Social Activists and Social Change: The Chicago Demonstrators

A representative sample of 107 social activists who were arrested during the Chicago protest demonstrations in 1968 completed a self-administered questionnaire, providing the data for this study. The demonstrators were likely to be of upper middle class background, college educated, and aiming at a career in the professions. Their protest focused upon three areas: racism and poverty, war and the military-industrial complex, and unrepresentative government. The author suggests that activists may be best understood in terms of their youth, their life style of explicit congruity, and the growing youth culture.