The reemergence of a class cleavage?
The annual Stein Rokkan Memorial Lecture was held 24 October. Professor Donatella della Porta, Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Italy gave the lecture The reemergence of a class cleavage? Social movements in times of austerity. Professor Donatella della Porta is a prominent scientist in the field of social movements.
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Social movements have been important in Europe for a very long time. Stein Rokkan (1921-1979) in his renowned work focuses cleavages in the society and the impact it had on political organisation and the societal order. Donatella della Porta argued that the financial crisis which hit many European countries from 2008 onwards have generated other cleavages than those that formed the earlier political development in Europe. The current social mobilization cut across earlier dominant cleavages. Affinity and loyalty towards the new social movements is also more fluid than in earlier forms of political and social movements. Donatella della Porta argued that cleavages in the society is today is very important but that such cleavages have another manifestation than shown in the work of Stein Rokkan.
The annual Stein Rokkan Memorial Lecture is given by a prominent social scientinst as a tribute to his memory.
