A sociologist looks at Occupy Wall Street in light of past social protests

Matt Bieber interviews sociologist Todd Gitlin about Occupy Wall Street in comparison with previous social movement in the US.

“Desperation and Wild Inspired Hope”: Todd Gitlin on Why the Occupy Movement is Different From All Other Social Movements, How Initial Media Coverage Was Like a Pre-Programmed Computer Algorithm, and How Not to Judge the Movement’s Success

Todd Gitlin is a professor of journalism and sociology and chair of the Ph. D. program in Communications at Columbia University. In 1963-64, Gitlin served as the third president of Students for a Democratic Society. Later, he helped organize the first national demonstration against the Vietnam War and the first American demonstrations against corporate aid to the apartheid regime in South Africa. Gitlin is the author of fourteen books and has written for a wide range of periodicals.

Matt Bieber studies politics, religion, and public discourse at Harvard's Kennedy and Divinity schools.

(h/t Truthdig)