About

I’ve been interested in protest politics since, at least, I first read Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience as a preteen.  As a college student, I thought the best way to understand protest was to study literature, and I wrote my senior thesis on Shelley and Thoreau.  At some point, however, I had a crisis of confidence and began to doubt that poets were really the unacknowledged legislators of the world.  I’ve been writing about protest politics and social movements (some of the books and articles are available on the my page below), trying to figure out when movements emerge, how they develop and decline, and how they sometimes matter.

https://webfiles.uci.edu/dmeyer/meyerpage3.html

4 Responses to About

  1. Hi, nice to meet you !

  2. Marlene says:

    Professor Meyer,
    I recently read your article published in the Washington Post, “Why aren’t Americans rioting?” Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I too have wondered what would it take for Americans to take to the streets. After reading your article I now feel that I understand this non-action with greater clarity.

  3. Hi David, I’ve read a few of your posts and statements about the Occupy movement. I think your analysis is very good… I don’t know if you ever got the chance to visit the Occupy OC camp when it was out in Irvine. We got 1200+ in the streets (in IRVINE!) and stayed encamped in the OC for nearly half a year.

    Now we continue to be active, focusing a lot more on homeless rights as well as money out of politics and other issues. The movement has been very educational for me, as I, like many other participants, were never seriously involved in activism before.

    I just wanted to invite you to come and speak with us or attend any of our events. You can find us on Facebook or at occupyorangecounty.com

    Take care!

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.