#8 Boycotts as Tools of Resistance and Reconstruction

#8 Boycotts as Tools of Resistance and Reconstruction

From THRIVING IN TIMES OF STRUGGLE by Michael C. Patterson

March 30, 2026 · 20 min · Season 7 · Episode 8

About this episode

The episode explores how collective withdrawal of cooperation serves as a powerful tool for ordinary people against those in power, drawing on historical examples.

Comments? Send me a text message. What gives ordinary people power against those who hold it? One answer is as old as democracy itself: the deliberate, collective withdrawal of cooperation. The Power of Withdrawal draws on three examples spanning twenty-four hundred years to ask what actually makes collective refusal work — and what each teaches us about the art of resistance. In ancient Athens, Aristophanes' Lysistrata understood that power flows from cooperation — and that withdrawing what ...

People in this episode

Host: Michael C. Patterson

Topics covered

  • boycotts
  • resistance
  • cooperation
  • democracy
  • collective action

Keywords

  • boycotts
  • resistance
  • cooperation
  • democracy
  • collective refusal
  • Athens
  • Aristophanes

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Lysistrata

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