The Italian Animal Advocacy Archipelago and the Four Animalisms

Italian animal advocacy is extremely divided and fragmented: in this article, we focus on its political dimension. Based upon prior studies, we expected the Italian animal advocacy archipelago to be clustered into three strata: old welfare, new welfare, and animal rights. Quantification of our survey (704 respondents throughout Italy) instead indicated a dichotomy between the animal rights area and both types of welfarists, particularly in terms of ethical values and localization on a progressive/conservative political axis. However, when we used qualitative interviews to probe the views of Italian animal advocates in greater depth, we detected a greater fragmentation and identified four ideal types of activism, defined as follows: political animalism, anarchist animalism, anti-political animalism, and moderate animalism. These ideal types are separated primarily along two dimensions: relationship with neo-liberal societal and economic structure, and degree of intersectional approach with other social movements. In the conclusions, we also offer general reflections on the coexistence of lobbying and protest, the phenomenon on NGOization, and the influence of individual activism and frame personalization on contemporary social movements

Veganism: Lifestyle or Political Movement? Looking for Relations Beyond Antispeciesism

In recent years, various issues related to non-human animals emerged as elements of interest among public opinion, also involving debates in various academic fields. If philosophy, law, economics and cultural studies can already boast relevant works also at an Italian level, it is not the same for political sociology and social movement studies. In order to analyse the variegated archipelago of national animal advocacy, we stratified the phenomenon into three movement areas (animal care, protectionism, antispeciesism) with the goal to test some hypothetical differences and verify eventual convergences. Our data come from two main sources: an online survey and 20 semi-structured interviews conducted with leaders and/or “relevant” activists of groups and associations. In this article we specifically focus on those questions related to dietary consumption, veganism as a philosophy/lifestyle and the use of non-human animals for human interest. An increasing number of perspectives are focusing more and more on individual lifestyles and members’/activists’ modes of consumption, shifting the action from the streets to the shops. This change of paradigm often blurs more radical and political approaches characterized by structural anti-capitalist frames and actions and that involve(d) forms of popular collective protests aimed at proposing alternatives ideas of future and societies

Scrivere cambiando, cambiare scrivendo. Il rapporto ricercatore/attore nello studio dei movimenti sociali

Is it possible a value-free social research and without an ethical/political involvement of the researcher? If so, is it desirable? After a brief excursus on the origins of the sociological debate to be sought in anthropology emancipated from colonial discipline, the engaged/detached dichotomy will be recalled, along with some research programs that presuppose (even if in different ways) the involvement of the researcher. In the second part of the article, the attention will be focused on the specific sector of social movements studies, in which these issues assume central importance. Finally, we will take into account some empirical researches, to make the previously issues tangible. The reference will be to the relationship with the social actors and the issues they refer to, as emerged in three case studies: on the No-Expo Network, on the animal rights movement and on the relationship between movement activists and the European Union

Vaccine hesitancy and refusal during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy: Individualistic claims or repoliticization?

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted new (or renewed) forms of conflict within a longer path of distrust and dissatisfaction towards politics and growing scepticism towards 'official truths' and 'official science'. Italy was the first European and Western country in which the pandemic spread in February 2020, and also one that adopted particularly stringent measures to contain the virus. In this scenario, a country in which political distrust was particularly diffused experienced an increase in institutional trust, accompanied by a strong demand for security from above. At the same time, radicalisation and distrust have grown among larger strata of the Italian population, leading to a significant polarisation of the public sphere. This essay critically embraces the perspective of the vast and plural universe of vaccine hesitancy and refusal (VHR) and, more generally, the materialisations of conflict concerning vaccines and policies aimed to address the Covid-19 pandemic. In the media and public debate, these protests have been mainly regarded as populist, driven by individualistic claims nurtured by indifference towards the collective good. We specifically explore whether VHR should be viewed exclusively as a sign of selfishness and populism or also as a form of repoliticisation around new issues and, in particular, as an expression of critical citizenship manifesting doubts about the decisions made by politicians, affirming a critique of the model of instrumental rationality, and advocating a pluralist debate on complex issues which directly affect individual life-choices and the body. Our study is based on 67 qualitative interviews with VHR citizens and a focus group with four key figures of the 'Movimento 3V' (3VM), a minor Italian party advocating freedom of choice in relation to vaccines

Climate change integration in the multilevel governance of Italy and Austria: the key role of vertical and horizontal coordination

Climate change represents a global problem and a challenge with manifold responses, which requires coordinated action at different levels. In this context, subnational governments play a significant – yet still understudied – role in the fight against climate change; they exercise powers in policy sectors that may have an impact on climate mitigation and adaptation objectives, such as transport, energy and water, and spatial planning. The research project “Climate change integration in the multilevel governance of Italy and Austria” (Research Südtirol/Alto Adige 2019) compares the Italian and Austrian legal systems with a particular focus on how climate change policy integration (CPI) is realized in the Autonomous Province of Bolzano and Trento in Italy and Länder Tyrol and Vorarlberg in Austria. The project hypothesizes that five factors play a particularly significant role in realizing CPI, namely coordination, participation, information, leadership and funding. In this contribution, we will focus on the dimension of coordination. Also in light of the different decentralization arrangements in Italy and Austria, coordination in the study areas analysed unfolds differently concerning both the type and the employed instruments of coordination, although certain common tendencies can also be observed. Drawing from the results of the empirical research (interviews) conducted in the study areas, this article argues that coordination is affected by the federal vs regional organization of the State only when it comes to vertical coordination. Furthermore, since climate change in not a unitary policy field, improving horizontal coordination among policy fields seems to be more crucial than improving vertical coordination

Vaccine hesitancy and refusal during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy: Individualistic claims or repoliticisation?

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted new (or renewed) forms of conflict within a longer path of distrust and dissatisfaction towards politics and growing scepticism towards ‘official truths’ and ‘official science’. Italy was the first European and Western country in which the pandemic spread in February 2020, and also one that adopted particularly stringent measures to contain the virus. In this scenario, a country in which political distrust was particularly diffused experienced an increase in institutional trust, accompanied by a strong demand for security from above. At the same time, radicalisation and distrust have grown among larger strata of the Italian population, leading to a significant polarisation of the public sphere. This essay critically embraces the perspective of the vast and plural universe of vaccine hesitancy and refusal (VHR) and, more generally, the materialisations of conflict concerning vaccines and policies aimed to address the Covid-19 pandemic. In the media and public debate, these protests have been mainly regarded as populist, driven by individualistic claims nurtured by indifference towards the collective good. We specifically explore whether VHR should be viewed exclusively as a sign of selfishness and populism or also as a form of repoliticisation around new issues and, in particular, as an expression of critical citizenship manifesting doubts about the decisions made by politicians, affirming a critique of the model of instrumental rationality, and advocating a pluralist debate on complex issues which directly affect individual life-choices and the body. Our study is based on 67 qualitative interviews with VHR citizens and a focus group with four key figures of the ‘Movimento 3V’ (3VM), a minor Italian party advocating freedom of choice in relation to vaccines

Politics During and After Covid-19: Science, Health and Social Protest

Covid-19 represented a total social fact, especially for that part of the world (the so-called Global North and in particular its wealthier component) which is less used to face dramatic crises able to affect fundamental rights and provoke health threats on a daily basis. While acknowledging its enormous impact on individual biographies, political systems and socio-economic equilibria around the planet, however we contrast those interpretations that have tended to naturalize the pandemic event, reading it as unpredictable, unique, disconnected from the dynamics that guide the (mainstream) Western lifestyle and mode of production. On the contrary, the genesis and above all the management of Covid-19 are the result and the mirror of broader dynamics linked to modernity, colonialism, capitalism, in one word of the Capitalocene. For this reason, it is even more correct to speak of a syndemic, to underline the environmental determinants of health, and the social and economic inequalities (re)produced by Covid-19. We therefore consider that interpreting the pandemic/syndemic (and its governance) as a state of exception is at least partial, being instead more useful to identify its unveiling function, able to make some latent or less visible dynamics manifest. Based on such premises, we focus on some nodes of the syndemic governance, highlighting how this contributed to give continuity and accelerate typical dynamics of a neoliberal governance and worldvision. We deal in particular with four key issues: the treatment of "science" by the media; the political history of "public health" and its relationship to the modern state; the construction of legitimate dissent vs. the constructed irrationality of "conspiracy theory"; the outcomes of social protests and in particular their pathologization in the mediatic and public debate. These are also among the main topics which are critically discussed in the thirteen papers that compose this Special Issue, from a variety of disciplinary fields, and with diverse epistemological perspectives and methodological tools

Vaccine hesitancy and refusal during the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy: Individualistic claims or repoliticization?

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted new (or renewed) forms of conflict within a longer path of distrust and dissatisfaction towards politics and growing scepticism towards 'official truths' and 'official science'. Italy was the first European and Western country in which the pandemic spread in February 2020, and also one that adopted particularly stringent measures to contain the virus. In this scenario, a country in which political distrust was particularly diffused experienced an increase in institutional trust, accompanied by a strong demand for security from above. At the same time, radicalisation and distrust have grown among larger strata of the Italian population, leading to a significant polarisation of the public sphere. This essay critically embraces the perspective of the vast and plural universe of vaccine hesitancy and refusal (VHR) and, more generally, the materialisations of conflict concerning vaccines and policies aimed to address the Covid-19 pandemic. In the media and public debate, these protests have been mainly regarded as populist, driven by individualistic claims nurtured by indifference towards the collective good. We specifically explore whether VHR should be viewed exclusively as a sign of selfishness and populism or also as a form of repoliticisation around new issues and, in particular, as an expression of critical citizenship manifesting doubts about the decisions made by politicians, affirming a critique of the model of instrumental rationality, and advocating a pluralist debate on complex issues which directly affect individual life-choices and the body. Our study is based on 67 qualitative interviews with VHR citizens and a focus group with four key figures of the 'Movimento 3V' (3VM), a minor Italian party advocating freedom of choice in relation to vaccines

Politics During and After Covid-19: Science, Health and Social Protest

Covid-19 represented a total social fact, especially for that part of the world (the so-called Global North and in particular its wealthier component) which is less used to face dramatic crises able to affect fundamental rights and provoke health threats on a daily basis. While acknowledging its enormous impact on individual biographies, political systems and socio-economic equilibria around the planet, however we contrast those interpretations that have tended to naturalize the pandemic event, reading it as unpredictable, unique, disconnected from the dynamics that guide the (mainstream) Western lifestyle and mode of production. On the contrary, the genesis and above all the management of Covid-19 are the result and the mirror of broader dynamics linked to modernity, colonialism, capitalism, in one word of the Capitalocene. For this reason, it is even more correct to speak of a syndemic, to underline the environmental determinants of health, and the social and economic inequalities (re)produced by Covid-19. We therefore consider that interpreting the pandemic/syndemic (and its governance) as a state of exception is at least partial, being instead more useful to identify its unveiling function, able to make some latent or less visible dynamics manifest. Based on such premises, we focus on some nodes of the syndemic governance, highlighting how this contributed to give continuity and accelerate typical dynamics of a neoliberal governance and worldvision. We deal in particular with four key issues: the treatment of "science" by the media; the political history of "public health" and its relationship to the modern state; the construction of legitimate dissent vs. the constructed irrationality of "conspiracy theory"; the outcomes of social protests and in particular their pathologization in the mediatic and public debate. These are also among the main topics which are critically discussed in the thirteen papers that compose this Special Issue, from a variety of disciplinary fields, and with diverse epistemological perspectives and methodological tools

A Comparison between the Latest Models of Li-Ion Batteries and Petrol Chainsaws Assessing Noise and Vibration Exposure in Cross-Cutting

Chainsaw operators are exposed to many hazards that can lead to health problems. The two most frequently documented ergonomics threats in the use of chainsaws are noise and vibration exposure. Since the use of battery chainsaws is increasing due to the growing improvements in battery life and power, the study aims to compare the difference in terms of noise emission and vibration levels of the following two new models of chainsaws: the battery-powered Stihl MSA 300 and the petrol-powered Stihl MS 261 C-M. Black pine and European beech logs were cross-cut in order to evaluate both noise and vibration exposure. The results show that the use of battery-powered chainsaws, in comparison to the petrol one, can reduce the daily vibration exposure by more than 51% and the noise dose by 11%. The daily vibration exposure of 1.60 ms−2 and 1.67 ms−2 measured for the battery-powered chainsaw on Black pine and on European beech, respectively, is far from the daily exposure action value set by the EU directives for health and safety requirements (2.5 ms−2). On the contrary, the daily noise exposure for the battery chainsaw was 93 dB(A), exceeding the upper exposure action value of 85 dB(A)