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A wave of popular protests hit Iceland in the aftermath of the national financial collapse, triggered by the global banking crisis of 2008. These protests evolved into explosive demonstrations that eventually brought down the government of Iceland in January 2009. In this talk, Professor Bernburg will discuss his forthcoming book, “Economic Crisis and Mass Protest: The Pots and Pans Revolution in Iceland” (Ashgate), which identifies the major forces underlying the protests. Using mixed-methods the book moves across the historical and political context of the crisis, through the role of agency, to the level of individual mobilization. His work contributes to social movement theory as well as to the emerging research on the global wave of "crisis protests" that started in Iceland and then swept across Europe and beyond in the subsequent years.

Discussant: Jason Beckfield Professor of Sociology, Harvard University

Jon Gunnar Bernburg Professor of Sociology, Faculty of the Human and Social Sciences, University of Iceland

Sponsors: Seminar on Social Exclusion and Inclusion; Center for the Study of Europe at Boston University

Jón Gunnar Bernburg is Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the University of Iceland. Since he graduated with a PhD. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Albany in 2002, his work has cut across several sub-fields of sociology. His early work focused widely on sociological theories of crime and deviant behavior; including theories of anomie, opportunities, bonding and learning, labeling, and neighborhood communities. In recent years, he has focused on issues of relative deprivation, injustice perceptions, and emotional distress in times of crisis. Bernburg has contributed to edited volumes, handbooks, and encyclopedias, and he has published numerous articles in leading sociology journals, such as Social Forces, Sociology, Criminology, Social Science & Medicine, and Mobilization.

Contact: Jonathan Mijs, mijs@fas.harvard.edu