WORK-CHRIST · The Young Christian Workers Movement and the radicalization of Social Conflict in Mediterranean Europe: France, Italy and Spain (1963-1978)
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2017-09-01 → 2019-08-31
- EU contribution
- €173,076
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
The Young Christian Workers Movement and the radicalization of Social Conflict in Mediterranean Europe: France, Italy and Spain (1963-1978)
"The project ""The Young Christian Workers Movement and the radicalization of Social Conflict in Mediterranean Europe: France, Italy and Spain (1963-1978)"" (or Work-Christ project for short) focuses on the relationship between religion, politics and democratic participation in the countries of Mediterranean Europe, with particular attention paid to Italy, France and Spain. The principal purpose of this research is to assess the influence of religious radicalisation on political radicalisation, through the cases of the participation of Christian workers associations in the social conflict within the three nations taken into consideration. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), with its redefinition of relations between the Church and the contemporary world, impelled believers to take on a greater commitment in society, inviting them at the same time to support and strengthen democratic institutions. This resulted in a thrust towards a demand for greater social justice, widespread especially among the young, with its main source of inspiration being in religious tension. At European level this unrest met with the aspirations towards change of the working class, within which Christian associations, linked at transnational level, were extremely active: thus, a renewed religious identity stimulated new and radical forms of political participation as well as new and radical projects for social transformation from a democratic and European perspective."
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The Work-Christ project intends to reconstruct the influence of religious radicalisation on the social conflict in Mediterranean European countries, with particular attention paid to the cases in France, Spain and Italy during the sixties and seventies. The main purpose of this research is to study the relationship between religion and politics in the period following the Second Vatican Council, via the study of the ""Young Christian Workers Movement"", better known by the French name Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne. This is a field of research which is totally unexplored, both regarding the interactions among the different national offshoots of the movement and the transnational reality represented by the coordinating authority of the Jeunesse Ouvrière catholique internationale. The research will also take into account the network constituted by the Mouvement Mondial des Travailleurs Chrétiens (MMTC) to which the specialized branches of the working class Catholic Action organisations referred to. From the late sixties, the Christian workers’ associations became the terminal point of the tensions, ferment and expectations that arose from the Second Vatican Council. In addition, these associations played an essential role in the processes of transition and consolidation of democracy in the three nations taken into consideration. For these reasons, the “Young Christian Workers Movement” appears to be a case study of the utmost importance for the role played on a European scale as a workshop for the building of a radicalized young identity challenging societal norms. Work-Christ has 3 key objectives: 1. through research based on archive sources, address the innovative subject of international Christian workers’ youth associations; 2. adopt a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective for studying religious radicalisation; 3. study the mobilisation of the Christian workers associations at transnational level, reconstructing the phases, the goals and the contents.""
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- FONDATION NATIONALE DES SCIENCES POLITIQUES · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union