Civil Disobedience

Paul T. Murray

Civil disobedience consists of public acts in deliberate violation of law for the purpose of challenging a law or stimulating social change. It is nonviolent in nature, with participants willingly accepting fines or imprisonment for the sake of their cause. Many forms of civil disobedience have been used by minority racial and ethnic groups to protest laws that contribute to their subordinate status. During the 1950s and 1960s, the modern Civil Rights Movement made extensive use of boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides, and mass marches to overturn the Jim Crow system of racial segregation. Other movements subsequently adopted these techniques to advance their objectives. This entry looks most closely at civil disobedience as a tactic during the Civil Rights Movement. The philosophical origins of civil disobedience can be traced to the Greek philosopher Plato, who questioned a citizen's duty to obey an unjust law. Christian thinkers such as St. Thomas Aquinas ...

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