Mobilizing Public Opinion: Black Insurgency and Racial Attitudes in the Civil Rights Era

TLDR

The study investigates what motivates opinion change during political protest and social unrest, focusing on the civil rights movement. The authors analyze moral principles, group interests, and racial animosities through geographic, institutional, historical, and issue‑specific contexts, drawing on survey data, media coverage, historical accounts, and presidential archives. The study finds that grassroots organizations and local protests raised public awareness of social change demands, which then entered political elites’ policy agendas, demonstrating the power of ordinary citizens.

Abstract

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.