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What isn’t Organizing?

I ran across a great article by educationaction on openleft.com that described Community Organizing by calling out what isn’t Community Organizing.

I’ve been writing about community organizing, but I haven’t been clear about exactly what I mean by this. There is no single effective model of “community organizing.” Currently, however, the approach Saul Alinsky developed in the 1930s on the back streets of Chicago has become dominant in America-for good or ill. I call the current version of this model “post-Alinsky” since it has been significantly developed and changed by people like Ed Chambers, Ernie Cortes, Heather Booth, and others who came after Alinsky. More on the flip. See http://educationaction.org” for more.

What is Post-Alinsky organizing?

  1. Community organizing creates durable institutions to give relatively powerless individuals a collective voice.
  2. “Organizers” facilitate and guide these groups from the background while “leaders” give voice to the larger mass of members.
  3. Community organizing seeks to generate POWER over the long term.
  4. Inside organizing groups, power is collaborative–the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Externally, power is seen as a “zero-sum” game.

So what isn’t Organizing?

  • Activism
  • Mobilizing
  • Legal Action
  • Advocacy
  • Pulling Yourself Up By Your Own Bootstraps
  • Direct Service
  • Community Governance of Service Organizations
  • Facilitated Nonpartisan Dialogues About Community Problems
  • Lifestyle Changes

The point isn’t that these activities aren’t worthwhile, it’s just that they don’t meet the criteria laid out above. I know I’ve been guilty of calling some of these things organizing. For detailed description of all these things that aren’t organizing, check out the full article.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Civics. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “What isn’t Organizing?”

  1. Kristin Says:
    March 26th, 2008 at 5:29 am

    In our book, We Make Change: Community Organizers Talk About What They Do - and Why, 80 working community organizers were asked what organizing is - and isn’t. Their responses to both questions help define this complex field. An excerpt is available at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/082651555X/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link

    Kristin Szakos
    co-author
    k.szakos@embarqmail.com

  2. Steve Says:
    March 26th, 2008 at 7:19 am

    Thanks for the book tip Kristin!

  3. Kelly Caldwell Says:
    March 27th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

    Thanks for both the article & book links. Good stuff!

  4. chuck Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 8:48 am

    Thanks! This is a great discussion. In my experience, too many organizers, mobilizers, and activists are so busy DOING that there is precious little time to think about these questions, and the academics who ask these questions are so detached from active movements and organizations that they don’t get a chance to impact the discussion.

  5. Steve Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 11:46 am

    I’ve found it really fun to talk to organizers and learn about what they are doing, and then build a system to support it. When the system is there, it’s then easier for organizers to give deeper feedback–often people have to see it to really know what works and what doesn’t. It seems like there has to be a good balance between abstract system, and real-world use.

    I’m excited to work with more organizers who are doing different kinds of organizing activities. It’s great stuff.

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