Front cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Acknowledgements -- 1. An Introduction to Local Anti-Austerity Activist Culture -- Where it all began: the financial crisis and austerity -- The affective dimension of political engagement -- Social movements and emotions -- Gender and social movement activism -- The research project: a feminist approach -- Research aims -- Research methods -- Chapter outline -- Part I. Establishing Context -- 2. A Critical Review of Social Movement Theory: Gender and Emotion in Activist Cultures
Social movement theory: old versus new movements -- Networked social movements -- Social movements and emotions -- Activist cultures -- Gender and the public sphere -- Gender and activism -- 3. The Empirical and Political Context of Anti-Austerity Activism -- Neoliberalism: a brief history -- Neoliberal capitalism -- Austerity's dominant narratives -- 'We're all in it together?' -- The research project -- Participant demographics -- The local context: Nottingham -- UK Uncut -- The People's Assembly -- Working within or outside the system: hierarchical versus horizontal movements
UK Uncut: a 'new' politics? -- 'New' activist politics versus 'old' party politics -- Part II. Doing Activism: Enabling and Constraining Factors -- 4. The Affective, the Normative and the Everyday: Exploring What Motivates and Sustains Anti-Austerity Activism -- The affective and normative as motivations for activism -- Empathy: the moral emotion that motivates and sustains activism -- Making a (small) difference and the everyday -- Activism as (individual) responsibility to the collective -- 'Activist' and/or 'non-activist'? -- The personal as motivation
The sustaining force of the social and affective dimensions of activism -- 5. Barriers to Doing Activism -- (Not) checking your privilege -- Who can do activism? -- Costs of activism -- Activism as a luxury? -- Gendered barriers and exclusions to doing activism -- Overcoming gendered barriers: women-only activism -- Part III. Being Activist: The Activist Identity and Its Problems -- 6. The Authentic and Ideal Activist Identities: Having the 'Right' Motivation and Doing 'Enough' of the 'Right' Type of Activism -- The shared meanings of 'activist' in activist culture
Who should do activism/be activist? -- Issues of representation -- The 'ideal activist' identity: doing 'enough' of the 'right' type of activism -- The 'real' and the 'virtual': online versus offline activism -- 7. The Dark Side of Activist Culture and its Gendered Dimension -- Constructing the activist identity: outside as well as in -- Being policed by others: activist shaming -- The gendered dimension of the 'ideal activist' identity and its negative impacts -- Women's guilt? -- Doing enough or doing too much? The negative effects of activism and activist burnout -- Part IV. Concluding Remarks
Summary
This engaging study of anti-austerity protest provides a valuable feminist perspective on activism at a time when austerity policy is disproportionately impacting women. It brings together lived experiences of activist culture and contextual analysis to explore the motivations and emotions associated with it-both positive and negative
