Rich kids of Europe? Social basis and strategic choices in the climate activism of Fridays for Future

In 2018, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg began a school strike that quickly spread across the globe. After a ritual strike every Friday by school pupils to call for urgent action against climate change had gone on for several months, what had become Fridays for Future (FFF) called for various global...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Italian Political Science Review 2023-03, Vol.53 (1), p.24-49
Main Authors: della Porta, Donatella, Portos, Martín
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activism
Activists
Climate change
Climate justice
Demonstrations & protests
Environmental impact
Environmental movements
Environmentalism
Heterogeneity
Middle class
Mobilization
Social activism
Social background
Social classes
Social composition
Social movements
Social sciences
Transnationalism
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Summary:In 2018, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg began a school strike that quickly spread across the globe. After a ritual strike every Friday by school pupils to call for urgent action against climate change had gone on for several months, what had become Fridays for Future (FFF) called for various global days of action throughout 2019, bringing millions of people out onto the streets in the largest climate protests in world history. Drawing on unique protest survey data on FFF events across European cities in 2019, this article explores the structural bases of organized collective mobilization for climate justice. Nuancing narratives that focus on either the privileged background of climate justice protesters or the environmentalism of the poor, our results show the heterogeneity of the social composition of the protests, suggesting the need for cross-class alliances for mass mobilizations. Moreover, our analysis reveals that the social background of protesters shaped their attitudes regarding what institutions and approaches can be relied upon to tackle climate and environmental challenges. This suggests an important and under-studied connection between social background and the strategic choices of environmental movements.
ISSN:0048-8402
2057-4908
DOI:10.1017/ipo.2021.54