The aim of this project, which brings together 4 partners from Germany, Sweden, Austria and Serbia, is to better understand the shift in everyday life towards polarization and radicalization that has occurred due to the rise of right-wing movements and parties in Europe. The research starts from the premise that cultures of rejection emerge as the result of crises in Europe’s democracies, as well as the changes to national institutions and consequently civil society. Since rejection is a threat to all forms of social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, the project seeks to study the conditions that have led to rejection of, among else, immigration, political elites, media and certain values, such as equality of the sexes.

Specifically, the research will focus on the way economic and technological changes impact employees in logistics and sales, and in which way employees ascribe any particular meaning to these changes.

The researchers will assess the situation along the 2015 migration route across Sweden, Germany, Austria, Croatia and Serbia, thoroughly examining work places, digital and socio-spatial environments. The socio-cultural research conducted will be complemented with elements of digital ethnography.

The study results should contribute to overcoming a series of major challenges Europe presently faces. The Center for Advanced Study Southeast Europe, as well as its parent institution, the University of Rijeka, cultivate a transdisciplinary approach to research, allowing for a flourishing of innovative methods and theories. The results will be presented as part of public events and international conferences in Rijeka and outside Croatia.

The initiator and coordinator of the project is the cultural theorist, Prof. Dr. Manuela Bojadžijev of Leuphana University in Lüneburg and Humboldt University in Berlin. The research project is funded by Volkswagen Stiftung with just under one million euros, from their program “Challenges for Europe,” which seeks answers to the important socio-political questions of further development in Europe.