This book is about ways that people can build and exercise power to influence the systems that affect their lives. Each chapter provides a deep examination of a different approach. This introductory chapter begins with a discussion on definitions of empowerment and then lays out five perspectives that orient the contributions in the book. It then describes the structure and contents of the book, which are organized into six parts: (1) organizing and activism, (2) participatory governance, (3) civil society and coalitions, (4) enterprise, (5) participatory and community arts, and (6) education and engaged research. This is followed by reflections on the book’s scope and potential uses by different audiences.

Community organizing within local faith-based institutions (churches, synagogues, mosques, etc.) is now widespread in the US and has seen adoption in several other countries. As congregation-based organizing has grown and matured as a field over four decades, leaders have drawn strong connections between the social and political goals of community organizing and the religious traditions and values of the participating congregations. This blending of organizing practices and religious traditions has been crucial to the success of this approach. This chapter describes some of the practices that congregation-based community organizing initiatives employ to build power among residents who are actively participating in defining and deciding how to alter the systems that affect their lives. A statewide organizing federation (PICO California) and the reflections of influential organizer Jose Carrasco serve as a case example of the intertwining of interfaith values with a power-based organizing approach.

Language policies are difficult to enact, but they may be even more difficult to undo. Frederick County is one of the rare communities to ever repeal an English-only policy. I analyze how activists and politicians worked in concert to dismantle the ordinance, both in terms of actually passing a repeal bill and by marshaling community support more broadly. I find that people used four strategies: flipping the economics script, linking language to race and racism, questioning whether English can even be defined and separated from other languages, and highlighting the role of collective action. At the same time, focusing on the economic benefits of multilingualism nearly eclipsed the other approaches, with the end result that the repeal bill itself offered a more limited vision of language policy than the rest of the repeal campaign and the interviews. Ultimately, I argue that there are advantages as well as risks to cultivating and combining different alternatives to English-only policies. In light of these people’s successful advocacy, I also conclude that scholars have much to learn from activists’ expertise.

Notwithstanding his reputation in the contemporary United States as a sort of political conservative, Tocqueville in his own lifetime was very much a figure of the centrist-left. In the French politics of his day, Tocqueville was closely associated with various causes of reform, most notably the abolition of slavery. In this chapter, Robert T. Gannett, Jr. reminds us that Tocqueville’s calls for decisive action and concerns with social reform were appreciated by many figures on the political Left in the twentieth century. These Left interpreters of Tocqueville range from postwar intellectuals such as Hannah Arendt and Albert Salomon to latter-day communitarian thinkers such as Robert Putnam and William Galston to community organizers such as Saul Alinsky and Gene Sharp. Gannett reveals how Tocqueville plays a major role in the writings of Alinsky and Sharp and thus indirectly shaped the theory and practice of community organizing as it has come to be known in the United States and throughout the world.

This chapter provides an overview of social disorganization and pluralistic neighborhood theories and their limitations in explaining the complexities of neighborhood life. It discusses how the systemic epistemology of couple and family psychology can enhance our understanding of the reciprocal and interdependent relations between individual behaviors and neighborhood characteristics. To illustrate the application of key family systems theory concepts, the chapter examines the activities of a community-based anti-violence organization in the South Ward of Newark, New Jersey, and highlights the community processes that are activated to increase neighborhood engagement and collective efficacy. Implications for community psychology are discussed.

This chapter explores the nature of empowerment and how individuals harness this resource to effect change in local, national, and global settings. We start by examining four examples of empowerment in context and how history developed these ideas into social movements. Next, the construct of power is defined, and the reader is exposed to various instruments that powerful individuals often use to effect change. Specific methods for empowerment are detailed, followed by multicultural perspectives and examples in empowerment. The chapter concludes with suggestions for the reader on how they might develop their own social movements.

Medical students are uniquely placed in the medical education system to advocate for improvements in their education. Stigmatized aspects of sexual and reproductive healthcare, such as abortion, are areas where this constituency can be powerful advocates if organized to use their collective power to influence educational change. This chapter describes how efforts by medical students and others to promote the integration of all aspects of sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortion, within medical education have been effective strategies resulting in greater access to comprehensive education on family planning topics. The authors review strategies medical students have used to reform their curriculum and the spread of medical student activism throughout the world. They also argue for the importance of mentors in supporting medical students, reforming curricula and sustaining efforts across regions, through all levels of medical education, and into medical practice.