A representative sample of 107 social activists who were arrested during the Chicago protest demonstrations in 1968 completed a self-administered questionnaire, providing the data for this study. The demonstrators were likely to be of upper middle class background, college educated, and aiming at a career in the professions. Their protest focused upon three areas: racism and poverty, war and the military-industrial complex, and unrepresentative government. The author suggests that activists may be best understood in terms of their youth, their life style of explicit congruity, and the growing youth culture.Abstract Teaser