THE RECORD
THE POWER OF PROTEST
How demonstrations have changed in history .
BY INGA KIDERRA
LaGina Gause , UC San Diego assistant professor of political science .
NOT ALL PROTESTS have the same power . In fact , protests by people who are politically marginalized are more likely to create change than those by the wealthy and well-connected , according to a forthcoming book by LaGina Gause , assistant professor of political science at UC San Diego . In The Advantage of Disadvantage , now under contract with Cambridge University Press , Gause uses modern collective-action data to show how protest is often a more effective tool for racial and ethnic minorities , the poor and other groups with much at stake . We spoke with Gause about the history of U . S . protest , the events of the past year and the role of protest in our democracy .
What is your definition of “ protest ?” For me , protest is collective action — any time you have multiple people showing up in a public place to address a grievance or concern . It ’ s that simple . Some collective actions have specific policy aims — they directly target government reform and call for legislation . Others are social movements meant to build solidarity and community . That ’ s how Black Lives Matter ( BLM ) started , with self-affirmation as the internal target or goal . Women ’ s protests , too , are sometimes less about legislation and more about asserting a woman ’ s right to exist outside the home .
Is protesting typically a tactic of the left ? The way we think about social movements comes from when sociologists started studying them — in the 1960s . But protest is not exclusive to the left and never has been . Think of the White Citizens ’ Councils and KKK that terrorized Black people and others in the name of white supremacy . They were engaging in collective action , too .
A difference between protesters on the left and right , in today ’ s terms , is that protests on the left are typically institution-challenging protests . From people of color , we see the Black protester saying to institutions “ don ’ t kill me ”; or the Latino , “ don ’ t cage me ”; or Native , “ I want my land .” Right-wing protests generally are trying to keep things the same : not challenging institutions , but rather preserving the status quo .
How far back does protest go ? In this country , we started with protest . The Boston Tea Party was a kind of protest — an act of civil disobedience .
Are there fundamental ways in which protest has changed over time ? The role of information diffusion has changed . There was no contemporary national Tea Party , for example — it was very decentralized . That ’ s partly due to the role of social media and how people can attach themselves to different ideas they want to support . In the way information is now shared through social media networks , it ’ s difficult for one central figure to define what the issues are or how people should think about a movement .
18 TRITON | SPRING 2021