The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements

by James M. Jasper

Overview

In The Art of Moral Protest, James Jasper integrates diverse examples of protest—from nineteenth-century boycotts to recent movements—into a distinctive new understanding of how social movements work. Jasper highlights their creativity, not only in forging new morals but in adopting courses of action and inventing organizational forms.

"A provocative perspective on the cultural implications of political and social protest."—Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226394800
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	02/03/1998
Edition description:	1
Pages:	530
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.40(d)
Lexile:	1380L (what's this?)

About the Author

James M. Jasper teaches sociology at the Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Table of Contents

List of Tables
Preface
Pt. 1: Basic Approaches
Pt. 2: Biography, Culture, and Willingness
Pt. 3: Movement Culture
Pt. 4: Protest and the Broader Culture
Pt. 5: A Normative View
Appendix on Evidence
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

This book offers a provocative perspective on the cultural implications of political and social protest. Sociology professor Jasper has already written on the antinuclear and animal-rights protest movements. In this more ambitious work, he surveys the relevant social science literature and finds that scholars are all too often unaware of or unconcerned with the creative, subjective side of protest activity, focusing instead on structural explanations that discount the consciousness of the individuals involved. James asks, "Why do our thoughts about the world lead us so often to want to change it? What moral visions inspire outrage about often-distant practices and institutions?" Drawing on research and personal observation, he discusses the dynamics underlying a number of different social movements. Concluding that protest is a "necessity," James argues that the "gift of protesters is that they create controversy, [which]... leads to the weighting and testing of perspectives and values." The extensive notes and bibliography attests to Jasper's deep immersion in his topic. Recommended for academic collections.Kent Worcester, Marymount Manhattan Coll., New York

Library Journal

Jasper, author of and co-author of , integrates diverse examples of protest<-->from 19th- century boycotts to recent antinuclear, animal-rights, and environmental movements<-->into a new understanding of how social movements operate. He weaves together accounts of large-scale movements with individual biographies, placing the movements in cultural perspective and focusing on emotional and moral creativity. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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