========================================================================= Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 18:58:43 CDT Sender: H-Net/H-Urban Seminar on History of Community Organizing &From: Wendy Plotkin Subject: ABSTRACT: Article on "empowerment" and PICO Posted by Wendy Plotkin I'd like to abstract (in two postings) Paul W. Speer and Joseph Hughey, "Community Organizing: An Ecological Route to Empowerment and Power," _American Journal of Community Psychology_, 23:5, 1995 to respond to Dick Schoech's recently posted query for teaching articles on power [1] (any other responses?), and to flesh out Rich Wood's abstract of his dissertation (which deals in part with the Pacific Institute for Community Organizations [PICO]). In a few days, I'll also post a brief history of PICO, from Donald C. and Dietrich C. Reitzes, THE ALINSKY LEGACY ALIVE AND KICKING (JAI Press, c1987) in the series "Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change." In an issue of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY devoted to the topic of "empowerment theory," this article asserts that Empowerment is often approached from an individualistic perspective (Riger, 1993), whereas power is understood as a social phenomenon (Alinsky, 1971; Long, 1958). (729)[2] It notes that many "empowerment studies" emphasize "individual empowerment" at the expense of how such empowerment affects the distribution of power in society. The authors choose to connect the two ideas, defining "empowerment as the manifestation of social power at individual, organizational, and community levels of analysis." (730) To explicate this connection, the authors describe the organizing strategy of PICO, which is distinctive from many other community organizations in incorporating BOTH the idea of individual empowerment and social power. First is a discussion of the "instruments of power" as described by J. Gaventa in a 1980 book, POWER AND POWERLESSNESS: QUIESCENCE AND REBELLION IN AN APPALACHIAN VALLEY (Urbana: University of Illinois Press). These instruments are "superior bargaining resources" and the ability to set the agenda and shape the public ideology about the things that matter to the community such as distribution of wealth and role of public power. Community organizations are empowered only when they have these instruments in hand. From this general definition of power and empowerment, the organizing principles of PICO are outlined: o empowerment rests on organization Alinsky (in the 1971 RULES FOR RADICALS), John K. Galbraith (in his 1983 ANATOMY OF POWER), and other theorists are invoked as supporting this idea. o strong interpersonal relationships underlay social power The authors, supported by an extensive literature, assert that "According to the PICO model, relationships based on shared values and emotional ties between individuals produce bonds that are more meaningful and sustainable than relationships based on rational or emotional reactions to community issues alone." (733) In a study reminiscent of the Stoecker/Stall paper presented earlier in the seminar[3], one of the authors studied two community organizations with contrasting approaches: "relation-focused and issue-focused organizing." (733) Favorable to the former approach, the author reports that Members of the relation-focused group perceived their organization as more intimate and less controlling, reported more frequent interpersonal contact with community members, had greater levels of psychological empowerment, and demonstrated a greater degree of organizational power." (733) o individual empowerment must include both action and assessment. The authors emphasize the importance of integrating individual experiences with community involvement, both as a means of moving beyond the individual perspective, and of acting as an outlet for the intellectual and emotional stimulation resulting from empowerment. PICO incorporates these principles into a "cycle of organizing" through the following steps: o identification of issues through one-on-one interviews; o research into the underlying causes of the problems in the community o collective action to advertise the calls for change and to convince public and private decision makers to effect those changes. Especially important to exploit are the contradictions that are uncovered in the research process (e.g. the expression of support for diversity and acceptance of the practice of racial steering). o "reflection," or taking the time to evaluate the effectiveness of strategy and actions. The authors summarize the above set of principles and organizing steps by observing "empowerment is achieved only through organization; organization is built on the strength of relationships among its members; and relationships are develped as individual act together and reflect on that action." (735) The rest of the article explores these ideas in more detail. The authors describe the process by which participation in an organization leads the individual to an awareness that individual well-being is tied to community involvement and access to power. They describe the delicate operations of promoting participation -- creating multiple types of involvement to allow for diversity in talents and interests. They encourage interaction with other organizations at the stages of research and action in order to mobilize mass power, observing that through this means, PICO has amassed as many as 5000 individuals in an action. Most important is maintaining activity over time. In an interesting aside, Speer and Hughey differentiate between "mass movements" and "community organization." They suggest "Although the mobilization of large numbers of people is an expression of power for community organizations, this mobilization differs from that produced by mass movements. Actions are a type of meeting held by community organizations. Actions have an agenda, time is kept, and information is presented. Most important, there is dialogue between the community organization and the individual, organizational, or institutional target about specific policy changes or resources allocations." (738) The authors also offer an example of the ability to define the agenda. In one case, PICO shifted the focus of concern from how to allocate public resources to expand a convention center to the need to coordinate the many agencies involved in substance abuse in the neighborhood. Similarly, PICO was able to "reinterpret" the perception of substance abuse as a policing and court issue to a public health issue. [Notes] [1] Date: Sun, 8 Sep 1996 Posted by Dick Schoech I am looking for a good article on community power to introduce masters level social work students to the concept of community power and how it influences practice. I am interested in an article that describes the sources of power and how to work with power and how to use it. Any suggestions would be most helpful Dick Schoech U of TX at Arlington Box 19129, Arl TX 76019-0129 [2] Citations include: S. Riger (1993), "What's Wrong the Empowerment," AMERICAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, 15, 121-144 Saul Alinsky (1971), REVEILLE FOR RADICALS N.E. Long (1958), "The Local Community as an Ecology of Games," AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, 64, 251-261. [3] "Community Organizing or Organizing Community?: Gender and the Crafts of Empowerment" (Alinskyism vs. Feminism) Available at http://h-net2.msu.edu/~urban/comm-org/alinsky Wendy Plotkin COMM-ORG Editor
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