Progressive Community Organizing

Now in its third edition, Progressive Community Organizing: Transformative Practice in a Globalizing World introduces readers to the rich practice of progressive community organizing for social change while also providing concrete tools geared toward practitioner skill building.

Drawing from social movement scholarship and social theory, this book articulates a transformative approach to organizing that embraces emergent strategies and healing justice. It emphasizes framing processes and the power of stories using story-based strategy and digital activism. Embracing intersectional organizing, the book addresses topics such as identity politics, microagressions, internalized oppression, and horizontal hostility with attention to recentering and allyship as a growth-oriented journey of solidarity and liberation. Readers will engage with case studies focused on issues such as poverty, racial justice, immigration, housing, health and mental health, and climate crisis. This new edition includes:

• Expanded content on transformative change approaches including healing justice
• New content on the role of digital technology and social media in organizing
• Case studies of the Poor People’s Campaign and Extinction Rebellion
• Emphasis on the power of stories and story-based strategy for organizing and issue framing
• Transformative organizations with attention to feminist and decolonized organizational structures and cultures
• Expanded chapters on strategies and tactics focusing on power analysis and a range of tactics from direct action to resilience-based organizing

The book will be of interest to students and practitioners who want to become more skilled in structural analysis, praxis, and self-reflexivity through critical and transformative engagement with historical and current social problems, social movements, and social welfare.

Loretta Pyles, PhD, is Professor at the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany, State University of New York, USA. Her work focuses on environmental disasters, community organizing, and body-mind-spirit social work practice.