Guido Palazzo

Values Against Violence: Institutional Change in Societies Dominated by Organized Crime

Professor Guido Palazzo


Abstract:
The talk will be mainly structured around a paper forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal, "Values against Violence: Institutional change in societies dominated by organized crime" (co-author Antonino Vaccaro, IESE).
Institutions that are controlled by organized crime are particularly change-resistant. Sicilian society, for instance, has been dominated by the Mafia for more than 150 years. Our paper presents the results of a longitudinal study of Addiopizzo, an anti-Mafia organization founded in Sicily in 2004. We examine how a group of young activists used values to successfully challenge one of the key institutions of the Sicilian society: Pizzo - the practice of paying protection money to the Mafia - which is a key pillar of the Mafia’s territorial power. Our paper demonstrates the performative power of values in contexts where institutions are highly resistant to change. 
In the talk, Professor Palazzo will also present his two new 'Mafia projects' (a project on the illegal toxic waste business of the Camorra and another project on illegal Chinese sweatshops in Florence).

Location: ESSEC Cergy Campus, N231 (Le Club)
Date: Feb. 13th at 11h00 
Attendance: Clink here

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