Understanding public support for social protest: testing collective action frames, cognitive liberation and political opportunity in the Israeli 2011 summer protest

ABSTRACTDespite its acclaimed role in democratic theory, social protest is not a common occurrence in most states where widespread political participation is typically limited to voting, and mass participation is otherwise rare. This article examines public opinion regarding the 2011 summer protests in Israel, in which hundreds of thousands took to the streets in wide-scale events that lasted for several weeks. It does so by focusing on two independent samples, one of university undergraduate students and the other of active protesters, totaling 59 respondents. Findings suggest that support for the protest most strongly affiliated with concerns of social injustice coupled with the belief that government responsible for this state of affairs.