The Occupy Wall Street Movement in the American Radical Tradition

Abstract

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was well placed in the American radical tradition. As did many of its predecessors which targetted inequality, OWS offered a moral critique of political and economic institutions. Likewise, OWS's emphasis on direct action, had its precedent in earlier protest movements. In addition, OWS contained features of a "horizontal movement" that drew from feminist "consciousness raising" and "affinity" groups within the anti-nuke movement in the 1970s. OWS was fervently egalitarian and reaffirmed the practice of participatory democracy as advanced by the Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

Keywords

• occupy wall street
• radicalism
• participatory democracy
• horizontal movements