Given the centrality of economics and communication in the Occupy movement, Understanding Occupy from Wall Street to Portland uses economic insights and contemporary theories of communication to better understand the movement at this current juncture in history. This collection is organized by complementary theoretical and methodological perspectives: the global--critical cultural and economic understandings of Occupy; the local--interpretive ethnographic examinations of a local site--Occupy Portland, Oregon; and mediated perspectives--analyses of the words of officials and media. The...

The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the Occupy movement using various communication theory perspectives. It considers global and local contexts of the movement from its cultural and economic roots to the views of participants, city officials, newspapers and social media. It grapples with how these perspectives represent romantic, practical, and critical understandings of the movement.