“A magnificent book ringing with hope. In a world seemingly poised at an axial turning point in the pendulum of history, when the oppressions of the past appear to be returning with the intensification of corporate power, the rise once more of totalitarian personalities, and increasing state authoritarianism, Ida Susser presents an ethnography of practices that can resist and break the pendulum's swing. Concentrating on grassroot movements in France, Susser places their significance in global comparative context. She unfolds ways in which benefits and freedoms for the masses can be won. The ghosts of the not so distant past still haunt but this work shows how they may be held at bay. This a landmark book. It will be a major reference for many years to come.”Bruce Kapferer, Emeritus Professor, Social Anthropology University of Bergen, Professorial Fellow, Anthropology, University College London“Powerfully argued and meticulously researched, Ida Susser leads us into the deep histories and long afterlives of Nuit Debout and the Yellow Vests. Her vivid narrative takes readers through practices of “commoning” and “thresholding” as people across an increasingly ambiguous political spectrum repeatedly rise up against the polycrises of precarity, austerity, and a “stolen state.” A must-read for anyone seeking to understand working peoples´ rage and despair in France and, by extension, Europe.”Andrea Muehlebach, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bremen and author of A Vital Frontier: Water Insurgencies in Europe.“The Gilets Jaunes in France were initially rejected as Right wing, racist, and antisemitic, but ended up feeding the formation of a new populist Left in France. With Paris and the banlieux as ethnographic laboratory, Ida Susser’s work shows that any hope for the Left amid the ongoing counterrevolution of the nativist Right comes from the power of ‘commoning’ and ‘thresholding’ among activists of different backgrounds. A resounding contribution.”Don Kalb, Professor of Anthropology, University of Bergen, and author of ‘Value and Worthlessness (2025)“In the face of rising authoritarianism around the world, this ethnographically rooted analysis of a French movement that supersedes left-right dichotomies is a compelling read for anyone interested in the everyday life of building counter-hegemonic struggles for social transformation.”Alpa Shah, Professor of Anthropology at Oxford University, and author of The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India, Nightmarch: Among India’s Revolutionary Guerrillas and In the Shadows of the State: Indigenous Politics, Environmentalism and Insurgency in India“The Yellow Vests and the Remaking of Progressive Politics is an ethnography of/on the streets of Paris and its peripheries, tracing how social movements build upon the legacies, losses, and innovations of earlier mobilizations. In the deindustrialized urban periphery, activists struggle to forge cooperation and to defend collective rights across the tensions of racism, religious difference, and anti-immigrant concerns, while forging sometimes-fragile alliances among political movements, each with its own passions and concerns. Deeply comparative and historical, Susser writes in conversation not only with the protesters, but also with the long tradition of urban social theory: Her book highlights the blurred boundaries of left and right as she illuminates postcolonial, post-neoliberal France. It’s a must-read for everyone concerned with the instability of democratic movements in the present tense.”Rayna Rapp, Professor, Emerita, Anthropology, New York University“With an unerring eye and analytical vision, Ida Susser has mastered a complex instance of movement politics situated in rich contexts, past and present. Attentive to the explosion of political possibilities, this riveting book offers active engagements, at once scholarly and personal, with a widening range of experiences, dispositions, and actions under conditions of tension, inequality, and repression.”Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University“Ida Susser has written an important, comprehensive, and engaging study of the Gilets Jaunes. She brings an experienced ethnographic eye and unparalleled expertise in global urban social movements. The book is a must-read for those curious and confused by the pluralism of progressive populist politics.”Paul A. Silverstein, author of Postcolonial France: Race, Islam and the Future of the Republic“Social Movements continue to be the engine of social change, under new historical forms. The French Movement of Yellow Jackets has been one of the most relevant in recent years. This ethnography based analysis by the leading urban anthropologist Ida Susser not only clarifies the meaning of this movement but deepens our understanding of the decisive role of social mobilization in renewing progressive politics everywhere. A masterful scholarly work of the highest political relevance at this time.”Manuel Castells, University of California, Berkeley“With her long experience of studying social movements across the world as a participant observant, Ida Susser offers a vivid picture of the Yellow Vests mobilization in France, situating it in a context of growing repressive and inegalitarian policies with still pockets of popular resistance. It is an important archive for the history of the present.”Didier Fassin, Professor, the Collège de France and the Institute for Advanced Study“Sussers’ extraordinary analysis of the Yellow Vest movement combines the rigorous research of quantitative sociological analysis with the powerful empathetic skills of the ethnographer. How did working people of various sorts respond to Macron’s ‘progressive neo-liberal’ environmentalist move to raise fuel taxes? Susser illuminates how people more concerned with the end of the month than with the end of the world organized to paralyze the state while struggling to develop their own platform. Susser captures the dilemmas that have turned much of the base of the old left into activists for the new right. Susser identifies and identifies with the militant French tradition of challenging the state while acknowledging the shortcomings of the performative politics of the Movement. Sussers’ book will change how we think about mass movements in the age of neo-liberalism.”David Abraham, Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Miami, works on issues of historical political economy and contemporary immigration and citizenship issues. He is the author of The Collapse of the Weimar Republic and of Who Belongs to Us?"Ida Susser has produced a masterful account of the Gilets Jaunes movement. Her depth of understanding is based in years of research of global social movements and has resulted in a fascinating and enlightening analysis. This is a highly readable book which contextualises the Gilets Jaunes within this historical and comparative view of global struggles for social justice and equality. I learned a great deal from her work, which includes many on-the-ground and in-person descriptions of events along with useful analytical concepts. I highly recommend this book for anyone trying to understand contemporary movements seeking to halt the rise of authoritarianism.”Alexandra Stein, Social psychologist, author of Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems“In her close look at the Yellow Vests movement Susser shows us brilliantly how to learn from the sometimes ambiguous and contested experiences of people in struggle for descent and inclusive living conditions. As she suggests, creating thresholds on which collective demands converge becomes a characteristic of contemporary movements that oppose the neoliberal destruction of social services, communities and shared spaces. A careful and magnificently documented research on the multiplicity of current subaltern resistances that shows that an emancipatory commoning future is possible.”Stavros Stavrides, Professor at NTUA, author of The Politics of Urban Potentiality“The Yellow Vests and the Remaking of Progressive Politics is a fascinating and illuminating account of recent social movements in France. Drawing on extensive participant observation, Susser uses the French case to reflect very insightfully on the complexities of activist politics today.”Sherry B. Ortner, Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology (Emerita), UCLA
