Occupy Wall Street began on September 17, 2011, as an organized protest in Zuccotti Park, in New York City's financial district. The movement quickly spread to other cities across the U.S., including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Occupy Wall Street defined itself as a group of activists who stand against corporate greed, social inequality, and the enormous gap between the rich and poor. We are the 99%<span>, the Occupy Wall Street protest slogan, referred to the difference between the richest 1% and the rest of the population in the United States. Organizers were inspired by the anti-government uprising in Egypt, the social justice demonstrations in Israel, and the political protests in Spain earlier this year.</span>
The term "sociological imagination" was coined by the American sociologist C. Wright Mills in his 1959 book The Sociological Imagination to describe the type of insight offered by the discipline of sociology.