American Political Science Review, vol. 97, no. 4 (November 2003), pp. 501-14.
This article challenges a common understanding of the role that political disruption plays in promoting large-scale change. It argues that the most basic political work disruption performs is not to win public sympathy but instead to interrupt privileged people’s motivated ignorance. Drawing on examples from the Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter Movements, it makes the case that successful political disruption involves three steps.