PROTESTING THE INVASION OF CAMBODIA - A CASE-STUDY OF CROWD BEHAVIOR AND DEMONSTRATION LEADERSHIP

Protest and protest behavior deserve more attention from political sci entists. Using four theories of crowd behavior developed in sociology- transformation, predisposition, emergent norms, and purposive behavior -we investigate the antiwar protests of May 6, 1970 at Iowa State Univ ersity, one of the more than 1300 campus protests responding to the in vasion of Cambodia and the shooting of students at Kent State Universi ty. These events are instructive because of their variety and complexi ty, their transition from symbolic to intervention forms of protest, a nd the interactions among protest leaders and between leaders and the assembled crowds. We find purposive behavior theory as well as several taxonomic concepts recently developed in sociology particularly helpf ul in understanding crowd and protest leadership behavior.