The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice

by Robert Fisher (Editor)

Overview

With the election of a community organizer as president of the United States, the time is right to evaluate the current state of community organizing and the effectiveness of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Since 2002, ACORN has been dramatically expanding and raising its national profile; it has also been weathering controversy over its voter registration campaigns and an internal financial scandal.

The twelve chapters in this volume present the perspectives of insiders like founder Wade Rathke and leading outside practitioners and academics. The result is a thorough detailing of ACORN's founding and its changing strategies, including vivid accounts and analyses of its campaigns on the living wage, voter turnout, predatory lending, redlining, school reform, and community redevelopment, as well as a critical perspective on ACORN's place in the community organizing landscape.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826516565
Publisher:	Vanderbilt University Press
Publication date:	10/16/2009
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Robert Fisher, Professor of Community Organizing, School of Social Work, University of Connecticut, is author, co-author, or editor of five other books.

Table of Contents

Preface: Why Study Community Organizing and ACORN?
Part I: Contextualizing Community Organizing and ACORN: History, Theory, and Comparative Perspectives
Chapter 1. Community Organizing, ACORN, and Progressive Politics in America
Peter Dreier
Chapter 2. Understanding ACORN: Sweat and Social Change
Wade Rathke
Chapter 3. Education as a Field for Community Organizing: A Comparative Perspective
Elaine Simon and Eva Gold
Chapter 4. From Redlining to Reinvestment: Economic Justice Advocacy, ACORN, and the Emergence of a Community Reinvestment Infrastructure
Gregory D. Squires and Jan Chadwick
Chapter 5. Community Organizing Theory and Practice: Conservative Trends, Oppositional Alternatives
James DeFilippis, Robert Fisher, and Eric Shragge
Part II: ACORN: Case Studies of Recent Work
Chapter 6. ACORN and the Living Wage Movement
Stephanie Luce

Chapter 7. The Battle of Brooklyn: ACORN's Modus Operandi
John Atlas
Chapter 8. Community Resistance to School Privatization: The Case of New York City
Janelle Scott and Norm Fruchter
Chapter 9. "Don't Be a Blockhead": ACORN, Protest Tactics, and Refund Anticipation Loans
Robert Fisher, Fred Brooks and Daniel Russell
Chapter 10. ACORN Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization
Donald Green and Melissa R. Michelson
Part III: Reflections
Chapter 11. Does ACORN's Work Contribute to Movement Building?
Gary Delgado
Chapter 12. What Direction Community Organizing?
Robert Fisher
Part I: Contextualizing Community Organizing and ACORN: History, Theory, and Comparative Perspectives
Chapter 1. Community Organizing, ACORN, and Progressive Politics in America
Peter Dreier
Chapter 2. Understanding ACORN: Sweat and Social Change
Wade Rathke
Chapter 3. Education as a Field for Community Organizing: A Comparative Perspective
Elaine Simon and Eva Gold
Chapter 4. From Redlining to Reinvestment: Economic Justice Advocacy, ACORN, and the Emergence of a Community Reinvestment Infrastructure
Gregory D. Squires and Jan Chadwick
Chapter 5. Community Organizing Theory and Practice: Conservative Trends, Oppositional Alternatives
James DeFilippis, Robert Fisher, and Eric Shragge
Part II: ACORN: Case Studies of Recent Work
Chapter 6. ACORN and the Living Wage Movement
Stephanie Luce
Chapter 7. The Battle of Brooklyn: ACORN's Modus Operandi
John Atlas
Chapter 8. Community Resistance to School Privatization: The Case of New York City
Janelle Scott and Norm Fruchter
Chapter 9. "Don't Be a Blockhead": ACORN, Protest Tactics, and Refund Anticipation Loans
Robert Fisher, Fred Brooks and Daniel Russell
Chapter 10. ACORN Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization
Donald Green and Melissa R. Michelson

Part III: Reflections
Chapter 11. Does ACORN's Work Contribute to Movement Building?
Gary Delgado
Chapter 12. What Direction Community Organizing?
Robert Fisher

Editorial Reviews

"No matter what the future of ACORN entails, the future of community practice theory is always strengthened by Fisher's probing eye, and this book is no exception."
—Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare

"This is an excellent volume that should be required reading for classes on community organizing and policy practice."
—Social Science Review

"The essays, as a whole, are thoughtful and contribute much to an understanding of the value of modern community organizing for low-income and minority families and ACORN's leading role in this work. . . . Recommended."
—Choice

From the Publisher