Donatella della Porta, Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism Back Into Protest Analysis

Abstract. Over the last few years, there has been a certain degree of agreement among social movement scholars on the fact that the dominant analytical frameworks of social movement theory were not fully able to explain the recent wave of protests, triggered by the economic crisis. Followingthis concern, some authors have started a debate about how to modify and refine these frameworks in order to better account for the current dynamics of mobilization. This type of reflection is precisely at the centre of the analysis of a book recently published by Polity Press (2015: pp. 249), titled Social Movements in Times of Austerity. Bringing Capitalism Back into Protest Analysis, where the author, Donatella della Porta, one of the most prominent scholars of this field, takes a clear position in such debate by singling out some of the main limitations, which have negatively affected the developments of the theorizations of social movements over the past decades. In discussing these limitations, della Porta proposes some original remedies and solutions in terms of theories and themes to be introduced and investigated in the current agenda of social movement research.Keywords. Political economy, Social movement studies, Neoliberalism, Economic crisis, Protests.JEL. F50, F60

Colonic polyps: inheritance, susceptibility, risk evaluation, and diagnostic management

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third-ranked neoplasm in order of incidence and mortality, worldwide, and the second cause of cancer death in industrialized countries. One of the most important environmental risk factors for CRC is a Western-type diet, which is characterized by a low-fiber and high-fat content. Up to 25% of patients with CRC have a family history for CRC, and a fraction of these patients are affected by hereditary syndromes, such as familial adenomatous polyposis, Gardner or Turcot syndromes, or hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer. The onset of CRC is triggered by a well-defined combination of genetic alterations, which form the bases of the adenoma-carcinoma sequence hypothesis and justify the set-up of CRC screening techniques. Several screening and diagnostic tests for CRC are illustrated, including rectosigmoidoscopy, optical colonoscopy (OC), double contrast barium enema (DCBE), and computed tomography colonography (CTC). The strengths and weaknesses of each technique are discussed. Particular attention is paid to CTC, which has evolved from an experimental technique to an accurate and mature diagnostic approach, and gained wide acceptance and clinical validation for CRC screening. This success of CTC is due mainly to its ability to provide cross-sectional analytical images of the entire colon and secondarily detect extracolonic findings, with minimal invasiveness and lower cost than OC, and with greater detail and diagnostic accuracy than DCBE. Moreover, especially with the advent and widespread availability of modern multidetector CT scanners, excellent quality 2D and 3D reconstructions of the large bowel can be obtained routinely with a relatively low radiation dose. Computer-aided detection systems have also been developed to assist radiologists in reading CTC examinations, improving overall diagnostic accuracy and potentially speeding up the clinical workflow of CTC image interpretation

Società civile e democrazia radicale

This work asks questions on the relationship between innovative collective actors, such as the 'new social movements' and the political institutions of representative democracy starting from an underlying hypothesis: the idea that civil society is the main source of political legitimation of liberal democracy. More precisely, what this monograph reflects on is the capacity of the social movements to concretely test alternative forms of democracy. The aim of the contemporary movements is to augment the fundamental values of the "democratic revolution", namely the principles of freedom and equality. They constantly lead to conflict and social antagonism: indeed new conflicts and new antagonisms arise every time that the movements implement radical experiences of democracy in the multiple and different spheres of social life. Only by accepting and setting value by these alternative democratic practices and experiences – and this is the author of this work's thesis – may democratic ideals be revived in contemporary society

How algorithms are reshaping the exploitation of labour‑power: insights into the process of labour invisibilization in the platform economy

Marx conceives of capitalism as a production mode based on the exploitation of labour-power, whose productive consumption in the labour process is considered as the main source of value creation. Capitalists seek to obscure and secure workers’ contribution to the production process, whereas workers strive to have their contribution fully recognized. The struggle between capitalists and workers over labour-time is thus central to capital’s valorization process. Hence, capital–labour antagonism is structured over the capture and exploitation of unpaid labour-time. Building on Marx’s labour value theory, as well as on some of its contemporary interpretations, I call this struggle over labour-time capture a process of ‘invisibilization’ of labour. I claim that this invisibilization process is still a relevant form of surplus-value extraction in contemporary capitalism, especially in the platform economy, characterized by remote but pervasive control by algorithms. The rediscovery of this form of surplus-value extraction and its manifestation in platform labour is the main contribution of this study. To corroborate this contribution, I compare the case of platform labour with that of textile-clothing, where value production is more clearly based on the classical forms of surplus-value extraction (i.e., absolute and relative). This comparison helps to cast a new light on the nexus between work-process transformations and surplus-value creation, which is the core of the Marxian labour theory of value, and which – I argue – is crucial to understanding contemporary capitalist developments.European CommissionMarie Skłodowska-Curie ActionCOntesting GOvernance by NUmbers: The Mobilizations of Food Delivery Couriers across Europe in Time of the Pandemic (COGONU)Open Access funding provided by the IReL ConsortiumCheck citation details on check dat

Al tramonto del divieto delle usure. La polemica sul prestito ad interesse tra Marco Mastrofini e Monaldo Leopardi

Il divieto delle usure è una tematica dalla profondità etica talmente marcata da non permettersi mai il riposo della critica. L'origine di tale divieto risale al modo ebraico e alla stesura dei testi sacri; essi in questo senso sono la fonte normativa di ispirazione divina che giustifica l'inamovibilità di questo precetto. La storia del divieto si fonda sul solco di una tradizione millenaria che incontra similitudini fra il diritto islamico e quello romano. La causa che interruppe questa continuità fu l'avvento dei mercanti nella società basso medievale. Successivamente secoli di battaglie ideologiche spostarono il baricentro della contesa fra legittimisti e contrari al divieto ed il culmine fu raggiunto alle soglie del XIX grazie a Monaldo Leopardi e Marco Mastrofini, che ampliarono gli orizzonti della disputa introducendo nuovi spunti di riflessione. A distanza di secoli il tema delle usure pare non aver perso attualità

Società civile e democrazia radicale

This work asks questions on the relationship between innovative collective actors, such as the 'new social movements' and the political institutions of representative democracy starting from an underlying hypothesis: the idea that civil society is the main source of political legitimation of liberal democracy. More precisely, what this monograph reflects on is the capacity of the social movements to concretely test alternative forms of democracy. The aim of the contemporary movements is to augment the fundamental values of the "democratic revolution", namely the principles of freedom and equality. They constantly lead to conflict and social antagonism: indeed new conflicts and new antagonisms arise every time that the movements implement radical experiences of democracy in the multiple and different spheres of social life. Only by accepting and setting value by these alternative democratic practices and experiences – and this is the author of this work's thesis – may democratic ideals be revived in contemporary society

Resisting algorithmic control: Understanding the rise and variety of platform worker mobilisations

Algorithms are seen as effective for managing workers. Literature focuses mainly on the function- ing and impact of algorithmic control on workers' experiences and conditions. The ways in which platform workers have organised collectively to regain control have received far less scholarly attention. This paper addresses this gap by making sense of the mobilisation dynamics of two platform- work categories: crowdwork (Amazon Mechanical Turk) and work on-demand (food-delivery couriers). These are salient mobilisation cases, as these workers have resisted algorithmic control by adopt- ing specific organising modes, action repertoires and collective solidarities. By analysing a combina- tion of extant literature and policy reports concern- ing each category of mobilisation forms at a global level over 5 years, the study elucidates why and how these workers were able to act without the involve- ment of traditional trade unions by showing that specific supportive communities and political activ- ism traditions were crucial in the rise and variety of mobilisation.European CommissionMarie Skłodowska-Curie ActionCOntesting GOvernance by NUmbers: The Mobilizations of Food Delivery Couriers across Europe in Time of the Pandemic (COGONU)Open Access funding provided by the IReL Consortiu

Giustizia, uguaglianza e differenza

At least until the beginning of the 1990s, when the paradigm of recognition seemed to supplant the paradigm of redistributive justice theories, all the biggest contemporary political theories attempted to single out injustice in some form of inequality and tried in various ways to make individuals equal within a particular space for interpersonal comparison: whether this be the space of fundamental freedoms, income, wealth, conditions for self-respect, well-being, chances of well-being or capabilities. The objective of this work is to rebuild the main notions of equality and justice which have emerged from the contemporary philosophical-political debate and, at the same time, account for the critical theories that they have inspired, from the theories in which the language of difference adds to or surpasses the language of equality, to the paradigms located radically beyond all those regulatory positions which more or less explicitly arise from the liberal tradition, such as the paradigm of biopolitics, and that of cognitive capitalism

Strategies to improve the performances of bakery products made from ancient wheat’s

The growing consumers\u2019 attention regarding the inclusion of foods able to provide health benefits in one\u2019s diet, is currently a theme of fundamental importance. Between these products, ancient wheat\u2019s and whole wheat flours seem to be the most appealing in the cereal industry thanks to their nutritional content. Nevertheless, ancient wheat\u2019s show worse rheological and technological performances compared to modern cultivars, in particular when using whole wheat flour. According to Migliorini, et al. (2016), the content of starch and protein is strongly influenced by annual variability and agronomic practices. This highlights the need for further investigation to understand the relationship between different agronomic practices and the rheological and technological properties of flours and dough\u2019s made from ancient wheat\u2019s. Furthermore, the greatest challenge for the bakery industry still remains the improvement of the technological properties of bakery products made from ancient wheat\u2019s. In this paper, some of the strategies aimed to face this challenge are proposed. Starting from the improvement of the rheological properties of dough\u2019s made from ancient wheat, Cappelli, et al. (2018) provided a rheological study which allows to identify the optimal water content to be added, through models represented by level curves diagrams. Moreover, regarding the improvement of bakery products based on ancient wheat, the sourdough fermentation (Saa, et al. 2017) and the reduction of free lipid in the doughs (Collar & Angioloni, 2014) seems to be the most interesting strategies. Finally, future strategies finalized to improve the technological properties of bakery products made from ancient wheat\u2019s are related to the assessment of suitability and bread-making aptitude of ancient wheat flours blended with the most interesting and innovative sources of proteins, i.e. legume and insect flours