The Power of Social Justice Movements

Read our March 2021 cover story

Black Lives Matter takes the baton from the Civil Rights Movement   Dear Reader,   In our powerful cover story for the March 2021 issue, sociologist Aldon Morris, one of the world’s leading scholars of social justice movements, explains how they succeed. When the Civil Rights movement began, some social scientists were dismissive of activists and described protests as unthinking mobs.   Morris and his colleagues conducted immersive interviews with leaders of the Civil Rights movement and similar struggles against injustice around the world and found that meticulous planning, cultural resources, discipline and creativity powered the movements, along with emotions ranging from righteous indignation to empathy and love. The Black Lives Matter movement has taken the baton from the Civil Rights era, and as Morris points out, “these struggles necessarily (and excitingly) continue to evolve faster than social scientists can comprehend them.”   Read our March issue on how social justice movements succeed.

Wishing you good health, Laura Helmuth Editor in Chief

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