Protest events present portraits of social problems—people, through collectiveaction, send a message to society through their performance of opposition. Thepurpose of this study is to examine the distribution and diversity of specific activitiestaking place at protest events in the United States from 2006 to 2009. We empiricallyexamine these activities by drawing on preliminary data from a sample of nearly 2,500protest events reported in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. To more clearlyunderstand our contentious repertoire, we build upon coding protocol developed bythe Dynamics of Collective Action Project and examine over 60 specific activitiesutilized by activists. What we show—in addition to the fact that protester actions,while sometimes confrontational, are overwhelmingly nonviolent—is that themajority of all protester activity at protest events during the period under studyinvolves literally symbolic, aesthetic, and sensory qualities. In this article, we present atypology of six broad activity categories and propose directions for future research.
