Strategies For Social Change Research Articles

Toward an Empowerment Zone Evaluation

Traditional social and economic development program evaluations are based on measurable program goals, with discrete program components, a control group, and the potential to generalize from findings. Although this works for programs with well-defined outcomes, limited participation, and a narrow focus, it does not work for programs that depend on community action or seek to promote community development. Strategies for social change involve comprehensive, flexible programs that do not lend themselves to conventional evaluation methods. In this article, the authors describe how they attempt to overcome the difficulties of more traditional evaluations through action research. The authors present what they believe to be the most important elements of action research and describe how they incorporate those elements in their approach to evaluating the Empowerment Zone program.

Heterosexism i Europeiska unionen

In their efforts to end discrimination, lesbian and gay movements throughout Europé appear to have relinquished their critical disdain of the dominant world that excludes them and asked instead for its acceptance. Once analyzed in ways that exposed its exclusive and oppressive dimensions, the family is now presumed to afford a path to egalitarianism. The affirmation of family has entailed, among other approaches, campaigns for lesbian and gay marriage and the legalization o f same sex cohabitation. While these efforts may sensitize some to the exclusionary nature of several social institutions and provide immediate comfort to others, such pursuits fail to rigorously question the authority of regimes to grant privileged recognition and material benefits to some relationships (e.g., cohabiting and marital) and not others. Feminist insights have been relinquished for liberalism's illusions, an untenable strategy for radical social change.

Collective identification and social movement participation.

Determinants of collective behavior, as suggested by social identity or self-categorization approach and social movement research, were examined in 2 field studies. Study 1 was conducted in context of older people's movement in Germany and Study 2 in context of gay movement in United States. Both studies yielded similar results pointing to 2 independent pathways to willingness to participate in collective action; one is based on cost-benefit calculations (including normative considerations), and other is based on collective identification as an activist. Study 2 included an experimental manipulation and provided evidence for causal role of collective identification as an activist. Directions for future research on proposed dual-pathway model are suggested. Members of disadvantaged groups who do not want to passively accept their lot have to find ways to improve their situation. To do so, they can adopt a variety of strategies that can range from individual strategies of social mobility to collective strategies of social change. The former rest on belief that one's own position can be improved by moving from one social position to another as an individual (Tajfel, 1981). These individual strategies thus involve leaving a disadvantaged group physically or at least psychologically. Collective strategies, on other hand, are adopted to extent that a person believes that the only way for him to change these [disadvantageous] conditions ... is together with his group as a whole (Tajfel, 1981, p. 247). Collective strategies include not only militant forms of intergroup behavior or collective action such as revolts and strikes but also more moderate forms such as signing a petition or attending a group meeting. Although individual social mobility strategies are often pre

Agrifood systems for competent, ordinary people. Presidential address: Joint Meetings of the Agricultural, Food and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society, Madison, Wisconsin, June 5–8, 1997

Focusing on the notion of competencies, the address explores important dimensions of human infrastructure for negotiating alternative agrifood systems. The analytical competencies emphasized are those of making connections and evaluating contradictions. Farm structure and food system connections with human health and consumer culture are chosen as examples. Examined in the context of social change strategies, relational competencies focus on new forms of food citizenship involving alternative organizational relationships between farmers, retailers, and customers. Ethical competencies are framed in relationship to the entire food system, to the valuing of non-market goods, and to linkages between ethics and emotions. Finally, aesthetic and spiritual competencies are considered as human capacities to connect agriculture and food with beauty and with sacramental living.

Feminism and Child Daycare

ABSTRACTThis article explores some of the main reasons why feminist mobilisation around the issue of child daycare in Britain has been so limited and its impact so modest. It describes this mobilisation, comparing it with experience in other countries and with mobilisation on other issues. It suggests that the modest achievement to date is largely attributable to factors other than the lack of feminist pressure. Indeed feminist reservations were partly a realistic response to these external constraints. But they were also a consequence of the particular character of second wave feminism in Britain and of the questions posed by the issue of childcare for feminists. These questions included the nature and proper role of the state, motherhood, the value of paid employment for women, social class and the tension between short and long-term strategies for social change.

Beyond black and white: transforming African-American politics

A generation removed from the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power explosion of the 1960s, the pursuit of racial equality and social justice for African-Americans seems more elusive than ever. The realities of contemporary black America capture the nature of the crisis: life expectancy for black males is now below retirement age; median black income is less than 60 per cent that of whites; over 600,000 African-Americans are incarcerated in the US penal system; 23 per cent of all black males between the ages of eighteen and 29 are either in jail, on probation or parole, or awaiting trial. At the same time, affirmative action programs and civil rights reforms are being challenged by white conservatism. Confronted with a renascent right and the continuing burden of grotesque inequality, Manning Marable argues that the black struggle must move beyond previous strategies for social change. The politics of black nationalism, which advocates the building of separate black institutions, is an insufficient response. The politics of integration, characterized by traditional middle-class organizations like the NAACP and Urban League, seeks only representation without genuine power. Instead, a transformationist approach is required, one that can embrace the unique cultural identity of African-Americans while restructuring power and privilege in American society. Only a strategy of radical democracy can ultimately deconstruct race as a social force. Beyond Black and White brilliantly dissects the politics of race and class in the US of the 1990s. Topics include: the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill controversy; the factors behind the rise and fall of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition: Benjamin Chavis and the conflicts within the NAAPC; and the national debate over affirmative action. Marable outlines the current debates in the black community between liberals, 'Afrocentrists', and the advocates of social transformation. He advances a political vision capable of drawing together minorities into a majority which can throw open the portals of power and govern in its own name.

FEMINIST INVENTIONS IN THE ART OF PEACEMAKING A Century Overview

After differentiating between the social and humanist feminism of the pnsuffrage womens movement (primarily concerned with the evils of war, colonialism, and capitalism run rampant) and the better known equity feminism to which the suflage movement gave rise, this study focuses on the lesser known but continuously vigorous activities of transnational womens movements for peace and social justice. The importance of womens capacities for holistic systems thinking in the development of effective action strategies for social change is given particular attention, with examples of such thinking from the social and physical sciences. Womens social inventiveness is also emphasized with examples drawn from womens peace and justice movementsndashfrom teachers initiatives in schools and communities to strikes, intercontinental journeys, and the creation of “peace colonies, that is, spaces for peace and peace services within given regions.

Grassroots environmentalism and strategies for social change

(1995). Grassroots environmentalism and strategies for social change. New Political Science: Vol. 16, Ecology, pp. 1-24.

Unique individual or interchangeable group member? The accentuation of intragroup differences versus similarities as an indicator of the individual self versus the collective self.

In 4 studies, the authors examined antecedents of self-definition as either a unique individual (the individual self) or an interchangeable group member (the collective self). Accentuation of perceived similarities versus differences among in-group members including the self served as the main indicator of participants' relative emphasis on their individual or collective self. Following prior work in the social identity and self-categorization theory tradition, the authors predicted and found systematic variations in the relative emphasis on the individual or collective self. Relative emphasis varied with the valence of temporarily salient in-group features, with the more stable or chronic attractiveness of one's in-group, and with awareness of special treatment of the in-group by the outside world. Finally, issues are discussed concerning the cognitive construal of in-groups as well as the role of the individual self and the collective self for strategies of social mobility and social change.

Social marketing: Conceptual and pragmatic observations from a current Australian campaign

In this paper the authors discuss the meaning of social marketing and its essential differences from “conventional” marketing. Further, by reference to a current campaign which seeks to maximize adoption by medical general practitioners of an “early intervention” package to prevent development of alcohol‐related problems in patients, the authors discuss the merits of the application of social marketing principles to such a public health campaign. The difficulties experienced in both the application of social marketing principles to this campaign and in empirically assessing the effectiveness of this and similar campaigns are also discussed. The authors conclude that, although the validity of social marketing as a theoretical construct is unimpeachable, there is much further work to be done in establishing empirically the effectiveness of the application of the principles of social marketing as a social change strategy.

Participatory action research: Principles, politics, and possibilities

AbstractParticipatory action research is claimed to be a process in which knowledge collectively generated is used for the development of strategies for social change.

Twenty Years of Feminist Philosophy

This paper provides an overview of twenty years of feminist philosophy in Northamerka. The professionalization of feminist theory that has occurred through the mains treaming of feminist philosophy creates a danger of a gap between theory and practice that creates the danger of co-optation. Three stages of feminist philosophizing are outlined, including the radical critique, gender difference and difference/post-modemist stages. The last stage, it is argued, leads to an conceptual impasse about feminist strategies for social change.

Knowledge utilization: The role of new communication technologies

From the mid-1960s until the end of the 1970s, knowledge utilization was a framing concept for policy research on dissemination and social change in the U.S. The 1980s were a hiatus in the development of dissemination and social change strategies, but the present domestic refocusing of national policy brings knowledge utilization once again to the forefront. The communication technologies used in knowledge utilization programs of the 1960s and 1970s consisted of analog media such as printed materials and video. The technologies used in knowledge utilization programs of the 1990s will include several digital media such as ISDN, online search services, e-mail, facsimile, and CD-ROM. The sweeping claims made for digital media today are similar to those made for analog media 20 years ago, when in fact the analog media played only a secondary role to the prime movers of social networks and personal influence. Some properties of digital media such as asynchronicity and transformability will meet previously unmet needs in knowledge utilization. The challenge of matching specific communication technologies to phases and functions of knowledge utilization is renewed by the present mix of analog and digital media. Reasons why communication technologies succeed range from “meets an important need” to “avoids the technophobic pitfalls of deskilling, destatusing, undue technological literacy, and inhibition of human contact.” © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Working for Change: The Movement Against Domestic Violence.

The women's movement and awareness of domestic violence The refuge movement The femocrats The origins of the Domestic Violence Crisis Service The crisis service as an organizational hybrid Delivering the service The police and the crisis service The crisis service and the legal system Violence in the home as a crime Strategies for social change.

Story‐telling for Social Change

abstract As strategies for social change, feminist activities in the area of law and popular education both rely on the oppressed telling stories of their daily lives. Storytelling in these contexts represents different perceptions of reality that are intended as an opposition to established knowledge. Focusing primarily on popular education, the author describes how the uncritical reliance on stories has led to the failure in the classroom to acknowledge the risks taken by various oppressed groups when they attempt to critically reflect and build coalitions. Furthermore, stories have not in fact always been empowering. Without mechanisms to critique the stories, mixed sex, mixed race groups have been unable to identify political strategies and to determine effective political action. In order to speak and to listen across our various subject positions, and ultimately to act, the author argues that critical pedagogy has to pay attention to how we know, hence the context in which we tell and hear stories.

Social Marketing for Public Health

Marketing techniques and tools, imported from the private sector, are increasingly being advocated for their potential value in crafting and disseminating effective social change strategies. This paper describes the field of social marketing as it is used to improve the health of the public. A disciplined process of strategic planning can yield promising new insights into consumer behavior and product design. But the "technology" cannot simply be transferred without some translation to reconcile differences between commercial marketing and public health.

Firing Up Students for Social Change

A common problem faced by progressive human service educators is how to motivate students and encouraee their interest in social change strategies. This article explores-some of the fears and resistances that hold students back, and suggests several approaches for inspiring students' creative learning. The author proposes several teaching tactics based on her experiences in teaching an undergraduate community organizing course. Many of these techniques can be applied in other courses taught by progressive educators.

Racial Identity and Preferences for Social Change Strategies among African Americans

Historically, African Americans have struggled against oppression in a variety of ways. Two of the major strategies have been nationalism and inclusionism; the first emphasizing efforts to establish a separate nation, society or path of development, and the second emphasizing efforts to attain equal opportunity within U.S. society. This article describes an exploration of African American preferences for a range of social change tactics related to these general strategies and the relationship between these preferences and racial identity attitudes. The results indicated that assimilation-oriented Blacks were less likely to prefer organized, collective, policy-related strategies than bicultural Blacks. Other findings led to suggested refinements of the nationalist-inclusionist dichotomy and of racial identity attitudes theory.

Indigenous agricultural knowledge systems, human interests, and critical analysis: Reflections on farmer organization in Ecuador

Indigenous agricultural knowledge (IAK) can be analyzed for its technical role in food production strategies, and for its role as cultural knowledge producing and reproducing mutual understanding and identity among the members of a farming group. IAK can also be approached from the perspective of critical theory, analyzing the relationship between knowledge and relations of power, with the goal of liberating indigenous farmers from forms of domination. The paper considers relationships between the different aspects of IAK, using examples of the influence of non-local technologies and ideas on indigenous agricultural practices in the Ecuadorian Andes. The examples elucidate how technical change is a signifier of the changing relationship between indigenous farmers and wider society. The political implications of these changes are ambiguous, however, because the change is not necessarily one of social and cultural assimilation. As indigenous peasant organizations in Ecuador now reflect on these changes, they are connecting the questions of IAK, indigenous cultural identity and political strategy. Some organizations speak of recovering and revalorizing indigenous technologies as a tool for, and symbol of, resistance to domination by wider society. Others see selective modernization of indigenous agriculture as a necessary strategy to sustain the social and cultural cohesion of the group, even if this implies social changes. The different perspectives reflect both different conditions facing the organizations, and their varying approaches. That peasant organizations have these discussions suggests that they should constitute an important meeting point for farmers and crop researchers to discuss technology development strategies as equal partners. The organizations can provide an institutional forum in which participants reflect critically on the agrarian knowledge that they have, why they have it, and what it can contribute to future strategies of agrarian and social change.

An Evaluation of a Group Programme For Male Perpetrators of Domestic Violence: A Follow-up Study

SynopsisThis paper reports on the long-term efficacy of a group therapy programme for men who are abusive and physically violent towards their women partners. The twelve week group programme was offered on a regional basis by the Domestic Violence Service in Adelaide. Data were collected from the male participants and their women partners. The pre-test post-test evaluation incorporated a six and twelve month follow-up study and covered attitudinal characteristics, the measurement of physical and non-physical abuse and examined the social environment of the participant’s family. Qualitative data were also collected. The results indicated that the majority of men made long term behavioural and attitudinal changes. In conclusion, the evaluation is discussed in relation to a social change strategy aimed at eliminating domestic violence.