Rebellion in America : Citizen Uprisings, the News Media, and the Politics of Plutocracy : Citizen Uprisings, the News Media, and the Politics of Plutocracy

In a time of rising inequality and plutocratic government, citizens’ movements are emerging with growing frequency to offer populist challenges to the declining living standards of masses of Americans, and to protest the conditions through which individuals suffer in poor communities across the country. This book looks at the progression of modern social uprisings in the post-2008 period, including the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Bernie Sanders “Revolution,” Trump’s populism, the anti-Trump revolt, and #MeToo. A key theme is that populism and mass anger at the political-economic status quo take different forms depending on whether the protests are progressive-left or right-wing in orientation. Employing theories of elite politics and pluralism, and using a mixed methods approach, Anthony DiMaggio harnesses his rich experience with movement politics and his engagement with a wide range of media and public opinion data to explain where we are today and how we got here – always with an eye on moving ahead. Aimed at courses on social movements wherever they’re taught, this book also offers general readers insight into contemporary politics and protest. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title Page......Page 4 Copyright Page......Page 5 Table of Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 9 Introduction......Page 10 Understanding Social Movements......Page 11 Hegemony, Plutocracy, and Social Movements......Page 13 Mainstream Scholarly Theories of Social Movements......Page 14 Social Movements and the “Outside” Lobbying Strategy......Page 19 Research Design......Page 20 Chapter 1: The Tea Party and the Rise of Right-Wing Rebellion......Page 21 Chapter 2: The Economic Justice Movement: Challenging Plutocracy and Inequality......Page 22 Chapter 4: Populism in the 2016 Election......Page 23 Notes......Page 24 1. The Tea Party and the Rise of Right-Wing Rebellion......Page 33 A History of the Tea Party......Page 34 Tea Partiers: What They Believed......Page 35 Tea Party Bigotry?......Page 38 Selling the Apocalypse: The Tea Party’s Conspiracy Politics......Page 40 Intersectional Identities: Tea Party Racism, Xenophobia, and Health-Care Protests......Page 41 Intersectional Sexism and the Tea Party......Page 42 Media and Scholarly Discourse on the Tea Party......Page 44 Challenging Conventional Wisdom on the Tea Party......Page 51 What Motivated the Tea Party? Socio-Cultural Versus Economic Attitudes......Page 54 Conclusion......Page 59 Notes......Page 64 2. The Economic Justice Movement......Page 73 Inequality and Politics: What We Know......Page 74 The Madison Uprising......Page 77 Madison’s Impact on Political Discourse......Page 80 Media Effects......Page 81 Occupy Wall Street: The Fight for Economic Justice Continues......Page 89 Occupy Wall Street Emerges......Page 90 The Occupiers: Who They Were, What They Believed......Page 91 Occupy’s Radical Politics......Page 92 The Limits of Occupy......Page 93 Occupy, Social Media, and the News......Page 95 Media Effects......Page 97 Occupy’s Radical Appeal......Page 100 Fight for $15......Page 103 Chronology of the Protests......Page 104 Conclusion......Page 111 Notes......Page 112 3. Black Lives Matter......Page 129 What Can Be Learned from BLM?......Page 130 Police Violence: A Background......Page 131 Racism in America: What We Know......Page 133 Ferguson: The Early Development of BLM......Page 135 Social Media and the Ferguson Protests......Page 137 The Media and Ferguson......Page 138 Intersectionality and Ferguson......Page 143 Freddie Gray and the Baltimore Uprising......Page 145 Social Media, the News Media, and Baltimore......Page 146 Intersectionality and Baltimore......Page 150 Assessing the Impact of BLM......Page 152 The Strengths (and Limits) of BLM......Page 158 Policy Change......Page 161 Conclusion......Page 162 Notes......Page 163 4. Populism in the 2016 Election......Page 175 Populism: A Background......Page 176 Bernie Sanders and the 2016 Election......Page 178 Sanders and the Media......Page 182 Assessing Sanders’ Appeal......Page 183 Assessing Sanders’ “Political Revolution”......Page 192 Populism on the Right: The Rise of Trump......Page 193 Populism and Plutocracy......Page 196 Trump and the Media......Page 198 Trump and the Public: Right-Wing Populism and Its Supporters......Page 206 The Myth of Trump’s Economic Populism......Page 213 Trump and “the Fascist Creep”......Page 222 Conclusion......Page 224 Notes......Page 225 5. The Anti-Trump Uprising and Beyond......Page 238 The 2017 Women’s Marches......Page 240 Opposing Trump’s Travel Ban and the DACA Repeal......Page 243 Tax Day Protests and the March(es) for Science......Page 245 Opposing “Obamacare” Repeal......Page 250 The Strengths and Limits of the Anti-Trump Protests......Page 255 Beyond the Anti-Trump Protests: #MeToo......Page 260 Notes......Page 272 Conclusion......Page 283 Elections as an Instrument of Democracy?......Page 284 Social Movements and Democracy......Page 285 Notes......Page 286 Index......Page 288 "In a time of rising inequality and plutocratic government, citizens' movements are emerging with growing frequency to offer populist challenges to the declining living standards of masses of Americans, and to protest the conditions through which individuals suffer in poor communities across the country. This book looks at the progression of modern social uprisings in the post-2008 period, including the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Bernie Sanders "Revolution," Trump's populism, the anti-Trump revolt, and #MeToo. A key theme is that populism and mass anger at the political-economic status quo take different forms depending on whether the protests are progressive-left or right-wing in orientation. Employing theories of elite politics and pluralism, and using a mixed-methods approach, Anthony DiMaggio harnesses his rich experience with movement politics and his engagement with a wide range of media and public opinion data to explain where we are today and how we got here - always with an eye on moving ahead. Aimed at courses on social movements wherever they're taught, this book also offers general readers insight into contemporary politics and protest"-- Provided by publisher In a time of rising inequality and plutocratic government, this book looks at the historical progression of modern social uprisings in the post-2008 period, including the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, the Bernie Sanders “Revolution,” Trump’s populism, the anti-Trump revolt, and #MeToo.