Social ties, collective initiatives and conflictual processes: The case of mobilizations against gentrification in Parc-Extension, Montreal
Our article aims to examine the relationship between social ties, collective initiatives and conflictual processes from two perspectives. First, we consider the relational dimension of collective initiatives, looking at three concepts that can help us better understand the processes leading to the formation, reproduction and transformation of social ties. We then consider the role that collective initiatives can play in the context of social conflicts, namely to complement the emphasis placed on cooperation in a number of works on these initiatives. We examine these two perspectives by analyzing the mobilizations against gentrification observed between 2019 and 2022 in the Montreal neighbourhood of Parc-Extension, using ethnographic research conducted during this period with the Parc-Extension Action Committee (CAPE). Our analysis leads us to argue that collective initiatives can contribute to social reproduction in a given environment, respond to collective needs and aspirations, and increase the capacity for popular intervention in the context of conflictual processes that aim, among other things, to destabilize economic and political elites and achieve concessions.