The food riots resulted in bloody injuries and deaths. Yet the people rioting were starving and felt this was the only way for them to get food for their families. Today, there is far less absolute poverty because of various factors (example: we have food stamps, so even when food is expensive, low income people have some way of getting food, and are not starving). But maybe there are some other scenarios in our society that might not be as pressing as having food to eat that night, but which could grow into some sort of rioting. An example in another part of the world would be the recent events in the Ukraine/Crimea/Russia. What do you think are factors that might cause riots to create social or political change in our American society? Or are there none? How do you think society as a whole would react? What about the government?