While there has been some attempt to understand the events of the 2014 Ferguson uprising in terms of discrimination and public neglect, there has not been any attempt to unify the disparate features of the uprising – precipitating factors, mobilization, institutional response – using a singular theory or method of mass mobilization analysis. This paper seeks to explain how the events unfolded in Ferguson using the structural strain theory of collective behavior, as proposed by sociologist Neil Smelser. Applying the six conditions of structural strain theory, it can be observed how the events leading up to, and including Mike Brown’s death, primed the city for an outburst of collective violence and destruction of the kind not seen in the U.S. in two decades. Using an inductive and case study approach, this paper consists of a content and secondary source analysis of ethnographies, social media posts, and journalistic reporting (among other sources) that unites previous research and data. A hope of this study is to expand upon existing understandings of the Ferguson uprisings and promote the usefulness of structural strain theory as an analytical tool in the study of collective movements.
