Description
David Walls charts how community organizing has transcended the neighborhood to seek power and influence at the metropolitan, state, and national levels, together with such allies as unions and human rights advocates. Some organizing networks have embraced these goals while others have been more cautious, and the growing profile of community organizing has even charged political debate. Importantly, Walls engages social movements literature to bring insights to our understanding of community organizing networks, their methods, allies and opponents, and to show how community organizing offers concepts and tools that are indispensable to a democratic strategy of social change.
Community Organizing will be essential reading for advanced undergraduates and graduate students of sociology, social movements and social work. It will also inform organizers and grassroots leaders, as well as the elected officials and others who contend with them.
About the Author
David Walls is professor emeritus of sociology at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California. He is co-editor of Appalachia in the Sixties and author of The Activist's Almanac. He worked with the Appalachian Volunteers, a community organizing project in the central Appalachian coalfields, from 1966 to 1970. He presently is a member of the leadership council of the North Bay Organizing Project.
Reviews
A superb comprehensive reading of the social, intellectual, and political history of community organizing in the U.S. The clear and engaging account of the central guiding ideas from Alinsky to Ganz, plus outlining possibilities for the future, makes for very worthwhile and enjoyable reading. It lays out basic concepts and elements of community organizing while at the same time offering real on-the-ground stories of real people who did real things in relation to creating social change.
Susan A. Ostrander, Tufts University
Community Organizing is actually three books in one: a scholarly analysis of the key components of successful movements for social change, drawing on the most important thinkers and theories from the past and present; a compendium of contemporary case studies of grassroots organizing efforts on a wide range of issues; and a "how to" manual for activists who want to apply these lessons in the real world. Walls' book is accessible, well-written, and up-to-date. People who teach and practice community organizing will want this book on their shelves.
Peter Dreier, Occidental College
Book Information
ISBN 9780745663203
Author David S. Walls
Format Paperback
Page Count 216
Imprint Polity Press
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 268g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 152mm * 13mm