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The Invention of the 99 Percent: The Origins and Development of a Political Imaginary

Sat, August 16, 10:30am to 12:10pm, TBA

Abstract

Much of the literature on the Occupy phenomenon has treated the object of analysis as if it lived and died in Zuccotti Park. Here, I argue that that phenomenon was predicated, not only on the taking of urban spaces, but also on the making and mobilization of the “99 Percent” imaginary, which permitted the constitution of solidarities among an ensemble of otherwise disunited counter-power players. This ensemble included the “horizontally” networked children of the crisis; older, newly vulnerable union members; mobilized middle-class professionals; and homeless and jobless Americans (for whom the movement represented a destination of last resort). How did movement participants conceive of the “99 Percent”? How did they deal with the many differences within the “99 Percent”? While quantitative surveys have yielded some intriguing results, we have seen surprisingly little qualitative data. This paper presents new evidence on the origins and development of the “99 Percent political imaginary, derived from eighty in-depth interviews, archival analysis, and one year of participant observation. For my respondents, the “99 Percent” was no ready-made category of the real, but an imaginary they sought to make real, forging a single community of interest out of a heterogeneous many, and serving to bring class back into US politics -- without alienating American publics.

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