Literature Review: Participation of the Poor in the War On Poverty

Abstract

This paper integrates ideas from representative literature on the anti-poverty war launched by the U. S. Office of Economic Opportunity in 1964. It focuses on the mandates of community action and "maximum feasible participation" as contributing to possible adult education of the poor for improved social and civic competence. The conceptual controversy concerning the nature of poverty is touched upon, as is the evolution of community action theory. Arguments about the efficacy of resident participation, including examples, are analyzed. Models of anti-poverty strategy and social change are surveyed. The reviewer concludes that the literature demonstrates posi tive aspects of participation as civic education, even if subject to what James Riedel calls "a limited area subject to conditions and terms set by the larger public."