ABSTRACT

This chapter studies the evolution of anti-austerity movements in Spain. First, it analyses the context of the political economy of the crises in Spain. It also pays attention to social discourse on the crisis among the Spanish population. Second, it examines the first responses to the crisis by the classic labour movement as well as by protest movements emerging in the context, characterised mainly by a frontal opposition to political representation and state institutions and a post-materialist nature. Third, it investigates what we call the “materialist” turn of social movements (from 2012 to 2014). This turn was expressed in the focus on labour, housing and ethno-nationalist demands by new generations of activists. Fourth, it describes the electoral turn of social protest with the rise of Podemos and the municipalist initiatives. The in-depth study of these dynamics, especially focusing on the interplay between activism and the political economy throughout the different stages of social protest, shed light on the general discussion of anti-austerity movements and political parties in Southern Europe.