Constructing Symbols of Inequality: Commentary on "The Deprivation-Protest Paradox" by Séamus A. Power

Protests and social upheavals are complex phenomena that are hard to predict in advance but, in hindsight, lead us to ask what factors led people to protest. Even in stable authoritarian re- gimes with no visible opposition, there are always hidden, ev- eryday forms of resistance to power that can, under the right conditions, transform into open rebellion (Bayat 2013; Scott 1990). When do those hidden transcripts of dissatisfaction float to the surface and mobilize anger and action?