Social Movement Theory

Lessons From the Sociology of W. E. B. Du Bois

Bibliographic Data

ID8243177
AuthorsAldon Morris (corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume24
Issue2
Pages125-136
Publication date2019-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMobilization An International Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1086-671X • E-ISSN: 1938-1514
PublisherMobilization Journal (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.17813/1086-671x-24-2-125
OpenAlexW2952750319
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This article addresses why movement scholars had no idea that the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s and 70s were imminent. In fact, their theories led them to predict that these movements were impossible because only whites possessed history-making agency. These scholars accepted the dogma that black people, their culture, and their institutions were inferior and incapable of organizing and leading powerful movements. This article demonstrates that the black sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois predicted those movements a half century before they occurred. He did so because he conducted concrete empirical analyses of the black community, and his lived experiences led him to reject the thesis of black inferiority. This article argues that the field of social movements remains too white and elitist and that this condition causes less robust and accurate analysis. The article suggests ways to make needed changes

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy · Art · Black Power · Civil rights · Field (mathematics · History of sociology · Movement (music · New social movements · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Social movement · Social movement theory · Social science · Social theory · Sociology · White (mutation · Gender Studies · Law · Race, History, and American Society

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