Abstract

Social and political structures in Europe have changed. Large refugee and migration movements, a growing inner differentiation of the working population, namely the emergence of a precariat, but also growing populist and antidemocratic tendencies in parts of the populations are challenging European democracies. Core questions are the representation and political participation of old and new underprivileged groups, and their symbolic and political interrelations with other groups and the respective mainstream society. On the basis of a qualitative international comparison approach, the project (proposal) aims at investigating the nexus between living in a liminal social status (precariousness, marginalisation, cultural borders) and political participation. The concept of liminality allows for a holistic understanding of a specific set of social inequalities between inclusion and exclusion, comprising socioeconomic, cultural, spatial and political factors. The project analyses not only identities, self-organisation and participation of liminal groups like immigrants, refugees, ethnic minorities, or precarious workers and people at the fringes of poverty, but also the impact on and interactions with mainstream societies, their institutions, and established dimensions of inequality like class and gender.