Abstract
Eeva Luhtakallio's book is a fascinating example of the fruitfulness of comparison when it goes beyond the sheer juxtaposition of two cases. To understand the possibilities for and shapes of politicization in Lyon and Helsinki, she does not only compare two cities, but also provides the reader with a rich and complex comparative exploration along five dimensions: the observation of the grassroots civic practices of local activist groups; their ideas of citizenship (with specific attention to gender issues); an analysis of the visual dimension of the public sphere; how activists and members of local institutions conceptualize democracy; and how the local public sphere is represented in local newspapers. To explore all these dimensions, Luhtakallio relies on several methods: participant observation, interviews, visual frames and public justification analysis—all inscribed in cultural or pragmatist sociology and connected with Goffman's notion of framing; indeed one of the strong stands of this book is its plea for a renewal of political sociology from a pragmatist approach. Exploring strategies of action and if they (and how they) result in the politicization of the issues pursued, Luhtakallio offers the reader an in-depth cross-cultural approach to localized contexts.
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