Containing the Outrage: How Police Power Tames the Occupy Movement

Abstract

Published by Boston Review (web), November 2011. American protests about the economic crisis have been muted by comparison to those in Europe. The Occupy Wall Street protest that began in mid-September has inspired similar demonstrations throughout the country, and the movement as a whole may have helped to sharpen public opinion over the financial crisis and its consequences. But it has also demonstrated how hostile American politics has become to the very idea of mass, angry protest. After decades of increasingly sophisticated policing and changing notions about the boundaries of legitimate protest, public demonstration in the United States today is not only tamer than in Europe, but perhaps also tamer than at any time in the nation’s history.