MOBILIZATION WITHOUT ORGANIZATION: GRIEVANCES AND GROUP SOLIDARITY OF THE UNEMPLOYED IN TUNISIA*
The article investigates the role of social grievances, emotions and group solidarity in the spontaneous mobilization of unemployed university graduates in post-revolutionary Tunisia. Using a mixed method approach, I rely on interviews with political and civil actors conducted during fieldwork in 2018, protest event data from the Armed Conflict and Event Data Project, Facebook posts, and secondary literature including additional media reports. My findings indicate that in January 2016, unemployed citizens organized autonomously in response to perceived social grievances and increasing levels of corruption among established trade unions and unemployed organizations. In the case of Tunisia, shared feelings of relative deprivation, compared to the coastal regions, strengthened in-group solidarity among the unemployed in the interior and south and resulted in their collective mobilization.
Contributor Notes
*I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful commentaries and suggestions. I am particularly grateful to Irene Weipert-Fenner, Jonas Wolff, and Jan-Phillipp Vatthauer from the Peace Research Institute in Frankfurt, Germany, who have supported this project from the beginning. A special thank you also to Ellen Lust, Åsa Wettergren, and the participants of the Sociology of Emotions Workshop in Copenhagen for very useful discussions and suggestions. Finally, I want to thank all my interview partners and Haithem Kchaou for excellent research assistance.
†Direct correspondence to Prisca Jöst, Sprängkullsgatan 19, Box 711, 40530 Göteborg. Email: prisca.jost@gu.se. Prisca Jöst is a PhD candidate at the Department of Political Science at Gothenburg University, Sweden.