The Detroit Rebellion As A Social Movement Analysis

Although the Detroit rebellion in 1967 brought to light many adverse societal conditions facing African American families, I do not believe these acts qualified this rebellion as a social movement. According to Blau and Abramovitz (2014, pg. 200) a modern social movement includes not only collective action among individuals challenging prevailing social norms, but also the presence of formal organization, funding, access to the political process, a degree of longevity and resulting in ongoing long-lived tension . I would argue that the 1967 Detroit rebellion had some aspects of the above mentioned social movement definition, such as, a number of people responding collectively to challenge current negative norms towards African American families as well as great unresolved historical tension between the African American and White

Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968, pg. 8) indicated that “Disorder did not erupt as a result of a single triggering incident. Instead, it was generated out of an increasingly disturbed social atmosphere…” However, with that being said, the 1967 rebellion was missing a few key factors to qualify it as a social movement, such as, formal organization, funding to support its efforts, political access, longevity and frankly there were no identified “asks” or stated outcomes in regards to this social uprising. It appears that an incident occurred and a social outcry of the mistreatment of African American individuals started because the community had finally had enough. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968, pg. 8) also found no evidence that the incidents were planned or directed by any organization, further confirming that this does not meet social movement