini · Donatella della Porta
César Guzmán-Concha
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,thepoor,indigenouspeoples,women,andminorityethnicgroups
thereisagrowingmassmovementbytheaffectedpopulationstoaddress
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)
havecometoformaviableanddecisiveforcetoaddresstheconsequences
oftheoperationsofthetransnationalcorporationsandtheglobalcapitalist
system. The study of these social movements their nature, social base,
ideology,andstrategyandtacticsofmassstruggleisofparamountimpor-
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
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To the people who struggle for a free education for all
Acknowledgments
Theideatowritethisbookcameduringthepreparationoftheconference
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 researchfocused 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
manygovernmentsacrosstheworldhaveadoptedtheneoliberalandpro-
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
worldhaveindeedcontestedthesepoliciesandtheirimplementationwith
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
discussionsonthetopicoftheneoliberaluniversityanditschallenges.We
areparticularlythankfultoLorenzoBosi,RossellaCiccia,RiccardoEmilio
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
ElizabethGraberfromPalgrave fortheirconstanthelpandhugepatience
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 MovementLeadershipinanEraofConnectiveAction:
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 Türkog˘lu
Index 293