VALUES AGAINST VIOLENCE: INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN SOCIETIES DOMINATED BY ORGANIZED CRIME

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, and 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 Sicilian society: pizzo, or the practice of paying protection money to the Mafia, a central pillar of the Mafia's territorial power. Our study demonstrates the performative power of values in contexts where institutions are highly resistant to change.