Trade-offs in empowerment through social action

Voices from Detroit

Bibliographic Data

ID6181992
AuthorsAngela Kaiser, Angela A Kaiser, Lara Rusch (0000-0001-6985-0984)
Year2015
Volume46
Issue4
Pages361-379
Publication date2015-08-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCommunity Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1557-5330 • E-ISSN: 1944-7485
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/15575330.2015.1063527
OpenAlexW1868835764
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited26

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