Lecture by Prof. Donatella della Porta on Social Movements and Social Cohesion in Pandemic Times on May 23rd

Lecture

On Monday, May 23rd, 2022, Prof. Donatella della Porta will give a lecture entitled Social Movements in Pandemic Times: Challenges and Opportunities for Social Cohesion.

Pandemic times have seen the mobilization of waves of protests of very different types. On the one hand, disruptive protests have mobilized coalitions of radical right, esoteric anti-vaccine, anti-EU and ultra conservative Christian groups that have targeted the measures taken to mitigate contagion up to the very denial of the pandemic. In these groups, populist visions have fueled conspirative beliefs already spread in regressive politics. On the other hand, progressive social movements have mobilized in defense of social rights and participatory democracy. In different forms–including innovative repertoires of protest in the streets but also initiatives practicing mutual help and the development of alternative knowledge–progressive social movements have claimed and produced solidarity, by bridging claims on social and environmental justice within a broad call for health rights.

Building upon ongoing research on social movements during the pandemic, the keynote will address the broader question of the opportunities and challenges the pandemic brings about for social cohesion.

When and where?

The lecture will take place on May 23rd, 2022, 06:15 p.m. in the main building of the Technical University Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, on the 2nd floor in seminar room H 2036.

For planning reasons, we kindly ask for prior registration by email at rneu@zedat.fu-berlin.de.

About the lecturer

Prof. Donatella della Porta
Donatella Della Porta is Professor of Political Science, Dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, and Director of the PhD Program in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence. There she also directs the Center for Studies on Social Movements (Cosmos) Her research focuses on social movements, political violence, terrorism, corruption, police, and surveillance of large-scale demonstrations.
Donatella Della Porta has led numerous research projects on democracy and political mobilization in comparative perspective. She is the author or editor of over 90 books, 150 journal articles, and 150 contributions to edited volumes.
The political scientist is a WZB Fellow at the Center for Civil Society Research at the Social Science Research Center Berlin and advises the Social Cohesion and Civil Society project as a member of the International Advisory Board.

Profile on the Website of SNS Florenz
Personal Website 

Further literature

Della Porta, D., & Steinhilper, E. (Eds.). (2022). Contentious migrant solidarity: Shrinking spaces and civil society contestation. New York, NY: Routledge.

Della Porta, D., & Mattoni, A. (2021). Civil society against corruption. In A. Bågenholm, M. Bauhr, M. Grimes, & B. Rothstein (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the quality of government (pp. 290-308). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Della Porta, D. (2020). Building bridges: Social movements and civil society in times of crisis. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 31(5), 938-948.

Della Porta, D. (2020). Protests as critical junctures: Some reflections towards a momentous approach to social movements. Social Movement Studies, 19(5-6), 556-575.

Della Porta, D. (2020). How social movements can save democracy: Democratic innovations from below. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.