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The 1960s Black Riots Revisited: City Level Explanations of Their Severity
Author(s) -
Carter Gregg Lee
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1986.tb00084.x
Subject(s) - inequality , politics , white (mutation) , sociology , population , curvilinear coordinates , demographic economics , economic geography , criminology , geography , demography , political science , economics , law , mathematics , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , geometry , gene
This paper involves a city‐level investigation of the 1964–1971 black rioting. It attempts to explain inter‐city variations in the severity of the rioting with inter‐city variations in black population size, political structure, black‐white income inequality, and regional location. The research charts two new areas of inquiry: (1) It is the first study to use data on the entire rioting period (1964–71). (2) Most previous investigators have concentrated on linear hypotheses, e.g., most have posited and tested for a linear relationship between riot activity and black‐white economic inequality. However, a review of theoretic commentary on rebellion reveals that some potential relationships should be hypothesized as curvilinear; more specifically, plausible hypotheses can be developed that rebellious activity is highest where economic inequality and political responsiveness are moderate. Such hypotheses are developed and tested. The overall pattern of results supported the posited curvilinear relationships.