Sound Tactics : Auditory Power in Political Protests

Eckstein, Justin

ISBN 10: 0271099380 / ISBN 13: 9780271099385

Published by Penn State University Press, 2025

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 48408182-n

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Sound Tactics : Auditory Power in Political Protests
• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0271099380
• ISBN 13: 9780271099385
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

From call-and-response chants to the noise of pots and pans, protests are often defined by their sounds. In this book, Justin Eckstein argues that this is not merely the result of catchy slogans; it is due to sound’s ability to hold those in power accountable. Sound Tactics highlights how, in a world grappling with the uncertainty of emergent digital practices, social movements utilize the rhetorical power of sound.

Eckstein uses the waveform as a metaphor for the persuasive potential of sound. Examining the case studies of the March for Our Lives protest, Howard University’s #HUResist movement, and the Casseroles protest in Montreal, Eckstein demonstrates how changes to the immediacy, intensity, and immersiveness of sound can affect the power of an argument. The collective use of sound in these case studies conveys the unity of the protesters in their demand for change and underlines the strength of their argument to those in power.

More than just the written word spoken aloud, sound has unique layers of added meaning―it can convey length of time, demand attention, and signal disapproval. Eckstein’s study unpacks those layers for scholars and students as well as activists interested in deploying sound for change.

About the Author

Justin Eckstein is Associate Professor of Communication, Media, and Design Arts at Pacific Lutheran University and Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. He is the coeditor of Cookery: Food Rhetorics and Social Production.