Conventionally, analysts of social change perceive organizing initiatives in binary terms: projects are seen as being either top-down or bottom-up; local culture is seen as being either modern or traditional. Challenging this restrictive dualism, this important book argues that social change emerges in a non-linear, circuitous, and dialectic process of struggle. In support of their approach, the authors: Identify four dialectic tensions as being central to the process of organizing for social change: control and emancipation, oppression and empowerment, dissemination and dialogue, and fragmentation and unity; 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); and Draw upon case studies set in various contexts–social justice, academic, corporate, artistic, and others–from both developing and developed countries. The authors of this book, winners of numerous scholarly awards, elaborate their thesis by examining four organizing for social change contexts: the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh; the dairy cooperatives of India’s National Dairy Development Board; entertainment-education broadcasts and on-the-ground community organizing in Indian villages; and community suppers for feeding the poor and homeless in Appalachia (U.S.A.). Combining top-notch scholarship with an appealing writing style, this book illuminates as much as it entertains. With examples drawn from everyday life and its new insights into the processes of social change, this absorbing book will attract a very wide readership among scholars and practitioners of communication, organizational studies, social work, gender studies, social change, and public health.
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