Organizing for Social Change: A Dialectic Journey of Theory and Praxis

According to the authors analysts of social change conventionally perceive organisational initiatives in binary terms: for instance, projects are seen as being either top-down or bottom-up; local culture is seen as being either modern or traditional. Challenging this restrictive dualistic sentiment, this book "argues that social change emerges in a nonlinear, circuitous, and dialectic process of struggle between competing poles of action."

The authors identify four dialectic tensions as being central to the process of organising for social change: control and emancipation, oppression and empowerment, dissemination and dialogue, and fragmentation and unity. They argue for a dialectic approach which acknowledges that contradictory tensions can and do co-exist (for example, a project can control beneficiaries with tough conditionalities even as it emancipates them through economic empowerment). The book draws upon cases set in various contexts - social justice, academic, corporate, artistic, and others - from both developing and developed countries.

Contents:

• A Dialectic Approach to Organizing for Social Change
• Dialectic of Control and Emancipation in Bangladesh's Grameen Bank
• Dialectic of Oppression and Empowerment in India's Dairy Cooperatives
• Dialectic of Dissemination and Dialogue in Rural India
• Dialectic of Fragmentation and Unity in Rural Appalachia
• A Dialectic Journey of Theory and Praxis