Chapter 9 explores whether the books’ findings hold in other contexts by examining other instances of surprising outcomes. First, the chapter discusses the outbreak of violence in uprisings after police shootings of African American citizens in the United States, such as Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and Baltimore, Maryland, in 2015. The first section takes a detailed look at the role of background and context factors (such as symbolic and systemic racism) and situational patterns in uprisings turning violent. Then the chapter discusses successful and failed armed store robberies. Here the surprising outcome is not violence but armed criminals failing to get the money from an unarmed store clerk. Findings suggest similar patterns of situational breakdowns in these occurrences as in protests and uprisings. Overall, the chapter discusses the crucial importance of the micro-level of social phenomena: if routines of both collective and individual social events are disrupted, surprising outcomes occur.
Situational Breakdowns Beyond Protest Violence
