Trade-offs in empowerment through social action

Voices from Detroit

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6181992
AutoresAngela Kaiser, Angela A Kaiser, Lara Rusch (0000-0001-6985-0984)
Ano2015
Volume46
Fascículo4
Páginas361-379
Data de publicação2015-08-08
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCommunity Development (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1557-5330 • E-ISSN: 1944-7485
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15575330.2015.1063527
OpenAlexW1868835764
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas26

Existing literature offers many examples of how social action organizations build empowerment in marginalized communities. The primary argument for this article is that multiple mechanisms of empowerment exist and should be understood as much in terms of their trade-offs as for what they achieve for activists, organizations, and communities. Rather than thinking of a single organization as empowering or disempowering, we argue that any activist organization can be analyzed for its combination of empowering mechanisms and corresponding trade-offs. In a case study of a faith-based, social action organization in Detroit, we find support for the connection between empowerment building and the mechanisms identified in existing research. We also present trade-offs among these mechanisms of empowerment, in part caused by the divisive regional context, and conclude with the argument that a better understanding of the multifaceted quality of empowerment could help organizers work in coalition to leverage their strengths toward shared goals

Action (physics · Argument (complex analysis · Business · Community organizing · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Empowerment · Leverage (statistics · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Computer Science · Homelessness and Social Issues · Religion, Society, and Development