The Mobilization and Demobilization of Middle-Class Revolt

Adopting as a case study Argentina's popular uprisings against neoliberalism, which peaked in 2001-02 with subsequent mass protests, The Mobilization and Demobilization of Middle-Class Revolt analyses two decades of longitudinal research (1995-2018), including World Bank and Latinobarometer household survey data, along with participant interviews, to explore why non-politically active middle-class citizens engage in radical protest movements, and why they eventually demobilize. In particular it asks, how do they become politicized and resist economic and political crises, along with their own hardship? Theoretically informed by Gramsci's notions of hegemony, ideology and class consciousness, Ozarow posits that to affect profound and lasting social change, multi-sectoral alliances and sustainable mobilizing vehicles are required to maintain radical progressive movements beyond periods of crisis. With the Argentinian revolt understood to be the ideological forbearer to the autonomist-inspired uprisings which emerged internationally following the 2008 global crisis, comparisons are drawn with experiences in the USA, Spain, Greece, UK, Iceland and the Middle East, as well as 1990s contexts in South Africa and Russia. Such a comparative analysis helps understand how contextual factors shape distinctive struggling middle-class citizen responses to external shocks. This book will be of immense value to students, activists and theorists of social change in North America, Europe and globally.