Submission Type
Poster
Start Date
April 2021
Abstract
Frederick Douglass once said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” In American politics, one method of making those demands has been organizing and engaging in social protest. In contemporary politics, this has manifested with protests like the 2011 Occupy Movement, the 2018 March for Our Lives, or the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. These movements have all dominated headlines, and contributed to shaping public discourse on the issues (or at times even polarizing the electorate), and thus affecting elections, and subsequent legislation. This research will use case studies to examine how mass social protests can, and have already, influenced American politics, by bringing “the 99%,” as participants in the Occupy Movement referred to the American masses, into the democratic process.
Recommended Citation
Walgate, Dylan, "277— Demands of the 99%: The Impact of Protest in Contemporary American Democracy" (2021). GREAT Day Posters. 44.
https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/great-day-symposium/great-day-2021/posters-2021/44
Included in
277— Demands of the 99%: The Impact of Protest in Contemporary American Democracy
Frederick Douglass once said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” In American politics, one method of making those demands has been organizing and engaging in social protest. In contemporary politics, this has manifested with protests like the 2011 Occupy Movement, the 2018 March for Our Lives, or the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. These movements have all dominated headlines, and contributed to shaping public discourse on the issues (or at times even polarizing the electorate), and thus affecting elections, and subsequent legislation. This research will use case studies to examine how mass social protests can, and have already, influenced American politics, by bringing “the 99%,” as participants in the Occupy Movement referred to the American masses, into the democratic process.
Comments
Sponsored by Jeffrey Koch