Residential Segregation and the 2020 BLM Protest Wave
Date:
Conference Presentation at The Canadian Sociological Association at the 2022 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Online
Session: (Re)Configuring Collective Action: Social Context, Community Ties, and Network Building
Abstract:
Does the way potential participants occupy urban space affect their availability for recruitment into social movement activism? This study uses census and protest event data to examine the impact of Black residential segregation on the intensity and duration of Black Lives Matter protest in cities across the United States during the 2020 protest cycle. Using multilevel modeling and accounting for inequality, population size, and political variability, the study shows Black residential segregation accounted for more protest overall and for more prolonged protest. American cities with more heavily segregated Black population also saw more intense protest, measured in the number of protest events, and longer, more sustain protest, measured in the number of days where protest took place. I propose that the impact of residential segregation works through the fostering of stronger social network ties around issues pertaining to racial justice, making potential participants more readily available for social movement mobilization. These findings invite social movement scholars to reexamine the role social networks play in movement processes.