The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles.
Thousands of metalworkers go on strike in Johannesburg, 2014. Demotix/ Reporter#7602815. All rights reserved.Much has been made of the recent wave of social movements against neo-liberalism and precarity. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy movements to the student protests against the educational system in Chile, commentators have detected a Polanyi-like wave of counter movements to neo-liberal globalization.
But what exactly do these movements have in common? The movements themselves are not specifically connected, are clearly rooted in domestic political fields, and have mobilized claims and framed grievances that are as diverse as they are localized. As the literature on moral economies has long argued, people don’t rise up against economic hardship but rather against injustice.
