Seymour M. Lipset has proposed in a number of successive works an analysis of the nature and causes of the 1960s student protests in the US. As he takes into account competing interpretations, Lipset?s major contribution is to invalidate the thesis of a mass uprising by the young. After identifying a number of explanations, Lipset argues that these protests were led by a minority of students who found on university campuses the conditions for a briefly successful mobilization. However, Lipset highlights the inherent ambiguity of the movement, which prevented it from generating sustainable student power and a new left.