This dissertation investigates the emergence and impact of social movements in Chile since the reinstatement of democracy in 1990. Seeking to make an important contribution to the understanding of the reconstruction of collective action in post-transition Chile, I focus on two cases which have been particularly successful in questioning the benefits of market-friendly policies introduced by the military regime (1973-1989) and continued to a great extent by the Concertación governments (1990-2010). The first case is the 2006 Pingüino movement, named after the secondary school students’ penguin-like black and white school uniforms, which forced a substantial discussion on the education system’s segregating effects and its neoliberal underpinnings. The second case is the 2007 Contratista movement, composed of subcontracted workers of CODELCO – Chile’s main state-owned copper-extracting company. The Contratistas repoliticised a long-dormant debate on labour issues and revitalised a trade union movement which had been in decline in previous decades. I draw on the Contentious Politics approach, which stresses social movements’ interaction with the institutional terrain, and explain the emergence of the Pingüinos and Contratistas as the result of three distinct but intertwined processes: the opening up of the structure of political opportunities involved in the rise of President Bachelet; the deeply felt discontent with the education and labour reforms introduced by the military regime and kept largely intact by the Concertación governments; and the movements’ adoption of non-hierarchical organisational forms as a way of reconstructing collective action ‘from below’. In terms of political impact, I show that both the students and the contract workers were successful in introducing issues onto the public agenda that were not there before the emergence of the movements. The extent to which this was translated into bills that reflected the concerns of the movements, however, depended on their capacity to continue to exert pressure on the government and to forge political alliances. In this way, I argue that the impact of the movements was indirect and followed a two-stage process through which first the Pingüinos and Contratistas influenced aspects of their external environment, namely, public opinion and political alliances, and then the latter influenced policy. Overall, my research shows the links between processes at the micro-level (the development of organisational resources and grievance interpretation) and their subsequent impact at the macro-level (agenda-setting and policy impact) – a development that has undoubtedly acquired greater relevance and analytical urgency since the wide range of protests that have taken place around the world since 2011.

This thesis explores the relationship between gender policy, gender culture, and political participation in unified Germany. It investigates the extent to which political regimes shape citizens' attitudes towards gender roles and examines the effect of such attitudes on women's participation in politics. The thesis is divided into three parts: The first part explores the differences in gender regime types between the former German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany during the Cold War period. Building on existing studies, the analysis considers how generations that were socialised in the divided Germany differ in their attitudes toward gender roles. It finds that citizens from West Germany are more socially conservative than citizens from the East. The second part of the thesis tests the effects of these traditional gender attitudes on citizens' participation, focusing on party membership. The analysis highlights that gender gaps in formal political participation in unified Germany still exist, but that these gaps are smaller in the new federal states. The investigation further shows that traditional gender attitudes exert a negative effect on women’s political engagement beyond the predictive power of socio-economic and demographic factors. The final part of this thesis casts a critical look at the political controversy in Germany over the introduction of a cash-for-care subsidy (the so-called Betreuungsgeld). It explores the normative assumptions and ideas about gender roles that have been promoted by Germany's main political parties throughout the policy negotiation process. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the research presented in this thesis draws on, and contributes to, studies on gender, welfare states, political socialisation, and political participation.

People's narratives, interpretations and understandings of the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline and pipeline actors emphasise the uneven exercise of power through which structural violence is effected and experienced. The complexity of the processes of structural violence along with local socio-political context and peoples' dynamic understandings thereof play major roles in shaping resistance practices, in complex ways in Kribi and Nanga-Eboko. Working from these narratives, I offer a theoretical re-articulation of structural violence as (i) tangible through the body, (ii) historically compounded, (iii) spatially compressed and (iv) enacted in a globalised geopolitical nexus by actors who are spatially nested within a racialised and gendered hierarchy of scale. Drawing from critical interdisciplinary work on violence, my theory of a triad of divergent, often interrelated and co-existing, distinguishable indexes of structural violence includes: infra/structural violence, industrial structural violence and institutionalized structural violence. The particular processes and mechanisms of uneven power within structural violence, local socio-political contexts and the epistemologies through which power is conceived (in this case I consider epistemologies of la sorcellerie, or witchcraft) inform resistance practices; I illuminate key operations (within geographies characterised by high levels of infra/structural violence) within the spatial practices of power that influence the tendency for resistance struggles to be quiet, spontaneous and/or labour-based. I conclude with a discussion of the political and intellectual value of academic work on life and being amid structural violence, emphasising the need to move beyond the invisible/visible dichotomy that has often informed intellectual work on structural violence.

En prenant appui sur dix romans anglophones contemporains par les auteures indiennes et pakistanaises, cette étude explore et évalue les enjeux politiques et poétiques de la représentation de l'amitié et de l'amour inter-classes dans une littérature souvent considérée comme essentiellement ‘élitiste'. Cette thèse s'écarte de l'approche habituelle dans les études postcoloniales qui privilégie l'idée d'hybridité conçue uniquement en termes binaires (Occident/Orient ou Nord/Sud) et au cœur de l'étude se trouvent la figure du subalterne et la négociation complexe des identités liées à la classe, à la caste et au sexe dans le sous-continent indien. Si les textes examinés révèlent la précarité des rapports humains qui transgressent les diverses frontières sociales, ils soulignent également leurs possibilités contestataires. Cette étude s'intéresse aussi aux enjeux éthiques des choix formels dont témoignent les textes examinés et à la manière dont ces choix peuvent à la fois confirmer et contredire le projet politique du texte. / This dissertation is a detailed analysis of ten contemporary Anglophone novels by women writers from India and Pakistan. It explores and evaluates the politics as well as the poetics of the literary depiction of cross-class love and friendship in Anglophone literature of the Indian sub-continent, which is often considered ‘elitist'. The figure of the subaltern lies at the heart of our study and by focusing on the portrayal of the negotiation of class, caste and gender identities in the Indian sub-continent, this dissertation moves away from postcolonial studies' customary focus on the notion of hybridity, often conceived solely in East/West or North/South terms. The texts examined reveal not only the tenuousness of cross-class relationships but also underscore their subversive possibilities. The ethical ramifications of questions of form are also explored as are the ways in which the poetics of a text can both confirm and contradict its politics.

No Brasil, entre 1955 e 1990, a modernização industrial induzida pelo estado, através de variadas estratégias de planejamento, atingiu seu apogeu e decadência. Um dos principais legados desta trajetória de crescimento foi a reiteração de uma estrutura econômica de nítido perfil concentrador da riqueza e da renda. Este exame tem como objetivo analisar a dinâmica das greves urbanas e as suas relações, primeiro, com conjunturas dos ciclos econômicos observados entre 1955 e 1990 e, segundo, com alguns indicadores econômicos relevantes como preços, salários, distribuição da renda e desigualdade. A análise procura verificar se a ação organizada dos trabalhadores urbanos através das greves foi capaz de oferecer resistência efetiva às conjunturas que tendiam à penalizar os salários e incrementar a desigualdade, atenuando, por esta via, os efeitos sociais adversos do modelo concentrador. / In Brazil, between 1955 and 1990, the industrial modernization promoted by the state through various planning strategies achieved its peak and decay. One of the major legacies of this growth path was enforcement of an economic structure with a profile of wealth and income concentration. The objective of this examination is to analyze the dynamics of urban strikes and their relations, first, within the economic cycles observed between 1955 and 1990, and second, with some economic relevant indicators like prices, wages, income distribution and inequality. The analysis seeks to determine whether the organized action of urban workers through strikes was able to pose effective resistance to situations that tended to lower the wages and increase inequality, thus, reducing the adverse social effects of the hub model.

Diante da preocupação generalizada em relação à qualidade da educação pública básica e às dificuldades de acesso ao ensino superior público em São Paulo, a presente pesquisa se propõe a analisar as condições educacionais que inibem os estudantes das escolas públicas a terem as universidades públicas como possibilidade ou meta ao prestar o vestibular. Defendese, nesse trabalho, que a ausência de perspectiva em relação ao ensino superior, por parte dos estudantes, é mais do que a simples falta de informação do aluno frente ao vestibular. Trata-se antes de um dos efeitos das ideologias envolvidas na constituição e desenvolvimento do sistema educacional brasileiro. É necessário sublinhar também que a escola pública está se habituando à redução das possibilidades de acesso de seus estudantes ao ensino superior. Para tanto, explorou-se a bibliografia sobre o tema, procurando aprofundar uma discussão teórica e analisar dados estatísticos disponíveis sobre o ingresso nos vestibulares de universidades públicas paulistas. Essa pesquisa permitiu apreender efeitos das políticas públicas até agora empreendidas para o acesso ao ensino superior, tanto aquelas adotadas pelos órgãos governamentais como aquelas geradas pelas próprias universidades públicas. Como meio de aprofundar os significados abertos pela palavra dos sujeitos-alvos dessas políticas e vítimas dessa exclusão, entrevistamos jovens estudantes do 3º ano do ensino médio de uma escola pública paulista a respeito das suas ambições escolares e das suas expectativas de ingresso no ensino superior. / Considering widespread concerns about the quality of the public elementary educational system and about the dificulties to access higher education in São Paulo, this research intends to analize the educational conditions that inhibit students of public schools from seeing public universities as their goal when trying to access higher education. This research defends that the student\'s absence of perspectives relating to higher education is more than a simple result of the lack of information about the selective process that leads to the public university. We believe it is only one of the many effects of the ideologies involved in the constitution and development of the brazilian educational system. It is also important to underline that the public school is becoming used to the idea that its students will not have the opportunity to access public higher education. To defend these arguments, we have explored the relevant bibliography on the issue, trying to deepen the theoretical discussion and to analize statistical data available about admission in selective processes to public universities in São Paulo. This research allowed us to apprehend the effects of public policies developed by governmental institutions and by public universities regarding the access to higher educational system. Trying to deeply understand the meanings involved in the discourse of those to whom these policies where created and who are the victims of this process of exclusion, we have interviewed young students of a public school in São Paulo about their educational ambitions and their expectations of accessing higher education.

Die Studie geht der Frage nach, inwieweit Bildungssysteme von Gesellschaften die vorfindlichen Muster intragenerationaler Mobilität prägen und diese sich wiederum auf die Strukturierung sozialen Handelns auswirken. Je nach Grad der Standardisierung, Stratifizierung und horizontaler wie vertikaler Differenzierung von Bildungssystemen werden "credentialistische" und "nichtcredentialistische" Gesellschaften unterschieden. Es wird vermutet, daß in credentialistischen Gesellschaften Bildungstitel die berufliche Allokation wesentlich prägen, was in einem niedrigen Ausmaß intragenerationaler sozialer Mobilität resultiert. Da Bildungstitel in nichtcredentialistischen Ländern nur in geringem Maße als "Screening-Devices" verwendet werden können, ist in solchen Gesellschaften ein höheres Ausmaß intragenerationaler Mobilität zu erwarten. Das Ausmaß intragenerationaler Mobilität in einer Gesellschaft wiederum kann als Indikator des Schließungsgrades beruflicher Positionen aufgefaßt werden. "Geschlossene Positionen" ermöglichen die Generierung "positionaler Renditen", so daß in credentialistischen Gesellschaften stärker als in nichtcredentialistischen Privilegierungen beziehungsweise Benachteiligungen an die Besetzung beruflicher Positionen geknüpft sind. Dementsprechend sind in credentialistischen Gesellschaften ausgeprägtere Formen kollektiven Handeln zu erwarten, die auf die Verteidigung von Privilegien beziehungsweise deren Abbau zielen. Diese Thesen werden an Mobilitäts- und Einstellungsdaten aus sechs Ländern, die auf den Erhebungen des "International Social Justice Project" (1991) basieren, getestet. Es läßt sich zeigen, daß in Westdeutschland und Polen als credentialistischen Ländern sowohl intragenerationale Stabilität wie auch die Strukturierung von Einstellungen stärker ausgeprägt sind als in den weniger credentialistischen Gesellschaften USA und Rußland. Ostdeutschland und Großbritannien nehmen Mittelpositionen ein. / The study investigates how educational systems determine the patterns of intragenerational mobility in different societies as well as the patterns of social action. "Credentialist" and "noncredentialist" societies are distinguished according to the degree of standardization, stratification, vertical and horizontal differentiation of their educational systems. It is assumed that educational titles have a strong impact on occupational allocation in credentialist societies, leading to a low degree of intragenerational social mobility. Since educational titles cannot be used as "screening devices" in noncredentialist countries, intragenerational mobility is expected to be higher in these countries. The extent of intragenerational mobility can be viewed as an indicator of the degree of closure of occupational positions in a given society. In "closed positions", "positional rents" can be generated, thus privileges and disadvantages are more strongly connected with occupational positions in credentialist countries than in noncredentialist. Therefore, collective actions to challenge or to defend privileges are more likely in credentialist societies. These hypotheses are tested for six countries using data of the "International Social Justice Project" (1991). It can be shown that intragenerational mobility as well as the structuration of attitudes are more pronounced in the credentialist countries Poland and West Germany than in the noncredentialist countries USA and Russia. East Germany and the United Kingdom are located between these two groups of societies.

Wie gehen die städtischen Armen mit Wohnraumverdrängung um? Welche Strategien entwickeln sie? Und welche Elemente bestimmen, welche Strategien die städtischen Armen einsetzen? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten, entpacke ich die Idee von ‚Strategien zur Bewältigung von Bedrohung durch Verdrängung‘, um zu soziologischen Konzeptualisierungen eben dieser Strategien zu gelangen. Dazu nutze ich einige der Konzepte in Bourdieus [1986] Kapitalbegriff sowie die Anwendung von Tillys [1999] Theorie der dauerhaften Ungleichheit als Rahmenkonzept. Empirisch identifiziere und analysiere ich die Anti-Verdrängungs-Strategien der städtischen Armen in den komplexen Wohnsituationen von São Paulo und Istanbul. Der Analyse zufolge wirken sich die ermittelten Strategien zur Vermeidung von Verdrängung oder zur Verbesserung der Wohnsituation langfristig auf die Betroffenen oder den Wohnungsmarkt nicht positiv aus. Im zweiten Schritt der Analyse argumentiere ich, dass die Mehrheit der Strategien mit den Ursachen und Verstärkungsmechanismen der dauerhaften Ungleichheiten übereinstimmt, welche Tilly identifiziert hat. Dadurch entsteht, wie ich in der Arbeit darlege, zwangsläufig der Prozess der andauernden Wohnungsungleichheit, der trotz der Bemühungen der städtischen Armen wenig Aussicht auf Veränderung zeigt. Das heißt nicht, dass die städtischen Armen keine Kämpfe gewonnen haben oder dass sich nicht individuell ihre Situationen verbessert haben, sondern, dass das größere Bild der Ungleichheiten in der Wohnungswirtschaft wenig erfolgsversprechend ist. Selbst wenn einige Menschen beispielsweise Vermögenswerte in Form von ökonomischem Kapital schaffen, scheinen die städtischen Armen dem zukünftigen Verdrängungsdruck nicht zu entkommen. Obwohl die Anti-Verdrängungs-Strategien somit den Verdrängungsdruck teilweise vorübergehend mildern können, untergraben die dauerhaften Ungleichheiten auf dem Wohnungsmarkt eine substanzielle und nachhaltige Veränderung im Interesse der städtischen Armen. / How do the urban poor cope with housing displacement? What kinds of strategies do the urban poor develop? And what elements shape which strategies they deploy? To answer these questions, I unpack the idea of strategies for “coping” with the threat or uncertainty of displacement to arrive at sociological conceptualizations of these strategies – ones anchored in Bourdieu’s [1986] concept of capital as well as the application of Tilly’s [1999] theory of durable inequalities to housing. Empirically, I identify and analyze the anti-displacement strategies of the urban poor within the complex housing contexts of São Paulo and Istanbul by breaking down the housing market into sub-housing markets (housing forms) as they are used by the urban poor in each local context. Combining existing analytic frameworks with my original data, I also speculate about the effects of the identified strategies for the urban poor in terms of durable housing inequalities. According to the analysis, the identified strategies to avoid displacement or improve housing are not positively impacting the urban poor or the housing environment in the long run. To account for this, in the second step of the analysis I argue that the majority of strategies align with the causes and reinforcement mechanisms of durable inequalities that Tilly identified. This is not to say no battles have been won or that no individual situations have improved, but to say that the larger picture of housing inequalities warrants little optimism. Even when some new housing forms create assets in form of economic capital (e.g., land titles), the urban poor don’t seem to escape future displacement pressures. Therefore, although the anti-displacement strategies may temporarily ease displacement pressure, the durable inequalities of the housing market undermine substantial and sustainable change in the interest of the urban poor.

Introduction : Les programmes universels de réduction du surpoids peuvent potentiellement contribuer aux inégalités de santé. L’objectif principal de la thèse était de concevoir, de mettre en place et d’évaluer des interventions d’accompagnement par des pairs appariés sur le milieu social. Méthodologie : La pertinence de l’éducation par les pairs, en général, et plus spécifiquement comme réponse possible à la problématique des inégalités de santé, a été analysée. Deux interventions ont été développées par le biais de deux modalités différentes. La première était la sélection, formation et le suivi de pairs facilitateurs ayant pour mission la réalisation concrète d’activités nutritionnelles communes avec des pairs receveurs. La deuxième a été développée sur Facebook et encourageait le partage virtuel d’expériences de réalisation d’activités nutritionnelles. Résultats : L’analyse de la pertinence de l’éducation par les pairs a conduit à deux choix stratégiques : un accompagnement basé sur la théorie sociocognitive plutôt que la posture classique d’éducation par les pairs centrée sur l’instruction et le fait de sélectionner des pairs accompagnateurs issus de milieu moins favorisé. L’intervention facilitateurs-receveurs a permis le recrutement de plusieurs dyades et la réalisation d’activités en dehors du milieu scolaire. Suite à une évaluation détaillée, plusieurs recommandations sont formulées pour améliorer la mise en œuvre de cette intervention. L’utilisation de Facebook ne semble pas courir le risque d’augmenter les inégalités puisqu’environ 80% des adolescents ont accès à Facebook. Néanmoins, il n’y avait pas d’échange entre les participants sur le groupe de défis nutritionnels, ce qui remet en question le modèle logique initial de l’intervention. Discussion : Les modalités d’intervention par les pairs sur réseau social doivent être modifiées pour étendre sa portée et son impact. Pour sa part, l’intervention en dyade facilitateurs-receveurs est faisable et complémentaire à un programme de santé dans sa forme actuelle avec quelques ajustements. Celle-ci poursuit un double objectif de santé publique : la réduction du surpoids à travers le changement de comportement des receveurs, et la réduction des inégalités sociales pour les receveurs mais aussi pour les facilitateurs issus de milieu social défavorisé par la formation et la valorisation / Introduction: Universal prevention programs for reducing overweight can potentially contribute to widening health inequalities. The main objective of this thesis was to design, implement and evaluate peer interventions targeting adolescents matched on socioeconomic status. Methodology: The relevance of peer education was analysed, both in general and more specifically regarding its potential to reduce health inequalities. Two interventions were developed based on two different modes of delivery. The first intervention consisted in the selection, training and regular follow-up of peer facilitators whose mission was to carry out nutritional activities with peer receivers. The second intervention was developed on Facebook and encouraged the virtual sharing of experiences relating to nutritional activities. Results: The analysis of the relevance of peer education led to two strategic choices: the first was to base the interventions on socio cognitive theory, as opposed to the more traditional didactic approach, and the second was to select and train peer facilitators from less advantaged backgrounds. The facilitator-receiver intervention led to the successful recruitment of several dyads and nutritional activities were implemented outside of school premises. A detailed evaluation led to recommendations for improving implementation. Using Facebook does not seem likely to widen health inequalities since over 80% of adolescents had access to Facebook. However, there was no sharing of experience between participants on the nutritional challenges group, which puts into question the initial logic model of this intervention. Discussion: The delivery and implementation of the online peer intervention must be modified in order to increase its range and impact. In contrast, the facilitator-receiver intervention in its current form with only minor adjustments is feasible and complements a health intervention well. This intervention has a double target: the reduction of overweight through the behaviour change of the receivers and the reduction of social inequalities not only for the receivers but also by empowering facilitators from disadvantaged backgrounds

Das Phänomen der Armut zählt zu den größten Problemen der Großstädte. Die im Fokus dieser Arbeit stehende Armut in zwei Städten kann nur mit einer breiteren Betrachtung der sozialen Ungleichheit, zunehmender Arbeitslosigkeit, der Verschlechterung von Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen, der Einkommensdisparitäten etc. verstanden werden. Diese Merkmale sind in zunehmendem Maße in Städten der Industrieländer wie Berlin zu spüren. Die wachsende Ausbreitung von Armut in den industrialisierten Gesellschaften sowie in den sogenannten Schwellenländern führte zu einer breiteren Diskussion über das Armutsphänomen auf internationaler Ebene. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Phänomen der Armut in zwei Großstädten untersucht. Mexiko-Stadt und Berlin sind zwei unterschiedliche Städte mit ähnlichen sozialen Problemen. Mexiko-Stadt ist die ,typische’ Stadt in einem Schwellenland, die sich von Städten der Industrieländer durch den Grad der sozialen Ungleichheit, die ausgeprägte Kluft zwischen arm und reich sowohl strukturell als auch funktionell deutlich unterscheidet. Berlin andererseits nähert sich nach der Wiedervereinigung den Problemen anderer großen Metropolen an. In den letzten Jahren traten folgende Phänomene auf: das Entstehen neuer Formen der Armut, eine wachsende Zahl von Sozialhilfeempfängern, eine zunehmende Migrationsbevölkerung ohne wirtschaftliche Perspektiven u.a. Die Studie fasst Untersuchungsergebnisse und Berichte über Armut in Mexiko-Stadt und Berlin zusammen. Es handelt sich nicht um die Erhebung neuer empirischer Daten, sondern um die Selektion, Darstellung und Analyse verschiedener Studien zu Armut in beiden Städten. Die Analyse widmet sich der Armut unter dem Gesichtspunkt gemeinsamer Aspekte, verschiedener Charakteristiken und der jeweiligen Entwicklungstrends in den zwei untersuchten Städten. / The phenomenon of poverty is one of the most serious problems of big cities. The focus of this doctoral thesis is an examination of poverty in two major cities, which must be understood on a broader basis while considering social inequality, rising unemployment, deterioration of working and living conditions, income disparities, etc. These increasing characteristics are notable in cities of developed countries such as Berlin. The growing spread of poverty in industrialized societies and in emerging countries has led to a broader discussion about the phenomenon of poverty at the international level. This doctoral thesis analyzes the phenomenon of poverty in two major cities. Mexico City and Berlin are two different cities with similar social problems. Mexico City is a ,typicalʼ city in a emerging country, which is structurally as well as functionally different from cities of developed countries by the degree of social inequality and the pronounced gap between rich and poor. On the other hand, after its reunification Berlin faces problems of other large cities. In recent years the following phenomena have occurred: the emergence of new forms of poverty, a growing number of welfare recipients, an increasing migrant population without economic prospects etc. This study summarizes investigative findings and reports on poverty in Mexico City and Berlin together. The goal is not to collect new empirical data, but rather to emphasize the selection, presentation and analysis of various studies on poverty in both cities. The analysis focuses on poverty from the standpoint of common aspects, differing characteristics and the respective development trends in the two researched cities.