Four different approaches to community participation

Abstract

This paper explores some of the politics of community work by examining four basic community participation approaches. Moving from the right of politics to the left, it overviews some of the different theoretical orientations, goals, processes and recruitment practices that are commonly used but not always recognized to constitute different forms of community participation. Offered primarily to ‘lay’ community members, students and beginning practitioners, the paper is intended to clarify some of the differences that emerge when participation projects are designed, and to stimulate discussion about community participation more generally.