Oscar Garcia Agustin

Sociology of Discourse: From institutions to social change

Sociology of Discourse takes the perspective that collective actors like social movements are capable of creating social change from below by creating new institutions through alternative discourses. Institutionalization becomes a process of moving away from existing institutions towards creating new ones. While discourses entail openness and enable the questioning of what is instituted, institutions offer continuity and stability to social mobilizations. This dual movement of openness and stabilization explains how social struggles ensure their continuity, without completely assuming the logic of the dominant order. The book proposes an analytical model of social change, which is unfolded through three intertwined areas: discourse, communication, and institution. Collective experiences of social change, from the anti-globalization movement to Occupy, illustrate the main theoretical points and concepts. Through the example of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, the book concludes by analyzing how social change from below is possible.

Enhancing solidarity: Discourses of voluntary organizations on immigration and integration in multicultural societies

This article analyses the discursive construction of solidarity regarding immigration and integration in two European countries: Spain and Denmark. The study is based on interviews with representatives of 10 Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and it focuses on the affective and evaluative dimensions of language aimed at achieving alignment with civil society. The analytical approach combines Positive Discourse Analysis and Appraisal Theory, since these perspectives deal from a discourse analytic point of view with social change promoted by community and interpersonal relations. The discourses on solidarity are framed with reference to their respective national policies and debates. Therefore, different approaches exist between the two countries, albeit that all the NGOs aim to show new dimensions of integration in order to promote empathy towards immigrants. The goal of the NGOs is to contribute positively to social change and combating the current unfair situation. In the article it is argued that sol...This article analyses the discursive construction of solidarity regarding immigration and integration in two European countries: Spain and Denmark. The study is based on interviews with representatives of 10 Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and it focuses on the affective and evaluative dimensions of language aimed at achieving alignment with civil society. The analytical approach combines Positive Discourse Analysis and Appraisal Theory, since these perspectives deal from a discourse analytic point of view with social change promoted by community and interpersonal relations. The discourses on solidarity are framed with reference to their respective national policies and debates. Therefore, different approaches exist between the two countries, albeit that all the NGOs aim to show new dimensions of integration in order to promote empathy towards immigrants. The goal of the NGOs is to contribute positively to social change and combating the current unfair situation. In the article it is argued that solidarity is built on affect and evaluative language at the national level, challenging in this way dominant policies on immigration. Furthermore, the findings show that a European discourse which would be able to solve contradictions related to the scope of human rights, politics of asylum and inclusion of irregular immigrants is still missing.

Politics of Dissent

In Politics of Dissent the framework for analysing politics of dissent is outlined. The outlined framework problematizes the conventional understandings of dissent as something characterising individual historical figures. The chapter provides both a theoretical underpinning of dissent as well as an approach to investigate the current contestations taking place on a global level. Politics of dissent entails the questioning of consensus. It conceptualises dissent as a collective process taking place on everyday level. It conceptualises moments of dissent. Finally it investigates the emergent institutions of dissent. That is the creation of new institutions or the renewal of the existing ones.

European Counterpublics? DiEM25, Plan B and the Agonistic European Public Sphere

ABSTRACT After the negotiations between the Syriza government and the European Union (EU), the European Left faced the dilemma of which kind of progressive Europe could be developed within the existing EU framework. Two initiatives were launched to foster an alternative Europe after the Greek crisis: ‘A Plan B in Europe’ (Plan B) and the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25). These initiatives emerged to promote a new European project as a rejection of EU austerity policies and lack of democracy. The shaping of alternatives is understood within the framework of the public sphere and Europeanization from below. In this sense, both movements are considered counterpublics that introduce conflict within the European sphere and are capable of elaborating counterdiscourses and develop transnational connections. The article analyses the potentials and constraints of enhancing a transnational and agonistic public sphere from perspectives and experiences which, while sharing the need of internationalization, develop different strategies.

Introduction: Wind of Change: Podemos, Its Dreams and Its Politics

This chapter provides an introduction for the volume. We do that by framing the Spanish political group Podemos as both a product and an agent of a more general political cycle, thus opening up to a perspective that takes into account its historical specificity as well as suggesting the need for a comparative analysis with similar experiences. Accordingly, we first offer a brief account of Podemos’ genealogy and the political context in which emerges and operates. Second, drawing on Tarrow’s ‘cycle of protest,’ we understand Podemos’ development in two phases, the moment of ‘madness’ and the moment of ‘institutionalization.’ Third, we consider Podemos’ ideological positioning vis-a-vis several thinkers, such as Gramsci, Laclau, and Mouffe. Fourth, we contextualize Podemos in the wide-ranging international dynamics of left-wing populism. Finally, in the last section we discuss the structure and content of the book.

Dialogic Cosmopolitanism and the New Wave of Movements: From Local Rupture to Global Openness

Abstract The emergence of a new cycle of protests in 2011 raises questions about the connection between social movements and about the possible existence of a cosmopolitan vision to combine the local and the global dimensions of the protests. This article presents a conceptualization of dialogic cosmopolitanism to account for the kind of cosmopolitanism which characterizes this new cycle. Being dialogic entails connectivity between previous and forthcoming struggles in a process combining determination and anticipation with the constant (re)definition of the movement. This process is considered to be the combination of social local ruptures with global openness. Dialogic cosmopolitanism consists of 3 main features: the conflictual dimension, whereby the dominant consensus is questioned and spaces of conflict and dissent are generated; the shaping of translocal solidarities that are able to connect local and transnational dynamics in spaces of convergence; and translatability, since the common ground (the unity) is translated into a multiplicity of practices.

Civic Solidarity: Venligboerne

This chapter provides an analysis of an example of civic solidarity by focusing on the Danish network Venligboerne (‘friendly neighbors’). It offers an example of a ‘national’ solidarity movement/Refugees Welcome movement operating on both national and local levels. The movement insists on a humanitarian approach different from the exclusivist and restrictionist approach taken by the state. The movement also articulates the commonalities between people, refugees, and Danes alike. The engagement of the movement is not transformative of the state’s legal framework but can rather be seen as a necessary supplement or alternative social framework based on collaboration with the authorities, e.g., reception and asylum centers, municipalities, day centers, and schools as well as a diverse range of voluntary activities. In this chapter, we discuss how civil society becomes part of the ‘refugee crisis’ in daily acts of solidarity constituting a form of civic solidarity.

Conceptualizing Solidarity. An Analytical Framework

This chapter introduces a conceptualization of solidarity which emerges from the ‘refugee crisis’ and reflects different ways of practicing, organizing, and articulating solidarity. In opposition to the solidary claims made by states (corresponding mainly to their national interests) and by the European Union, a perspective rooted in civil society is assumed here. Solidarity has mainly two dimensions: relational and spatial. Solidarity enhances relations between different actors and generates political subjectivities and collective identities. At the same time, it is opposed to what is perceived as unjust politics, meaning that it is also contentious insomuch as it rejects those politics. Solidarity is besides produced in and produces spaces. Through spatial practices, alliances are built and imaginaries invented and multi-scalar relations can be developed by connecting different spaces. We present a typology of three types of solidarity (autonomous solidarity, civic solidarity, and institutional solidarity) which reflects these dynamics of solidarity as well as the degree of institutionalization.

From Refugee Crisis to a Crisis of Solidarity

This chapter describes the background of the refugee crisis and the responses by the international community in terms of refugee management. It looks at the national attempts to manage refugee flows and the inclusion of refugees into the European nation-states. It outlines the general discursive presentation of the refugee issue and uses this as a departure point to initially describe the responses from civil society actors to deal with the crisis and provide alternative models for engaging with the refugee issue. Our argument is that although these responses are diverse and have different aims, they also share some common features as they may be regarded as emerging solidarities based on diverse alliances. We reflect on the role and potential of such alliances and solidarities for developing alternatives to the current management of the refugee crisis on local, national, and transnational levels.

Autonomous Solidarity: Hotel City Plaza

The City Plaza is a self-organized housing project for homeless refugees in the center of Athens which currently accommodates 400 people. City Plaza Refugee Accommodation Center evolved as a concrete practical response to the conditions of asylum seekers in Greece and the lack of responsibility by both the Greek state and the international community in April 2016. In our framework, City Plaza Hotel is an example of autonomous solidarity at local scale. The occupation of the hotel is not seen as the only solution to the ‘refugee crisis’ but as a micro-example of how solidarity work can provide alternatives and a ‘utopia’ on how the crisis could be dealt with. The City Plaza Hotel case is an example of how a local initiative, a single building, can articulate the crisis, i.e., failed management, and present a new imaginary and a practical alternative.