This is an impressive book. From a research design standpoint, The Advantage of Disadvantage embodies the spirit of mixed-methodology: LaGina Gause contextualizes her work within historical analyses, builds her arguments using game theory, and showcases results from both original and preexisting polling data. Moreover, it is tempting to characterize this book as a work of American politics (one clearly relevant to the study of race and ethnicity), but we remind readers that the author draws inspiration from scholarship in Comparative Politics as well and that this multidisciplinary manuscript engages the literatures on social movements, legislative studies, and political participation. Given its eclectic nature, it makes sense that Cambridge published the book within its “Studies in Contentious Politics” series.
In addition to previewing the rest of the book, chapter 1 sets the proverbial stage, offering some historical precedent for understanding protest activity within the context of Black collective action and the...
University of California Press