Protests are near constant. Do they work?

Code Switch

NPR

Society & Culture

4.6 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

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Summary

To the casual observer, it might seem like the U.S. has been spent years in a constant state of protest, from the Women's March in 2017 to the racial uprisings in 2020 to the No Kings protests earlier in the summer. But some are starting to wonder: How effective are any of those protests? When it comes to achieving lasting social change, do any of them work?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This summer on Planet Money Summer School, we're learning about political economy.
0:04.2	We're getting into the nitty-gritty of what government does with things like trade, taxes, immigration, and health care.
0:10.4	So politics and economics, which are taught separately, they shouldn't be separated at all.
0:14.2	I think you have to understand one to really appreciate the other.
0:16.9	So what is the right amount of government in our lives?
0:19.6	Tune into Planet Money Summer School from NPR.
0:22.0	Wherever you get, their podcasts.
0:24.6	Heads up, this episode contains some salty language.
0:30.3	Hey, everyone, you're listening to Code Switch.
0:33.5	I'm Bea Parker.
0:35.5	And I'm Gene Demby.
0:38.0	Gene, I don't know about you, but I've been feeling lately like this country is in a constant state of protest.
0:45.7	Where do we want?
0:47.8	Right? You got the no-king's protests.
0:52.9	The protests against ice all over the country,
0:55.6	all the protests about Israel and Gaza, the protests about the war in Ukraine.
0:59.0	I mean, before that, 2020 was like a conveyor belt of protests.
1:03.3	It feels like we're in this constant churn of righteous indignation, protest, lather, rinse, repeat.
1:09.8	But despite the energy going towards these protests,
1:12.7	I think a lot of people have been wondering
1:15.1	if they're actually achieving anything,
1:17.9	including one of our listeners who reached out to us
	...

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