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"The verdict was delivered around 3:15 p.m. on April 29, 1992. People were enraged. Despite video showing Sergeant Stacey Koon and Officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno beating an unarmed African American motorist, a mostly White jury failed to convict the officers of the assault and excessive use of force against Rodney King. Within minutes, large crowds mobilized in and around the city of Los Angeles. For the next several days, the Los Angeles metropolitan area was teeming with assaults, looting, arson, and even murder. President H. W. Bush addressed the nation two days after the protests began.1 He focused on the "incidents of random terror and lawlessness." He argued that what was taking place was "not about civil rights. . .. It's not a message of protest. It's been the brutality of a mob, pure and simple." President Bush's focus on the property damage and violence was an effort to delegitimize the protesters' grievances. It was an attempt to justify the mobilization of thousands of law enforcement agents to Los Angeles. 2 He gave an extensive description of the law and order measures that were being deployed in response to the protests, and he only briefly discussed of how he planned to address the grievances that incited the protest. President Bush insisted that "[in] a civilized society, there can be no excuse - no excuse - for the murder, arson, theft, and vandalism that have terrorized the law-abiding citizens of Los Angeles"--
List of contents
1. The Promise of Protest; 2. Costly Protest and political representation; 3. How Legislators perceive collective Action; 4. How the average Legislator responds; 5. The limits of costly Protest; 6. Costly protest in a digitized World; 7. The democratic value of costly Protest; 8. Appendices.
About the author
LaGina Gause is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. Her research explores U.S. political institutions and behavior with a focus on racial and ethnic politics, inequality, and representation.
Summary
The Advantage of Disadvantage provides insights for scholars and activists into how marginalized groups gain representation through protest. Drawing on formal theory, surveys, and quantitative data, the book presents an interdisciplinary analysis of representation, inequality, and digital activism.
Foreword
The Advantage of Disadvantage provides insights for scholars and activists into how marginalized groups gain representation through protest.
Additional text
'In this important book, Gause uses multiple methods and data to understand how collective action shapes American politics. She shows that who protests matters, and legislators are more responsive to low-resource protesters. Yet while protest can be a force for equality, Gause also reveals the lengths to which resource-poor groups must go to be represented. This book is a must-read for scholars of political representation and inequality.' Kris Miler, University of Maryland, and author of Poor Representation: Congress and the Politics of Poverty in the United States
