that was the day them folks was like, we ain't afraid no more

246 Pages·2017·1.08 MB·English

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers
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Brent Patrick Taylor
University of Windsor
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Taylor, Brent Patrick, ""that was the day them folks was like, we ain't afraid no more" A Community Case
Study of the Ferguson Uprising" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5670.
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“that was the day them folks was like, we ain’t afraid no more”
A Community Case Study of the Ferguson Uprising

By
Brent Patrick Taylor

A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
through the Department of Psychology
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Master of Arts
at the University of Windsor

Windsor, Ontario, Canada
2016

© 2016 Brent Patrick Taylor
“that was the day them folks was like, we ain’t afraid no more”
A Community Case Study of the Ferguson Uprising
by
Brent Patrick Taylor

APPROVED BY:
______________________________________________
R. Nakhaie
Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology

______________________________________________
K. Lafreniere
Department of Psychology
______________________________________________
S. Towson, Advisor
Department of Psychology

November 13, 2015
THE FERGUSON UPRISING
  iii
DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this
thesis has been published or submitted for publication.
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon
anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques,
quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis,
published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard
referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted
material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada
Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright
owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such
copyright clearances to my appendix.
I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as
approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has
not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution.
THE FERGUSON UPRISING
  iv

ABSTRACT

The Ferguson Uprising was ignited by the August 2014 police killing of a Black
teen in a St. Louis, Missouri suburb. In order to understand the Uprising, a community
case study method is utilized which combines an analysis of the historical, political and
economic context of Ferguson and North St. Louis County with an interpretive
phenomenological analysis of interviews with 10 Ferguson area residents who
participated in the Uprising. The study began by asking why such a militant uprising
occurred in Ferguson. Through a reflexive process the study expanded to ask questions
about the meanings community members held of the uprising and life in its aftermath. A
series of meta-narratives tell the collective story of the participants. Through the
combination of methods, a story emerges which demonstrates the racism, greed, and
violence of the local bourgeois power elite and the stubborn resistance of ordinary people
to this corrupting power.
THE FERGUSON UPRISING
  v

DEDICATION

To Michael Brown Jr., James Boyd, Kajieme Powell, Dillon Taylor, VonDeritt
Myers Jr., Antonio Martin and the rest of the over 1,100 brothers and sisters of all colours
killed by U.S. police in 2014.
THE FERGUSON UPRISING
  vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Ms. Kayla Lee, my research assistant who accompanied me to Ferguson for the
participant interviews.
My committee members, Dr. Shelagh Towson, Dr. Reza Nakhaie, and Dr.
Kathryn Lafreniere.
Dr. Dusty Johnstone for her guidance and unique ability to focus my eccentric
research style.
My Mother, Father, Aunt Bobbi, and Uncle Finley.
I would also like to acknowledge the fearless and tireless Ferguson rebels as the
inspiration for my scholarship and thank the people of Ferguson and North St. Louis
County for their hospitality, openness and insight, without which this study would not
have been possible.
THE FERGUSON UPRISING
  vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY...............................................................................iii
ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................iv
DEDICATION.....................................................................................................................v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..................................................................................................vi
LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................xii
Prologue...............................................................................................................................1
Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
Literature Review.................................................................................................................4
Why Ferguson ‘Uprising’?..........................................................................4
Defining Collective Action...........................................................................5
Social Identity..............................................................................................6
Group Processes..........................................................................................7
Form and Content of Collective Actions......................................................7
Connection between Objective Processes & Subjective States....................9
Relevant Social Psychological Theories of Collective Action..............................11
Deindividuation Theory.............................................................................11
Relative Deprivation Theory......................................................................12
Resource Mobilization Theory...................................................................14
Social Identity Model of Collective Action................................................15
Rising Expectations Theory.......................................................................18
Reflection Theory.......................................................................................22
Zone of Proximal Development.................................................................23
Suddenly Imposed Grievance Theory........................................................24
Method...............................................................................................................................25
Research Paradigm.................................................................................................25
Community Case Study.........................................................................................30
Method One: Archival Data & Analysis................................................................33
Method Two: Interviews & Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis..................36
THE FERGUSON UPRISING
  viii
Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis...................................................36
Narrative Analysis.....................................................................................37
Thematic Analysis.....................................................................................38
Interview Details........................................................................................40
Research Assistant.........................................................................40
Trust...............................................................................................41
Participants....................................................................................42
Recruitment....................................................................................43
Consent & Confidentiality.............................................................44
Anonymity..........................................................................44
Confidentiality....................................................................45
The Interview Process....................................................................46
Questions........................................................................................47
Compensation................................................................................48
Location of Interviews....................................................................49
Debriefing......................................................................................49
Field Notes.....................................................................................50
Saturation.......................................................................................50
Process of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis..................................51
1. Pre-data Collection....................................................................53
2. Data Collection..........................................................................54
3. Transcription.............................................................................55
4. Familiarization/Reading............................................................55
5. Coding........................................................................................56
6. Narrative Development..............................................................58
7. Theme Development...................................................................58
8. Reporting....................................................................................60
Results................................................................................................................................61
Method One: Social Context of the Ferguson Uprising.........................................62
Brief History and Geography of Ferguson & North County.....................63
Deindustrialization & ‘White flight’..............................................65
THE FERGUSON UPRISING
  ix
Contemporary Ferguson & North County.................................................68
Suburban Migration.......................................................................68
The Real Estate Boom & Sub-prime Lending................................68
Low-income Housing Polices........................................................70
Policing & Social Control..........................................................................74
Overview of Police Violence against Citizens in the U.S..............74
Social Control................................................................................75
Revenue Generation.......................................................................76
Ferguson’s Economic Base........................................................................78
Emerson Electric............................................................................79
Special Tax Districts......................................................................81
The Brown Killing.....................................................................................82
The Ferguson Uprising..............................................................................84
Counter-Insurgency....................................................................................87
Extrajudicial Violence?.................................................................87
Co-Optation...................................................................................89
Outcomes of Uprising................................................................................95
Method Two: Interviews & Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis..................97
Notes on Presentation..................................................................100
Participant Reactions to Interviews.............................................102
Living with Police Violence Prior to the Uprising..................................103
Pervasiveness of Police Excess, Violence, & Racism..................106
Mistrust & Cynicism towards Institutions...................................108
Tensions in Participant Interpretations of Police Violence.........110
Unequivocal Interpretations of Police Violence as Racist..........113
Origins of the Ferguson Uprising............................................................114
Collective Action..........................................................................116
Suddenly Imposed Grievance Theory..........................................118
Affect............................................................................................122
Resource Mobilization Theory.....................................................126
Social Identity..............................................................................129