Why People Riot

In: Policy review: the journal of American citizenship, Band 22, S. 119-140

Abstract

Some of the causes underlying the riots in US cities during the 1960s are linked to instability & fluctuations in the social, political, & economic life of inner-city blacks. Data collected in the 1950s & 1960s by the Center for Political Studies, U of Michigan, are used to examine the role of personal uncertainty in these riots. In an analysis of the survey data only on black Ms, (N not specified) grouped by age (16-29, 30-44, 45+), gamma coefficients are used to summarize attitudinal variables distinguishing riot-prone Ss. Uncertainty is shown to be the most significant attitudinal characteristic distinguishing rioters from nonrioters, & its influence extended across all three age groups. Ss in the youngest group who scored high on the personal uncertainty index were twice as likely as low-scoring counterparts to participate in riots. The investigation offers little support for the "riots-as-protests" explanation of the disturbances. 1 Table, 7 Figures. M. Milburn.