da Cruz, Joshua K.

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International Social Science Review 
Volume 96 Issue 3 Article 8 
Book Review: The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter In 
American Democracy by Daniel Q. Gillion 
Joshua K. da Cruz 
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da Cruz, Joshua K. () "Book Review: The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter In American Democracy by 
Daniel Q. Gillion," International Social Science Review: Vol. 96 : Iss. 3 , Article 8. 
Available at: https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/issr/vol96/iss3/8 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by Nighthawks Open Institutional Repository. It has 
been accepted for inclusion in International Social Science Review by an authorized editor of Nighthawks Open 
Institutional Repository. 
Daniel Q. Gillion, The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter In American Democracy. 
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. Viii + 207 pages. Hardcover, $29.95.  
 
The Loud Minority, written by political scientist Dr. Daniel Gillion of the University of 
Pennsylvania, is a fantastic work that seeks to answer big questions in the field of American 
intellectual history. Primarily, the work focuses on answering two questions. First, who are the 
agents of change in the US political landscape? And second, how do those with agency affect to 
change in real time? Gillion sets out to answer these questions through the use of empirical data to 
show, as the title states, why protests matter in American democracy. Gillion argues that protestors 
are the “canaries in the coal mines for future political and electoral change” (p. 7) because political 
protests can alert politicians of a changing tide or an issue that is rising in importance (p. 169). 
This is highlighted by the ongoing Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and calls for defunding the 
police. Messages such as those communicated by protestors and activists, Gillion argues, are 
effectively to mobilize the masses and inform the electorate thereby causing social change (p. 29). 
Gillion also notes that though protestors do operate in the realm of the divide between the two 
political parties in the US, they are not adding to the divide (p. 190). This distinction is critical in 
his analysis because it shows that protestors themselves are not causing the divide in America. 
Rather they should be viewed as an effect of divisiveness. In other words, protests are a mere 
symptom of inequality, disagreement, and the lack of opportunity to effect change outside of the 
electoral system.  
Gillion publishing this book in 2020 with the title “The Loud Minority” is no coincidence 
either. Gillion shines a light on the racist roots of the “silent majority” dog whistle by drawing 
parallels between former President Nixon calling upon Whites to take power back from Blacks 
with President Donald Trump’s revival of the same rhetoric (p. 3). The issues of race relations are 
identified several times throughout this work, primarily in the distinction between protesters. 
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da Cruz: Book Review: The Loud Minority
Published by Nighthawks Open Institutional Repository,
Gillion stresses that while obviously protests can happen on both sides of the aisle, liberal protests 
have a common theme of fighting for all forms of equality throughout history (p. 58). This, paired 
with the fact that African Americans have the greatest sense of linked fate in the nation, means 
that a liberalization of the American political tradition would garner more African American 
support (p. 34). This does not mean that all African Americans will throw their support behind a 
protest movement such as BLM. However, it does mean that their political ties to the party 
supporting the BLM protest will normally be strengthened (p. 33). This portion of the work shows 
how critical the individual protestors and activists are in spreading information to voters who are 
not actively engaged in the protests. Underscoring the inroads made between activists and the 
general voters helps to strengthen his argument that protestors and activists hold the key to political 
change.  
For all the salient points made, there are minor critiques to offer on The Loud Minority. 
First, there is a complete absence of the US labor movement and labor strikes. There are some 
lines such as “today we see families engaging in protests, coworkers carpooling to rallies” (p. 48) 
and “we see that ideological protest is a relatively new phenomenon that emerged in the 1960s and 
has strengthened over time” (p. 52). There several ideological protests prior to the 1960s, including 
the Woman’s suffrage movement, the several labor strikes, and the Ku Klux Klan March in 1925, 
to name a few. All of these protests were ideological in some form and, while this does not diminish 
Gillion’s argument, it does go to show that Gillion’s interpretation can be expanded to include 
Americas rich history of protesting.  
Gillion’s work is a great addition to the long academic discussion of the American political 
tradition. Dating back to Hofstadter’s The American Political Tradition (1948) to more modern 
works such as Skowronek’s The Politics Presidents Make (1997), there has been a long discussion 
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International Social Science Review, Vol. 96, Iss. 3 [], Art. 8
https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/issr/vol96/iss3/8
about where the power to enact change lies and this work adds to the evidence that change can 
result from a grassroots movement. Further, the area of protests is rich with works already 
published. Elaine Carey’s Protests in the Streets (2016) and Alan Brinkley’s Voices of Protests 
(1982) are great examples of these types of works that can be read alongside Gillion’s text. Overall, 
The Loud Minority is a work that should be read by academics and non-academics alike. Given 
the 2020 social unrest, this work is impactful when read by historians, political scientists, anyone 
studying the evolution of culture, and, most importantly, by a general audience who wants to have 
a firmer understanding of the political changes they are currently experiencing.  
 
Joshua Kohler da Cruz 
Georgia State University 
Atlanta, Georgia  
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da Cruz: Book Review: The Loud Minority
Published by Nighthawks Open Institutional Repository,


Book Review: The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter In American Democracy by Daniel Q. Gillion

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Book Review: The Loud Minority: Why Protests Matter In American Democracy by Daniel Q. Gillion

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