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First 'Intergalactic' Resistance Studies Conference

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

June 18-21, 2026 

Editorial: The Evolving Concept of Everyday Resistance: Exploring the Context of Welfare Systems

Sarah Murru
Majken Jul Sørensen
Year of publication: 2025

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Excerpt

With this special issue, our aim is to further explore the fluidity of the concept of (everyday) resistance (Murru et al., 2025). In other words, to let the concept of everyday resistance aside for a while and look at how others make sense of practices that do not quite fit this conceptualization. As the field of resistance studies remains quite isolated, we believe that we can only benefit from bridges with other fields and research that study areas where resistance studies’ scholars have not yet been active. In order to advance the field, this special issue explores what the notion of resistance has to offer in a context where power often presents with a benign face: so-called welfare societies. The welfare system supposedly protects people from social risks throughout the life course and reduces social inequalities. Within such a positive formulation, there has been little space for studying resistances towards and in welfare systems. Welfare services are intended to provide care, aid, and support to individuals in need. However, and in spite of well-meaning intentions, support is sometimes experienced as patronizing, misplaced, or an abuse of power. Additionally, welfare service systems have experienced new models of service delivery, new public management, austerity policies, requirements for cost-effectiveness, and marketisation. Often these transformations have meant hard times for people who already struggle in their daily lives. Thus, we explore the forms of resistance work that are observed in this context.

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