Race, class, and community organizing in support of economic justice initiatives in the twenty-first century

Abstract

Community organizing is a viable political tradition that is predisposed to developing innovative, ameliorative strategies to address economic injustices. This is due to the social justice orientation of community organizers, their linkages to indigenous networks, and commitment to participatory democracy. Relying upon primary and secondary data – this includes a survey of 132 activists, interviews, correspondence letters, and participant observation – this article examines the strategies used by contemporary grassroots organizers to challenge systems of oppression, ascriptive hierarchies, and economic injustices. The theoretical framework guiding the study relies on a re-articulation of ‘new’ social movement (NSM) theory and its relationship to the community organizing field. A major criticism of NSM theory is that it places too much emphasis on the importance of autonomous political struggles, identity-based struggles, and the cultural dimension of protest, while depreciating more public challenges to oppressive economic policies and political-bureaucratic decision-making apparatuses. I develop a middle-range approach that synthesizes political and class-based challenges, often associated with older social movement theories, with NSM strategies that focus on identity, culture, and autonomy. As demonstrated in this study, contemporary organizers have linked identity-based claims with public grievances that support economic justice programmes.