The project aims for deeper understanding of social polarization, radicalization and change of everydayness as a consequence of strenghtening of right-wing movements and parties in Europe. The research starting point and hypothesis is that cultures of rejection emerge from the experience of change and crisis. Such an issue is of concern for democratic systems in the EU, national institutions and civil society sector. Another hypothesis is that rejection poses a threat to the social cohesion and peaceful co-existance. The focus of research will involve the conditions and development that lead to rejection, among other things, of immigration, political elites, media and gender equality.
Concretely, the focus of inquiry will be on the ways in which economic and technological changes influence employees in the sector of logistics and commerce, and on how employees assign meaning to these changes. Researchers will compare the state of things based on the migration route from 2015 and onwards in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Croatia and Serbia. Special focus will be given to the working places as well as digitial and socio-spatial enviroment. The inquiry will combine instruments from sociological and cultural research with ethnological methods of research.
The goal of project is to produce viable solutions for overcoming serious challenges that Europe is facing today. Futhermore, for IFDT, a transdiciplinary approach to research is especially important since it will encourage new inisghts into research methods and development of theory. The results will be presented in the public events and at the international conference hosted by the IFDT in Belgrade.
The coordinator of the project is cultural theorist, prof. Manuela Bojadžijev from the Leuphana Universität at Lüneburg. Volkswagen Stiftung is financing this project with almost one million euros coming from its program «Challenges for Europe» whose aim is to nourish responses to the most important socio-economic questions and to foster further cooperation in Europe. Cooperative program of one German and at least two partners from Europe are also financed by the program.