Mobilizing Public Opinion

Black Insurgency and Racial Attitudes in the Civil Rights Era

Bibliographic Data

ID11087015
AuthorsRod Bush (corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume32
Issue5
Pages618
Publication date2003-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeREVIEW
Review ofMobilizing public opinion: Black insurgency and racial attitudes in the civil rights era, Taeku Lee, 2002
VenueContemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-3061 • E-ISSN: 1939-8638
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/1556504
OpenAlexW1974300268
LanguageEN

What motivates us to change our opinions during times of political protest and social unrest? To investigate this question, Taeku Lee's smartly argued book looks to the critical struggle over the moral principles, group interests, and racial animosities that defined public support for racial policies during the civil rights movement, from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s. Challenging the conventional view that public opinion is shaped by elites, Lee crafts an alternate account of the geographic, institutional, historical, and issue-specific contexts that form our political views. He finds that grassroots organizations and local protests of ordinary people pushed demands for social change into the consciousness of the general public. From there, Lee argues, these demands entered the policy agendas of political elites. Evidence from multiple sources including survey data, media coverage, historical accounts, and presidential archives animates his argument. Ultimately, Mobilizing Public Opinion is a timely, cautionary tale about how we view public opinion and a compelling testament to the potential power of ordinary citizens

Civil rights · Criminology · Insurgency · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Racism · Sociology · Academic Freedom and Politics · Law · Public Administration · Race, History, and American Society

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