Poor People's Movements

Why They Succeed, How They Fail

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The authors study four protest movements of lower-class groups in twentieth-century America—the mobilization of the unemployed during the Great Depression that gave rise to the Workers’ Alliance of America, the industrial strikes that resulted in the formation of the CIO, the Southern Civil Rights Movement, and the movement of welfare recipients led by the National Welfare Rights Organization—to assess the successes and failures of the two strategies of participating in conventional electoral politics versus engaging in mass defiance and disruption.


“...enormously instructive.” —E.J. Hobsbawm, New York Review of Books

“This beautifully written book is the most exciting and important political study in years.” —S. M. Miller, Department of Sociology, Boston University.

“Of the first importance; it is bound to have a wide and various influence; and it is disturbing." —Jack Beatty, The Nation
Frances Fox Piven is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York.

With Richard A. Cloward, she co-authored: The Politics of TurmoilPoor People's MovementsThe New Class War, and Why Americans Don't Vote. They won the C. Wright Mills Award and various international and national awards. View titles by Frances Fox Piven
Richard A. Cloward was a social worker and sociologist, and was a faculty member at the Columbia University School of Social Work from 1954 until his death in 2001.

With France Fox Piven, he co-authored: The Politics of TurmoilPoor People's MovementsThe New Class War, and Why Americans Don't Vote. They won the C. Wright Mills Award and various international and national awards. View titles by Richard Cloward
"...enormously instructive."

-- E.J. Hobsbawm, New York Review of Books

"This beautifully written book is the most exciting and important political study in years."

-- S. M. Miller, Department of Sociology, Boston University.

"Of the first importance; it is bound to have a wide and various influence; and it is disturbing."

-- Jack Beatty, The Nation

About

The authors study four protest movements of lower-class groups in twentieth-century America—the mobilization of the unemployed during the Great Depression that gave rise to the Workers’ Alliance of America, the industrial strikes that resulted in the formation of the CIO, the Southern Civil Rights Movement, and the movement of welfare recipients led by the National Welfare Rights Organization—to assess the successes and failures of the two strategies of participating in conventional electoral politics versus engaging in mass defiance and disruption.


“...enormously instructive.” —E.J. Hobsbawm, New York Review of Books

“This beautifully written book is the most exciting and important political study in years.” —S. M. Miller, Department of Sociology, Boston University.

“Of the first importance; it is bound to have a wide and various influence; and it is disturbing." —Jack Beatty, The Nation

Author

Frances Fox Piven is Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York.

With Richard A. Cloward, she co-authored: The Politics of TurmoilPoor People's MovementsThe New Class War, and Why Americans Don't Vote. They won the C. Wright Mills Award and various international and national awards. View titles by Frances Fox Piven
Richard A. Cloward was a social worker and sociologist, and was a faculty member at the Columbia University School of Social Work from 1954 until his death in 2001.

With France Fox Piven, he co-authored: The Politics of TurmoilPoor People's MovementsThe New Class War, and Why Americans Don't Vote. They won the C. Wright Mills Award and various international and national awards. View titles by Richard Cloward

Praise

"...enormously instructive."

-- E.J. Hobsbawm, New York Review of Books

"This beautifully written book is the most exciting and important political study in years."

-- S. M. Miller, Department of Sociology, Boston University.

"Of the first importance; it is bound to have a wide and various influence; and it is disturbing."

-- Jack Beatty, The Nation