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Who Really Protests, and Why? by The Atlantic

Who Really Protests, and Why?

from Good on Paper

by The Atlantic

Published: Tue Jun 18 2024

Show Notes

In 2020,two major protest movements defined our political landscape: the racial justice protests after the murder of George Floyd and the anti-lockdown protests pushing against COVID-19 restrictions. At the time, these movements were seen by many as near polar opposites and were often defined by their extremes.

But did the two actually have much in common?

Host Jerusalem Demsas talks to Nick Papageorge, an economist at Johns Hopkins University, who co-authored a paper called, “Who Protests, What Do They Protest, and Why?” His research calls into question our assumptions about the participants of mass protest. Are they really dominated by fringe elements? How can we tell? And what does it mean to misunderstand the people that make up social movements?

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