Unit IV-Social Work with Communities and Social Action-

Community Organization – Concept , Definition , Scope and Historical Perspective in

India, UK, and USA, The Role of Community-Based Organizations, Human Capital &
Social Capital-

Community Organization – Concept-

Community Organisation is one of the primary methods of social work. It deals with intervention
in the communities to solve the community problems. As a method of social work community
organization can solve the problems of many people in the community through their collective
involvement. Community organisation and community development are inter- related as two
sides of same coin. The community organisation includes other methods of social work, that is,
group work, and casework. The power structure plays a role in community organisation. The
social workers need to know the community power structure to practice community organisation
method, which is used for empowering people for their development. The details are provided
for social work students to understand and practice community organisation effectively.

Meaning of Community Organisation-

The term community organisation has several meanings. It is being often used synonymous to
community work, community development and community mobilization. In general, community
organisationmeans helping the community to solve its problems. In the context of social work
profession in India, the term is used to denote a method of social work to intervene in the life of
a community. In sociology we learn that society and social institutions are more than just a
collection of individuals. It includes how those individuals are linked to each other. These are
sets of systems such as economy, political organisation, value, ideas, belief systems, technology,
and patterns of expected behaviours (social interaction). It means that just a collection of
individuals living at a common place are not necessarily organised. To call them organised they
need to have a set of common ideas and expectations. This gives them a social structure and
some social processes that make the organisation something (social). It goes beyond the
individuals that compose the community.

Definitions of Community Organisation-

Murray G. Ross (1967) defines community organization as a “process by which a community

identifies its needs or objectives, gives priority to them, develops confidence and will to work at
them, finds resources (internal and external) to deal with them, and in doing so, extends and
develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices in the community”.

Kramer and Specht (1975), which is in more technical terms. They defined that “Community
organization refers to various methods of intervention whereby a professional change agent helps
a community action system composed of individuals, groups or organizations to engage in
planned collective action in order to deal with special problems within the democratic system of
values.”

Eduard C. Lindeman in 1921 defined community organisation as “Community organisation is

that phase of social organisation which constitutes a conscious effort on the part of a community
to control its affairs democratically and to secure the highest services from its specialists,
organisations, agencies and institutions by means of recognised inter relations.”

Walter W. Pettit in 1925 defined it as “Community organisation is perhaps best defined as

assisting a group of people to recognise their common needs and helping them to meet these
needs.”

Russell H. Kurrtz in 1940 defined it as “Community organisation is a process dealing primarily

with program relationships and thus to be distinguished in its social work setting from those
other basic processes, casework and group work, which deal with people. Those relationships of
agency to agency, of agency to community and of community to agency reach in all directions
from any focal point in the social work picture. Community organisation may be thought of as
the process by which these relationships are initiated, altered or terminated to meet changing
conditions, and it is thus basic to all social work...”.
Wayne Mcmillen in 1947 defined it as “Community organisation in its generic sense in
deliberately directed effort to assist groups in attaining unity of purpose and action. It is
practiced, though often without recognition of its character, wherever the objective is to achieve
or maintain a pooling of the talents and resources of two or more groups in behalf of either
general or specific objectives.”

C.F. Mcneil in 1954 defined it as “Community organisation for social welfare is the process by
which the people of community, as individual citizens or as representatives of groups, join
together to determine social welfare needs.

Aims and Objectives of Community Organisation-

The general aim of community organization is to bring about and maintain a progressively more
effective adjustment between social welfare resources and social welfare needs. It is concerned
with:

(a) The discovery and definition of needs.

(b) The elimination and prevention of social needs and disabilities,

(c) The articulation of resources and needs, and the constant readjustment of resources in order
better to meet changing needs.

The other objectives are:

1. To secure and maintain an adequate factual basis for sound planning and action.

2. To initiate, develop, and modify welfare programmes and services, in the interest of attaining
a better adjustment between resources and needs.

3. To improve standards of social work to increase the increase the effectiveness of individual
agencies.

4. To improve and facilitate interrelationships, and to promote coordination, between

organization, groups and individuals concerned with social welfare prpgrammes and services.
5. To develop a better public understanding of welfare problems and needs, and social work
objectives. 6. To develop public support of, and public participation in, social welfare activities.
Financial support includes income from tax funds, voluntary contributions and other resources.

Scope of Community Organization-

When the organizations taken for the study begin the work, it is with the children, where in
community programs start from pre and post- natal care, immunization, growth monitoring, oral
re-hydration, breast feeding, community sanitation and health; gradually the focus shifts on
education which covers play school/nursery, pre-primary, primary, middle, high, pre-university,
graduation, post-graduation, alternatively, vocational training, adult and non-formal areas; later,
several income generation programs are initiated through community organization such as
women's (sangams) committees, cooperatives, rural industries, credit unions and a host number
of income generation activities at the individual Levels of the constituents.

Historical Perspective in India, UK, and USA-

History of Community Organisation in USA-

In a broad sense we can say wherever people have lived together, some form of organisation has
emerged. These informal associations of people always tried to do good to the people in need
and protect the rights of the society. On the contrary the history talks about the formal
organisations which were set up for the welfare of the community. The first efforts at community
organisation for social welfare were initiated in England to overcome the acute problem of
poverty, which led to beggary. The first effort of its kind was the Elizabethan Poor Law (1601)
in England, which was set up to provide services to the needy. Another important landmark in
the history of community organisation is the formation of London Society of organising
charitable relief and repressing mendicancy and the Origin of the Settlement House Movement in
England during 1880. In fact, these movements had a major impact in the United States of
America.
In 1880 the Charities organisation was set up to put rational order in the area of charity and
relief. The major community organisation activities in the United States could be classified into
three periods:

1) The Charity Organisation Period, 1870-1917-

This era is the beginnings in social welfare in USA. The first citywide Charity Organisation
Society (COS) was established in the Buffalo in 1877 in USA. This movement was started with
the influence of London Charity Organisation established in 1869. In USA, Rev. S. H. Gurteen,
an English priest who had some association with London Charity association and had moved to
Buffalo in 1873 gave the leadership to this movement. Within a short span of six years the COS
had reached to more than 25 American cities. Charity organisation was concerned about two
things:

 Providing adequate personal services to families and individuals in need.

 Take steps to address the issues/problems in social welfare.

Apart from this service, the COS also took initiatives in promoting co-operation among the
various welfare agencies. From this movement of charity organisation emerged many such
service oriented organisations i.e. Social service exchange, Community welfare councils,
Councils of social agencies.

2) The Rise of Federation 1917 to 1935-

It is a period where we can see the growth and development of chests and councils. It started
with the rise of war chests in 1917 and ended with the enactment of social security act, which set
the stage for development of the public welfare programmes in 1935. A large number of chests
and councils came up after first world war. The American Association for Community
Organisation was organised in 1918 as the national agency for chests and councils and it later
became known as community chests and councils of (CCC) America. The Cincinnati Public
Health Federation, established in 1917 was the first independent health council in American
City. It isin this period that the American Association of social workers organised in 1921, the
first general professional organisations, set up its training for the social workers and others who
specialized in community organisation.

A community chest is a voluntary welfare agency, co-operative organisation of citizens and

welfare agencies, which is the powerful local force for community welfare that handles large
funds. It has two functions. It raises funds through a community - wide appeal and distributes
them according to a systematic budget procedure. Secondly it promotes co-operative planning,
co-ordination and administration of the communities social welfare.

3)Period of Expansion and Professional-

Development 1935 to Present Time It is in this period that we see the greater use of the
community organisation process in the field of public welfare. A marked significance of this era
is the establishment of Federal Security Agency where we see maximum involvement of the
Govt. in welfare programmes. In 1946 the agency was strengthened and re-organised following
which in 1953 Department of Health, Education and Welfare was established.

Another important development during the period is the professional development that took
place. Some of the important professional developments were: The National Conference of
Social Work in 1938- 39 undertook a study on community organisation, which was later
published under the title “Generic Community Welfare Organisation”. Based on this, another
study took place in 1940, but due to American involvement in World War II an active
programme could not take off.

In 1946, at the National conference of social work in Buffalo, the Association for the Study of
Community Organisation (ASCO) was organised. The main objective was to improve the
professional practice of organisation for social welfare. In 1955, ASCO merged with six other
professional organisations to form the National Association of Social Workers. Community
organisation has been recognized as integral and important aspect of social work education in the
American Association of Schools of social work education. At present there is an active
committee of Council on Social Work Education involved in the production of teaching
materials in community organisation. The first contemporary textbook on community
organisation titled “Community Organisation for Social Welfare” published in 1945 has been
written by Wayne McMillan.

Another development in the history of community development is seen in the wake of World
War II. Wartime needs were very special and crucial. During this time many councils and
community war services came to the forefront. Among them (USO) United Service Organisation
is of prime importance as it was the union of many forces that served the needs of the military
personnel and defense communities. The other striking characteristics of the period is the
immense increase in the volunteer service i.e. defense council, American Red Cross and USO
which co-ordinated and recruited the volunteers.

The other developments that took place after the World War II that are very specific to
community organisation area are as follows.

1. The rehabilitation of the physically and mentally Challenged

2. Mental health planning, problems of the aging
3. Prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency.

In order to address these issues separate bodies were set up and we see the entry of international
agencies in the field of community organisation. The present situation in community
organisation is the emergence of the new community development programmes, which aim at
providing, services to the less developed areas in international social welfare. Therefore the
present agenda is on working with the whole community and greater emphasis is on self-help.

Community Organisation in UK-

Baldock (1974) has summed up the historical development in UK by dividing it into four phases.

The first phase : 1880-1920:

During this period the community work was mainly seen as a method of social work. It was
considered as a process of helping the individuals to enhance their social adjustments. It acted as
major player to co-ordinate the work of voluntary agencies.

The second phase : 1920-1950: This period saw the emergence of new ways of dealing with
social issues and problems. The community organisation was closely associated with central and
state Govt.’s programme for urban development. The important development in this period was
its association with community association movement.

The third phase 1950 onwards : It emerged as a reaction to the neighborhood idea, which
provided an ideological base for the second phase. It was a period of professional development
of social work. Most of the educators and planners tried to analyze the shortcomings in the
existing system. It was also a period where the social workers sought for a professional identity.

The fourth phase:

It is a recent period that has seen a marked involvement of community action. It questioned the
very relationship of community work and social work. It was thus seen as period of radical social
movement and we could see the conflicts of community with authority. The association of social
workers and the community were de- professionalised during this period. Thus it was during this
period that conflictual strategies were introduced in the community work, although even now
there is no consensus on this issue (Baldock 1974).

History of Community Organisation in India-

A historical account of community organisation is not available in India, as there has been only
limited documentation on social work literature in general and on community organisation in
particular. Community organisation has its roots in the Charity organisations in the United
States. They realized the need of the people and tried to organise the people to co-ordinate their
work. The main activities were social welfare, raising funds, seeking enactment for social
legislation and co-ordination of welfare activities. The spirit behind all these activities was
charity. In India, the very concept of charity is deep- rooted in the religious philosophy. Even
before the commencement of the social work education in India in 1936, the community work
was in place, already in existence. But in the first phase from 1936 to 1952 the community work
was in a dormant stage. During this period social work was in its infancy and not many were
employed in the community settings because there were hardly any jobs that provided an
opening for community organisation. Professionals preferred to work in casework settings.

It was in 1952 that the community development project was launched by the government of India
and with this we find the emergence of a new era of community work. The basic objective of
community development in India was to awaken the rural people of their needs, instilling in them
a sense of ambition for better life and making them aware of their right and power to find a
solution for their problems. According to Mukerji (1961) “Community development is a
movement designed to promote better living for the whole community with the active
participation, and if possible, with the initiative of community”. According to him community
development can be divided into two process. 1) Extension education, 2) Community
organisation. Extension education was expected to improve the quality of human beings by
improving his/her knowledge and skills. By community organisation Mukerji had in mind the
setting up of three institutions in the village.

 Village Panchayat
 The village co-operative
 The village school

During this period the thrust of the community work remained in rural areas whereas social work
remained mostly urban in character. From 1970 onwards we could see a new trend in the
community work practice. The social workers expanded their scope and operational area from
their traditional approach of casework to other development fields. For example, people working
with school children started working with the community. The NGOs and voluntary
organisations adopted community approach. This shift has in-fact led to the use of process of
community work. By and large the community work has remained welfare-oriented.

The current phase of community work in India is experiencing a growing dissatisfaction with its
own practice or rather the outcome of its practice. So efforts are on to create alternate ways of
working with communities. In-spite of these, the professionals are involved in a variety of
projects in both rural and urban areas, to promote better living for the community.

Another trend in the community work is the involvement of the Business houses in promoting
welfare in their neighbourhood. This is commonly known as CSR. (Corporate Social
responsibilities) The business houses i.e. Tata’s, Escorts, and some of the multinational
companies too have joined in this venture. This trend has attracted many professionals in this
field.

The main objective of community development is to develop village communities by methods,

which will stimulate, encourage and aid villagers themselves to do much of the work necessary
to accomplish the desired goals. The changes conceived and promoted should have the
involvement of the people and should be acceptable to them and put into practice by them.

The Role of Community-Based Organizations-

The history and importance of community based organization (CBO) in rural areas is a long one.
They have been deeply involved in activities that have impacted on the livelihood of rural
people. CBOs are formal voluntary social group that are found in communities which differ in
size objective and degree of interaction among members. In these organizations, members have
the ability to influence ideas and actions of others with the purpose to plan, implement and
monitor social and economic development programmes and provide technical and financial helps
to the communities. CBOs positively affect the process of rural change though increase in
income, improvement of health, nutrition literacy of the people. Some of the developmental
programmes they introduce bring changes in the rural communities such as health,
education, micro finance, micro enterprise, sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry, safe
water and sanitation.

The CBOs are associated with self-help. They constitute the media for resource mobilization to
confront local challenges. These include the finance and execution of projects, lobbying and
nomination of representative to government offices to air their views and press their needs and
developing human resources against future development needs of immediate communities. Thus,
their impacts have been felt in the areas of agricultural development, economic development,
policy matters, health, education, policy matters, health education, infrastructure,
environmental and physical development among others.

CBOs also play a significant role in community development and these roles need to be clearly
understood by the policy makers, government even potential members. This will gradually help
in identifying the appropriate support needed by the CBOs in order to improve on community
development activities, thereby improving the standard of living in communities and also
reducing rural urban drift.

Human Capital & Social Capital-

Human capital is the stock of knowledge, habits, social and personality attributes, including
creativity, embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic values. Human
capital is unique and differs from any other capital. It is needed for companies to achieve goals,
develop and remain innovative.

Human capital is an intangible asset or quality not listed on a company's balance sheet. It can be
classified as the economic value of a worker's experience and skills. This includes assets like
education, training, intelligence, skills, health, and other things employers value such as loyalty
and punctuality.

The concept of human capital recognizes that not all labor is equal. But employers can improve
the quality of that capital by investing in employees—the education, experience, and abilities of
employees all have economic value for employers and for the economy as a whole.

Social capital broadly refers to those factors of effectively functioning social groups that include
such things as interpersonal relationships, a shared sense of identity, a shared understanding,
shared norms, shared values, trust, cooperation, and reciprocity.

Social capital, concept in social science that involves the potential of individuals to secure
benefits and invent solutions to problems through membership in social networks. Social capital
revolves around three dimensions: interconnected networks of relationships between individuals
and groups (social ties or social participation), levels of trust that characterize these ties, and
resources or benefits that are both gained and transferred by virtue of social ties and social
participation.

Process of Community Organization: Steps in Community Organization , Methods ,

Principles, Skills, Assumptions, Record Maintaince, Involving NGOs in Community
Organization-

Steps in Community Organization-

Stage One: Conducting Community Analysis-

A commitment to community participation in health campaigns requires above all else a

knowledge of the assets, capacity, and history of a local community. This is accomplished by a
careful "mapping" of the community to document its unique qualities, issues, and modes of
decision making. This will provide the basis of an informed approach that realistically matches
health goals with citizen readiness, expectations, and resources.

Stage Two: Design and Initiation of a Campaign-

Following a community analysis and the identification of local priorities, the design aspects for a
collaborative community campaign begin to emerge. A core group of citizens and professionals
(with both public and private sectors represented) will usually begin the process of establishing a
permanent organizational structure and making preliminary decisions about campaign objectives
and interventions.

Stage Three: Campaign Implementation-

Implementation turns theory and ideas into action, translating a mission into an effectively
operating program. At this stage, organizations and citizens are mobilized and involved in the
planning of a sequential set of activities aimed at accomplishing campaign objectives. Written
plans with specific timelines have been shown to be a critical forerunner of success. Cost
estimates should be included in the plan, along with monitoring and feedback strategies to
measure progress. The key element in this stage is the careful determination and selection of
priority intervention activities that can achieve maximum impact.
Stage Four: Program Refinement and Consolidation-

During this stage both successes and problems in implementation are reviewed. Task forces of
the local citizen organization need to determine any new directions or modifications for the
program, including activities to maintain high levels of volunteer involvement. Efforts of
organizers to have health program elements and interventions become more fully incorporated
into the established structures of the community (e.g., exercise programs becoming a regular part
of worksite culture) should continue in this phase as well.

Stage Five: Dissemination and Durability-

In this last stage the strategic dissemination of information on project results and the finalization
of plans for the durability of intervention efforts are the key considerations. Communities and
citizens need to receive clear; succinct messages describing what has been accomplished and
what continuing effort may be required. Such messages are reinforced when community leaders
and local advocates are involved in their presentation. The local durability plan should include a
vision for future health and social improvements and lay out a strategy to identify, recruit, and
involve new people in current or future projects and community activities.

Methods of Community organization-

A. Methods of Planning and Related Activities-

1. Fact finding

2. Analysis

3.Evaluation

4. Planning

B. Methods of Group Decision Making and Co-operative Action-

5. Meeting practice

6. Conference
7. Committee Practice

8. Negotiation

9. Organization including Mass organization

C. Methods of Communication-

10. Education.

11. Consultation

12. Public Relations

13. Formal Written Communication

14. Formal oral communication

15.The interview.

D. Methods of promotion and social action-

16. Promotion.

17.Legislative promotion.

18. Non-Legislative procedural social action

19. Direct action

20. Exerting or invoking authoritative action

E. Methods of financing and fund raising-

21. Fund procurement by governmental agencies

22. Fund raising by voluntary agencies

23. Federated financial campaigning

24. Joint budgeting

F. Methods of administration-

25. Administrative activities of agencies concerned with social planning.

26. Administration of common services or community organization.

27. Recording

Methods of community organization are a distinctive way of doing community

organization.

Methods of C.O. / C.D. are focused and time limited activities designed to reach specific goals.
Underlying these methods is a complex base of assumptions, values and models. The basic role
of the community organizer is that of a professional helper and problem solver, who aids people
to articulate their needs, facilitates participative decision-making, resolves conflict among groups
and aids the search for consensus and effective action. To enact these roles, varieties of methods
are used.

Community organization is a process and a method. There are different methods (or distinctive
ways) of using or practicing the general ‘method’s community organization. To distinguish the
distinctive methods from general method we may call it as practice methods.

Analyzing the C.O. Methods:

1) There are many different methods.

2) Some methods like ‘planning’, ‘Organizing’ and” negotiation’ are extremely ‘large’ and a
whole literature exists on each of them.

3) It is difficult to find a overall scheme of classification.

4) Many methods of community organization are also used in other areas – i.e. Administration,
Public education and commercial fund raising.

General Comments on C.O. Methods-

1) Primary methods may be broken down into secondary methods. E.g. Survey comes under
the primary method of fact finding.
2) Primary and secondary methods maybe still further broken down into specific techniques.
E.g. Survey - Method. Interview - Technique

3) Methods are often used in varied combinations E.g. Fact finding – it uses the methods of
analysis, planning, conference, organization, consultation etc.

4) Most of the methods of C.O. require group or inter group activities.

5) The practice of C.O. ordinarily requires the use of a large number of widely different methods
rather than the intensive use of a few.

Principles-

Principles of community organisation, in the sense in which the term is used here are generalized
guiding rules for the sound practice. Principles are expressions of value judgments. The
principles of community organisation, which are being discussed here, are within the frame of
and in harmony with the spirit and purpose of social work in a democratic society. We are
concerned with the dignity and worth, the freedom, the security, the participation, and the
wholesome and abundant life o every individual. This implies following the principles of
democracy, involvement of the marginalized, transparency, honesty, sustainability, self- reliance,
partnerships, cooperation, etc.

In the literature of community organisation we find various sets of principles. Dunham (1958)
has presented a statement of 28 suggested principles of community organisation. He grouped
those under seven headings.

(i) Democracy and social welfare, (ii) Community roots for community programs, (iii) Citizen
understanding, support, and participation and professional service, (iv) Co-operation (v) Social
Welfare Programs, (vi) Adequacy, distribution, and organisation of social welfare services, and
(vii) Prevention.

Ross (1967) outlined specific principles – the elementary or fundamental ideas regarding
initiation and continuation of community organisation processes. These principles have been
discussed in terms of the nature of the organisation or association and the role of the professional
worker. The twelve principles identified by Ross are:
1. Discontent with existing conditions in the community must initiate and/or nourish
development of the association.

2. Discontent must be focused and channelled into organisation, planning, and action in respect
to specific problems.

3. Discontent which initiates or sustains community organisation must be widely shared in the
community.

4. The association must involve leaders (both formal and informal) identified with, and accepted
by major sub-groups in the community.

5. The association must have goals and methods and procedures of high acceptability.

6. The programme of the association should include some activities with an emotional content.

7. The association should seek to utilize the manifest and latent goodwill which exists in the
community.

8. The association must develop active and effective lines of communication both within the
association and between the association and the community.

9. The association should seek to support and strengthen groups which it brings together in
cooperative work.

10. The association should develop a pace of work relative to existing conditions in the
community.

11. The association should seek to develop effective leaders.

12. The association must develop strength, stability and prestige in the community.

Keeping in mind the actual practice situations in India H. Y. Siddiqui (1997) have worked
out a set of 8 principles.

1. The Principle of Specific Objectives

2. The Principle of Planning

3. The Principle of Peoples Participation

4. The Principle of inter-group approach

5. The Principle of democratic functioning

6. The Principle of flexible organization

7. The Principle of Optimum Utilisation of Indigenous Resources

8. The Principle of Cultural orientation

Skills-

Skills and techniques of Community Organization-

1. Skills in Rapport Establishment

2. Skills in Identification of Needs

3. Skills in Resources Mobilization

4. Skills in Programme Planning

5. Skills in Programme Management

6. Skills in Evaluation

7. Skills in Recording

8. Skills in Encouraging Community Participation

9. Skills in Working with the group

10. Skills in working with the individuals

11. Skills in Mobilizing Community Action

Assumptions-
1. Communities of people can develop the capacity to deal with their own problems.

2. People want to change and can change.

3. People should participate in making, adjusting, or controlling the major changes taking place
in their communities.

4. Changes in community living, which are self-imposed or self-developed have a meaning and
permanence that imposed changes do not have.

5. A ‘holistic approach’ can deal successfully with problems with which a ‘fragmented approach’
cannot cope.

6. Democracy requires cooperative participation & action in the affairs of the community, &
people must learn the skills which make this possible.

7. Frequently, communities of people need help in organizing to deal with their needs, just as
many individuals require help with individual problems.

Record Maintenance-

Records management is the system used to control an organization's records from the creation
of the record until the record is archived or destroyed. A records management process is
comprised of identifying records, classifying records, and storing records, as well as coordinating
internal and external access. The process may also incorporate policies and practices on how to
create and approve records, as well as the enforcement of those policies and practices.

Many organizations must deal with large amounts of information on a daily basis. Productive
organizations incorporate a comprehensive, effective records management process into their
daily operations.

Before developing a records management process, an organization must be able to determine

what constitutes a record. Let's begin by defining an organizational record. An
organizational record is any document that contains information about a transaction, activity, or
event related to the organization.
The record can be stored on paper or electronically via email, digital file, database, or
spreadsheet. Records also can be photographs, audio files, or videos. Some examples of record
classifications are legal, financial, historical, and daily operations. An effective records
management process contains at least five components: record creation, internal and external
record distribution, record usage, record maintenance, and record archival and disposal.

Record Creation

At the beginning of any records management process is the creation of the record. There are
many ways to create business records. Sending or receiving an email, creating a spreadsheet,
database or document, or receiving a document from outside the organization all create records.
And contracts, budgets, bank statements, policy manuals, and meeting minutes are all things that
can be considered records. It is important to note that every piece of paper or email may not be
worth keeping. It is up to the organization to determine the criteria for record creation.

Let's use a policy change document as an example. Say the Human Resources department makes
a change to the vacation policy. They update a digital copy of the employee handbook and send
an email to all employees indicating the change. The sent email could constitute the creation of a
new record.

Record Distribution

Once a record is created, an organization must determine its distribution method. Should the
record be emailed, or printed and physically distributed? For externally distributed records, will
it be emailed or delivered via mail or a delivery service?

In the example of the vacation policy update, the record has been emailed to all employees. By
using an internal, secured email system, the organization can use ''read receipts'' to ensure that all
employees received notification of the change. The organization should have policies in place
that determine internal and external distribution methods.

Record Usage
After a record is created or received, a records management process can assist in determining
how the record should be used. Will the record be used to make a decision, determine a direction,
or in some other way? An organization needs to have a way to classify records.

Involving NGOs in Community Organization-

Community Organisation entails the provision of infrastructural facilities to the people. The
provision of these social amenities can be attained through a number of ways and/or
organizations which includes, the government, community development associations, Non-
Governmental Organisations . Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are non-governmental,
non profit making and self governing, set out to ameliorate the plight of the people in dare need
of life sustaining facilities in the society. This paper examines some of the strategies for
community development in Nigeria, with a particular emphasis on the role of Non-
Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The methods of study include interview, observations,
intensive local field studies and extensive travel throughout the state. The beneficiaries of NGOs
activities and donor agencies – students, teachers, NGO functionaries, fire burnt victim and head
of house holds were interviewed. The findings includes:

1. A number of these NGOs are into various aspects of community development such as:
community mobilization, environment, health and sanitation awareness creation, promotion of
child’s rights law, promotion of sexuality and reproductive health education and fight against
child labour and human trafficking etc.

2. Some of the NGOs are self financing – Owen Obaseki foundation, Sir Osunde foundation and
Emmanuel Arigbe Osula foundation – while others relies on support from donor agencies.

3. Donor agencies in Edo state includes : World Bank, European Union and Niger Delta
Development Commission(NDDC) and some individuals.

4. Some of the NGOs whose activities are prominent in Edo state includes: Body Enhancement,
Annual Reconstructive Surgery (BEARS) foundation, Lift Above Poverty Organization (LAPO),
Girls Power Initiative (GPI) and Pro-Health International. It is suggested that NGOs should as a
matter of necessity collaborate with each other, in order to have their efforts fully appreciated by
majority of those in need of their services. Also the government should participate in the funding
of NGOs activities.

In general, the Non-Governmental Organization is a positive approach to rural development.

Approaches in Community Organization Practice – Models , Strategies, The role of

Community Based Organizations, Leadership Development and Leaders, Building
Partnerships and coalitions-

Approaches in Community Organization Practice-

Neighborhood organizing is one form of community organizing. This nothing but an effort by
the community to solve the day to day problems and help those in need. There are three type
approaches to neighborhood organizing.

1-The Social Work Approach

2-Political Activists Approach

3-Neighborhood Maintenance/Community Development Approach

1. The Social Work Approach:

In this approach, the society is viewed as a social organism and therefore the efforts are oriented
towards building a sense of community. The community organizer whose role is of an "enabler
or an advocate” helps the community identify a problem in the neighborhood and strives to
achieve the needed social resources by gathering the existing the social services and by lobbying
with some in power to meet the needs of the neighborhood. This method is more consensual and
the neighborhood is seen as a collective client.

2. The political Activists Approach:

Saul Alinsky, the Godfather of community organizing is the founder of this approach. The basic
philosophy of this approach is based on his thinking that " more representative the organization
the stronger the organization." In this approach the community is seen as a political entity and
not as a social organism. Here, the neighborhood is viewed as a potential power base capable of
getting power. The role of the community organizer is to help the community understand the
problem in terms of power and necessary steps are taken to mobilize the community. The
problem of the neighborhood is always identified as absence of power and in the interest of
gaining power for the neighborhood the organizers are faced with conflicts with groups, interests
and elites. Since most of the community organizers come from outside the community, it has
faced the problems of equality of power relations and leadership in the community.

3. Neighborhood Maintenance/Community development Approach:

This approach has emerged out of both the previous approaches namely within the same
neighborhood movements. It is seen in the form of civic associations. This association uses peer
group pressure to provide services in the community. They use this strategy to pressurize the
officials to deliver services to the community but sometimes this approach takes the form of
political activists approach as they realize that their goals can be only achieved only through
confrontations.

Approaches in C.O:

 Development Model
 System Change Model
 Structural Change Model

1. Neighborhood Development Approach:

Neighborhood Model is the oldest model of community organization. This model has been
practiced in India and in some of the underdeveloped countries. It has been used in the
developmental activities. In general it is believed that people living in a neighborhood have the
capacity to meet the problems they come across in their day to day life through their own efforts
and resources. The main aspect here is that the community realizes its needs and takes
appropriate steps to meet the needs of the community, which will bring greater satisfaction to all
its members both individually and collectively.

2. System Change Approach:

As the name suggests, the system change model aims at developing strategies to either
restructure or modify the system. Thus it is termed as "System Change approach to community
work”. Although we find glimpses of this model gaining more acceptance, this has not become
very popular. We know of various mechanisms that cater to the needs of the society. Such as
education, health services housing, women empowerment, and employment. All these services
are rooted through various systems and all these systems do have sub-systems. The fundamental
aspect in this model is that the due to various reasons the systems become dysfunctional.

3. Structural Change Approach:

One of the most difficult and rarely practiced models of community work is structural change
model. The society consists of small communities and it is nothing but "a web of relationships".
These relationships of the people are formally structured by the respective countries' state
policies, law and constitutions and informally by its customs, traditions etc. that determines the
social rights of the individuals. The social structure in some of the societies is controlled by the
state. Understanding the macro- structure of social relationship and its impact on the micro
realities, the worker tries to mobilize the public opinion to radically change the macro-structure.
Thus the structural change model aims to bring a new social order, an alternative form of society
which will transform the existing conditions at the micro-level. This can happen only if an
alternative form of political ideology is adopted. This form of community work may originate
from a community itself but it has wider coverage i.e. the entire society or nation. Sometimes
this takes the shape of social action, which is another method of social work profession. Since
the general situation in the developing countries is very peculiar, it is very difficult for the
community worker to actually practice this model.

Models-

In 1979, Jack Rothman, formulated three basic models of community organization.

 Locality Development - A method of working with community organizations. Initially used
by the Settlement House Movement, the primary focus was community building and
community empowerment. Leadership development, mutual aid, and popular education were
considered essential components to this participatory process. Locality development is aimed
at meeting the needs of target populations in a defined area (e.g., neighborhood, housing
block, tenement housing, school, etc).
 Social Planning - A method of working with a lar[15]ge populations. The focus is in
evaluating welfare needs and existing services in the area and planning a possible blue print
for a more efficient delivery of services to the social problems. It is a responsive model to the
needs and attitudes of the community. E.g. Housing, Health Insurance, Affordable
education...etc.
 Social Action - It is a strategy used by groups or sub communities or even national
organisations that feel that they have inadequate power and resources to meet their needs. So
they confront with the power structure using conflict as a method to solve their issues related
to inequalities and deprivation. E.g. A structural systems change in social policies that brings
disparities between people of different socio-economic condition in social rights like
educational policies, employment policies...etc.

In the late-1990s, Rothman revisited the three community organization typologies of locality
development, social planning, and social action, and reflected that they were too rigid as
"community processes had become more complex and variegated, and problems had to be
approached differently, more subtly, and with greater penetrability."[16] This led to a broadened
view of the models as more expansive, nuanced, situational, and interconnected. According to
Rothman, the reframing of the typologies as overlapping and integrated ensured that
"practitioners of any stripe [have] a greater range in selecting, then mixing and phasing,
components of intervention."[

Strategies-

 Gaining an understanding of the community. The first key step is learning what the
community is like, and what is important to its residents.
  Generating and using power. There are many types of power; depending on the nature of
your organization and your long term goals, your organization may have (or need)
different types. Different kinds of power include:
 Political or legislative power -- for example, you could work to pass laws to make it more
difficult for young people to get hold of alcohol or tobacco
 Consumer power -- your organization might organize a boycott against a company whose
policies are environmentally unsound
 Legal regulatory power -- your organization might take a delinquent landlord to court
 Disruptive power -- employees of an organization might go on strike as part of a demand
for better working conditions
 Articulating issues. A crucial part of effective organizing is being very clear about what
people find important, and what you feel should be done about it.
 Planning purposeful action. Action planning is central to effective community
organization.
 Involving other people. Community organizing works in large part because of the
strength that exists in numbers. The idea that "what we can't do alone, we can often
accomplish together" is what community organization is all about.
 Generating and using other resources. While involving many people is at the heart of any
community organizing effort, a group will need to obtain other resources as well. These
may include cash, gifts in kind, and other forms of donations or support.
 Communicating with your community. There are many ways to effectively get the word
out and let the community at large in on what you are doing, why you are doing it, and
why they should be a part of it.

The role of Community based Organizations-

Community based organizations (CBO's) are nonprofit groups that work at a local level to
improve life for residents. The focus is to build equality across society in all streams - health
care, environment, quality of education, access to technology, access to spaces and information
for the disabled, to name but a few. The inference is that the communities represented by the
CBO's are typically at a disadvantage. CBO's are typically, and almost necessarily, staffed by
local members - community members who experience first hand the needs within their
neighborhoods. Besides being connected geographically, the only link between staff members
and their interests is often the desire and willingness to help. Occupational skill sets and
experience are greatly diverse.

Governments are increasingly delegating responsibility to CBO's and relying on them to gather
local concerns, develop, plan, and help deliver solutions. CBO's are storehouses, gatekeepers, of
local information obviously valuable for their own purposes, but this data is also useful to other
organizations and government agencies. The role of CBO's is becoming knowledge management
- to compile, sort, store and retrieve local data. Technology is increasingly becoming more
important to this function, to manage daily business operations, but also to develop innovative
solutions, given restrictive budgets, limited personnel available, and new demands for services
and information. Technology is being used to bring in the voice of the community members,
through public participation and input. Applications include mapping of community landmarks
and services by locals, providing environmental baseline and change measurements, and
identifying concerns common throughout the community.

Examples include:

- neighborhood revitalization
- affordable housing
- food security
- accessible transportation
- senior citizens associations
- environmental protection/conservation
- community sustainability
- humanitarian/disaster response
- medical relief funds
- youth homes and centers

Leadership Development and Leaders-

Leadership development refers to activities that improve the skills, abilities and confidence of
leaders. Programmes vary massively in complexity, cost and style of
teaching. Coaching and mentoring are two forms of development often used to guide and
develop leaders.

According to Baldwin and Ford (1988), the success of leadership development is influenced
heavily by the quality of the programme, level of support and acceptance from superiors, and the
characteristics/learning style of the person being developed.

Some commentators differentiate between leadership development and leader development, the
former being used when referring to development programmes focusing on collective leadership
in an organisation and the latter on individuals.

Leadership development is a common process in succession planning, which aims to produce

high-calibre leaders to take over senior positions when they become vacant. High-performers are
typically identified for these leadership development programmes, which may be longer-term
and broader than programmes focusing on tighter end-goals.

Building Partnerships and coalitions-

Community coalitions and partnerships are vehicles for engaging multiple sectors of a
community to work together to achieve a common goal. Members can represent constituencies,
factions, or organizations within the community. The terms community partnership and
community coalition are often used interchangeably, although partnerships can involve as few as
two partner organizations. Community coalitions, in contrast to partnerships, are often
characterized by the diversity of their membership with representation from both professional
and grassroots segments of the community. Coalitions and partnerships can be formed at
community, regional, national, and international levels. Most of the literature has focused on
community-level coalitions and partnerships. The use of coalitions and community partnerships
in health promotion has grown rapidly since the 1980s. Successful coalitions bring diverse
groups of people together, expand and leverage complementary resources, address a problem of
community concern, and implement solutions that are more effective than a single group or
organization could achieve on its own. This article identifies resources related to the formation,
management, and evaluation of coalitions and community partnerships. Both wisdom literature
and research findings are included.

Social Action and Social Movements: Concept, History, Social Action as a Method of Social
Work-

Social Action-

Social problems and conflicts have remained an integral part of the society from the time
immemorial. For providing relief and solution to these problems, social work and social welfare
have also remained a part of human society. Professional social work utilizes certain methods of
working with people, in view of empowering the people to solve their problems. Among the
methods of social work, social action is a new introduction in the professional social work
practice. Though its relevance is often felt in the field situations, social workers do not practice
this method quite frequently. The inherent theme behind social action is re-adjustment of the
social institutions and redistribution of power and resources for social justice and empowerment
of the community. As a method of social work, social action mobilizes the general population to
bring about structural changes in the social system.

Social action is a way of meeting mass social problems. It could be briefly defined as mass attack
on mass social problems. In this type of social work the entire community or as large a number
of members as possible – are made aware of any mass or social pathological problem eating at
the vitals of the society. After this awareness is created, the social worker enlists the support of
maintain to change the situation through social reform and collective action on suitable
legislative measure. “A stitch in time saves nine” are adages which still inspire the social worker
in the social action process. Thus, might form the social worker’s beginning when the social
worker sends a problem and takes upon himself communication of his awareness to the mass,
rouse them to collective or legislative activity, continuing in its enforcement; the social worker
helps the community to meet its problems which have assumed grave and massive proportions.

History of Social Action-

Social action as a process of change to be brought about by deliberate group and community
effort is not unknown to the profession of social work. As early as 1922, Mary Richmond one of
the early pioneers of the profession, referred to it as one of the four processes in social work. In
fact, it is an integral part of the concept of social work arising from the liberalistic, rationalistic
and democratic traditions. The early efforts to promote the settlement movement in the U.S.A.
and to change the system of charities into a programme of family welfare were motivated by a
desire to convert the services form ameliorative to curative and promotive. The question that
needs to be discussed however, relates to the stage when curative and preventive services assume
the use of the social action process for bringing about a desired change. Here we shall trace the
process of social action and discuss its use in the practice of social work.

Social action as a process of bringing about the desired change includes some of the following
elements:

(i) Although action might begin with the initiative of one or more individual, group action is
essential for its fulfillment.

(ii) Action has to be organized and given the shape of a movement.

(iii) Belief in social progress should form the motivation of the participants.

(iv) Action should be in accordance with the established democratic practices, within the
constitutional right of the citizen.

(v) The authority of the group arises out of the consent of its members.

(vi) The force behind social action lie in group compulsion.

It is the judicious blending of these elements under a proper leadership together with persistent
striving and continuous education, that helps to achieve the desired change. There are however,
some differences among the social work professionals on the nature of social action. To begin
with, is it a separate process? or is it a part of the three recognised methods of social work, social
group work and community organization? Some believe that it is subordinate to community
organization, others take it a complimentary to it. Some question the involvement of the element
of compulsion- at tiumes, coercion in promoting social action.

Social justice has to be at the very root of all social action. Social action should arise out of the
conviction that social justice calls for such an action and the specific situation requiring change
is a matter of relative urgency and could not be left to the show process of gradualism or
voluntary acceptance. Having realised the situation, the leadership in social action should ensure;

(i) Unity of philosophy, opinion and purpose;

(ii) Better professional preparation;

(iii) Integrated and continuing programmes of social study and research; and

(iv) Freedom to work jointly with labour unions, professional and business organizations and
civic and other community groups, towards common objectives.

Social Action as a Method of Social Work-

Social action is a comparatively new addition to the list of methods of professional social work.
Although social action has been used in other fields as well, such as the field of social reform
and of political movements, transfer of power, this chapter limits its observations by and large, to
the specific area covered by profession. In doing so, its concerns are with two important social
ideas and institutions of our times, namely, welfare and development which constitute two
specific denominations of social work practice. A word before that about the meaning of the two
concepts. By welfare we refer to the entire package of services social and economic, that deal
with income support, welfare provisions and social security on the one hand and with the whole
range of social services on the other.
All the helping activities approaches, social services and institutional innovations that are found
in the developing nations today have been introduced through the method of development,
Whereas, development has thus been the main level of changes in the new nations. Welfare, a
built in mechanism of the developed world is also concerned with social change, through it
expresses such concern merely by reviewing and reorganising the structure of the welfare
institution. Social action is the method that helps to bring in these changes.

Both development and welfare, some observers believe thus depend solely on social action for
the realization of their aims. They of course use other methods as well, but turn to social action
more liberally than any other. Development and welfare, therefore, provide today two key
concepts of professional social work. The principle method that they use namely the method of
social action aims at making the programmes of development and welfare more functional for
their respective clientele than any other methods could do.

Models of Social Action: Conscientisation model of Paulo Freire,Role of ideology, Saul

Alinsky as a radical community organizer, Liberation Theology-

Conscientisation model of Paulo Freire-

Conscientization is a neologism, coming from the Spanish word conscientización.It conveys the
idea of developing, strengthening, and changing consciousness. It was created in the field of
education, specifically of adult education, in the early 1960s, producing at the same time a new
conception of consciousness.

Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator, has elaborated an educational theory within the framework of a
theory of radical social change and expressed in a literacy training program. A central concept is
"conscientization," and development of critical consciousness through a process of reflection and
action. Opposed to this "problem-posing" education, committed to personal and social liberation,
is a "banking" education whose objective is domesti cation.
Although American adult educators acknowledge the need for social change, their chief focus is
on individual self-fulfillment. Predominantly a middle-class enterprise, adult education neither
shares the perspectives nor serves the interests of "marginal" groups. Although its most obvious
application may be with "oppressed" people, conscientization should have applicability to any
education which includes as goals both democratization and radical social change.

Role of ideology-

An ideology is a collection of normative beliefs and values that an individual or group holds for
other than purely epistemic reasons.[1]The term is especially used to describe a system of ideas
and ideals which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. [2]In political
science it is used in a descriptive sense to refer to political belief systems.

The term was coined by Antoine Destutt de Tracy,

a French Enlightenment aristocrat and philosopher, who conceived it in 1796 as the "science of
ideas" during the French Reign of Terror by trying to develop a rational system of ideas to
oppose the irrational impulses of the mob. However, in contemporary philosophy it is narrower
in scope than that original concept, or the ideas expressed in broad concepts such
as worldview, The Imaginary and in ontology.

Analysis-

Recent analysis tends to posit that ideology is a coherent system of ideas that rely on a few basic
assumptions about reality that may or may not have any factual basis. Through this system, ideas
become coherent repeated patterns through the subjective ongoing choices that people make.
These ideas serve as the seed around which further thought grows. Believers in ideology range
from passive acceptance through fervent advocacy to true belief. According to most recent
analysis, ideologies are neither necessarily right nor wrong.

Definitions, such as by Manfred Steger and Paul James emphasize both the issue of patterning
and contingent claims to truth:
Ideologies are patterned clusters of normatively imbued ideas and concepts, including particular
representations of power relations. These conceptual maps help people navigate the complexity
of their political universe and carry claims to social truth.

The works of George Walford and Harold Walsby, done under the heading of systematic
ideology, are attempts to explore the relationships between ideology and social systems . Charles
Blattberg offers an account that distinguishes political ideologies from political philosophies.

David W. Minar describes six different ways the word "ideology" has been used:

1. As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of content, usually normative

2. As the form or internal logical structure that ideas have within a set
3. By the role ideas play in human-social interaction
4. By the role ideas play in the structure of an organization
5. As meaning, whose purpose is persuasion
6. As the locus of social interaction

For Willard A. Mullins an ideology should be contrasted with the related (but different) issues
of utopia and historical myth. An ideology is composed of four basic characteristics:

1. it must have power over cognition

2. it must be capable of guiding one's evaluations;
3. it must provide guidance towards action; and
4. it must be logically coherent.

Terry Eagleton outlines (more or less in no particular order) some definitions of ideology: [14]

1. The process of production of meanings, signs and values in social life

2. A body of ideas characteristic of a particular social group or class
3. Ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
4. False ideas that help legitimate a dominant political power
5. Systematically distorted communication
6. Ideas that offer a position for a subject
7. Forms of thought motivated by social interests
Marxist view-

In the Marxist economic base and superstructure model of society, base denotes the relations of
production and modes of production, and superstructure denotes the dominant ideology
(religious, legal, political systems). The economic base of production determines the political
superstructure of a society. Ruling class-interests determine the superstructure and the nature of
the justifying ideology—actions feasible because the ruling class control the means of
production. For example, in a feudal mode of production, religious ideology is the most
prominent aspect of the superstructure, while in capitalist formations, ideologies such
as liberalism and social democracy dominate. Hence the great importance of the ideology
justifying a society; it politically confuses the alienated groups of society via false consciousness.

Saul Alinsky as a radical community organizer-

Saul Alinsky, community organizing and rules for radicals. Saul Alinsky’s work is an important
reference point for thinking about community organizing and community development. His
books Reveille for Radicals (1946) and Rules for Radicals (1971) were both classic explorations
of organizing and remain popular today. Mike Seal examines Alinsky’s continuing relevance to
the activities of informal educators, community organizers and animateurs.

Saul David Alinsky (1909-1972) was both a committed organizer and activist (founding the
Industrial Areas Foundation in Chicago) and an influential writer. His books Reveille for
Radicals (1946) and Rules for Radicals (1972) were, and remain, important statements
of community organizing. Alinsky’s ideas bear careful exploration and have a continuing
relevance for informal educators and all those whose role involves trying to effect change
in communities. They are particularly useful for those who have to engage with local or national
power structures and workers who wish to engage alienated or disparate communities and seek
common cause between them.

His thoughts on the nature of work with communities are challenging, and yet relevant. In this
article I want to expand on three areas. On:
 the place of principles and morality in community work;

 what it is to be a liberal or a radical; and

 rules for how to engage with power structures effectively.

The three quotes above are meant to encapsulate his thinking on these subjects. I will go on to
expand on the ideas that stem from them.

However, he soon fell out further with both the establishment and more ‘radical elements’. He
called President Johnson’s War on Poverty ‘a huge political pork barrel’ and found it
increasingly difficult to work with local African American groups influenced by ‘Black Power’
who understandably did not want to function under white leadership. He remained active till his
death, organizing white worker councils in Chicago, steelworkers in Pittsburgh, Indians in
Canada, and Chicanos in the Southwest, where he influenced Cesar Chavez, who was later to
found the first successful labor organization among California farm workers. Alinsky’s second
book, Rules for Radicals: A Political Primer for Practical Radicals, published in 1971 was a
reflection on the lessons he felt he had learned in this later period. It, like Reveille for Radicals
was a publishing success – and has had a long-term appeal.

Tactics for radicals-

The bulk of the rest of Rules for Radicals is concerned with tactics, which he sometimes also
refers to as the rules of power politics. I will expand on each in turn. I will also give examples
from Mark Thomas, a UK-based socialist comedian who I think uses these techniques in his
show.
1) Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have (Alinsky 1972: 127). In
the book he says that if one has mass support, one should flaunt it, if one does not one should
make a lot of noise, if one cannot make a big noise, make a big stink. Mark Thomas uses this
technique frequently. When complaining about the tube privatization he formed a band of
famous names and asked them to perform on the tube singing protest songs about it.
2) Never go outside the experience of your people (Alinsky 1972: 127). Mark Thomas makes
extensive use of such techniques as getting the public to ring up their elected representatives or
have mass letter writing campaigns. He will also put familiar mechanisms to other uses. When
complaining about the use of organophosphates he put up yellow appeals for witness signs to
draw attention to the public. When investigating Crown immunity to murder, when a person was
run over by an army Landrover he put up tiredness kills signs all over the front of the army base.
3) Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy (Alinsky 1972: 127). Mark
Thomas would continually try and dumbfound people. When complaining about the building of a
dam that was to displace 15,000 people in Turkey he built an ice sculpture of a dam in front on
the headquarters of the company building it.
4) Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules (Alinsky 1972: 128). This is one of Mark
Thomas’s favorite tactics. He found out that people who inherited expensive paintings could
avoid inheritance tax by allowing the public to have access to the painting. He got the public to
ring up numerous people who had done this and request to see the paintings. When they refused,
or refused everyone he managed to get the law changed.
5) Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon (Alinsky 1972: 128). Mark Thomas was complaining
about the exporting of guns to Iran, where the government had claimed that they did not know
the pipes were going to be used for that purpose because they had been put down as something
else for export terms, despite the fact that they could not have been used for that purpose. He
protested by painting a tank pink, put a plastic ice-cream cone on the top of it and tried to export
it as an ice cream van.
6) A good tactic is one that your people enjoy (Alinsky 1972: 128). When some pensioners had
arranged to have, what could easily have been a boring meeting with a health minister, he got
them to ask questions in the form of a dance routine. He also get a group of people to protest
against GM crops by wearing radioactive protection gear and running around with Geiger
counters.
7) A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag (Alinsky 1972: 128). Mark Thomas confesses
to using a series of ‘stunts’, to make his points. He tends to use a lot of small actions, as
illustrated about, rather than a prolonged action. This approach leads into the eighth rule.

Liberation Theology-

Liberation theology, religious movement arising in late 20th-century Roman Catholicism and
centred in Latin America. It sought to apply religious faith by aiding the poor and oppressed
through involvement in political and civic affairs. It stressed both heightened awareness of the
“sinful” socioeconomic structures that caused social inequities and active participation in
changing those structures.

Liberation theologians believed that God speaks particularly through the poor and that
the Bible can be understood only when seen from the perspective of the poor. They perceived
that the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America was fundamentally different from the church
in Europe—i.e., that the church in Latin America should be actively engaged in improving the
lives of the poor. In order to build this church, they established communidades de
base, (“base communities”), which were local Christian groups, composed of 10 to 30 members
each, that both studied the Bible and attempted to meet their parishioners’ immediate needs for
food, water, sewage disposal, and electricity. A great number of base communities, led mostly by
laypersons, sprang into being throughout Latin America.

The birth of the liberation theology movement is usually dated to the second Latin American
Bishops’ Conference, which was held in Medellín, Colom., in 1968. At this conference the
attending bishops issued a document affirming the rights of the poor and asserting that
industrialized nations enriched themselves at the expense of developing countries. The
movement’s seminal text, Teología de la liberación (1971; A Theology of Liberation), was
written by Gustavo Gutiérrez, a Peruvian priest and theologian. Other leaders of the movement
included the Belgian-born Brazilian priest José Comblin, Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero
of El Salvador, Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff, Jesuit scholar Jon Sobrino, and Archbishop
Helder Câmara of Brazil.

Social Movements: Origin, Nature, Types of Movements,Theories of Movement and new

Social Movements-

Social Movements-

Social movements primarily take the form of non-institutionalised collective political action
which strive for political and /or social change. While India has witnessed many such
movements over the centuries, it is only recently that scholars have begun to study them in depth.

Origin of Social Movements-

Social movement, loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal,
typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society’s structure or values.
Although social movements differ in size, they are all essentially collective. That is, they result
from the more or less spontaneous coming together of people whose relationships are not defined
by rules and procedures but who merely share a common outlook on society.

Social Movements in India

The term new social movement refers to those movements which have come up since mid-1960s.
The new social movements look into various collective actions, their identity and on their
relations for culture ideology and politics. These differ in from the old that, (a) they are
concerned with non-material phenomena; (b) they work for quality of life, rather for merely life;
(c) they are cooperative and non-conflictive; (d) they are followers-oriented rather than leader
oriented; (e) they are decentralized, rather than centralized ones.

The new social movements include the women’s movement, the ecology movement, gay rights
movements and various peace movements among others. Thinkers have related these movements
with post materialism hypothesis as put forth by Ronald Inglehart. Important contributors in the
field include sociologists such as Alian Touraine, Claus Offe and Habermas. Many of the
movements tend to emphasize social change in lifestyle and culture, rather than pushing specific
changes in public policy or for economy change. Some theorists argue that the key actors in
these movements are the members of “new middle class” or “service sector professionals”, such
as academics. They are informal loosely organize network of ‘supporters’ rather than members.
Paul Byrne described new social movements as ‘relatively disorganized’. Some of the new social
movements can be summed up here as under.

Environment Movement

It is a term which is also used to include the conservation and green movements. It is a diverse
scientific, social and political movement which addresses the concern of environment. In general
terms, the environmentalists advocate the sustainable movement of natural resources. The
movement is centered around ecology, health and human rights. Its basis is very broad, including
private citizens, professionals, statesmen, intellectual and the like. Among its advocates, we may
mention Thoreau (Walden, or Life of Woods), and Marsh between 1830 and 1960. During 1960s
and 1970s, mention may be made about Rachel Carson (Silent Spring), Paul R. Ehrlich (The
population Bomb) and the like.

The scope of movement includes the Environmental Movement is broad in scope and can include
any topic related to the environment conservation, and biology, as well as preservation of
landscape, flora and fauna for a variety of purpose and uses.

The Conservation Movement seeks to protect natural areas for sustainable consumption, as well
as traditional and spiritual use.

Environmental Health Movement dates at least to Progressive era, and focuses on urban
standards such as clean water, efficient sewage handling, and stable population growth.
Environmental health could also deal with nutritive medicine, aging, preventive medicine and
other concerns specific to human well being. Environmental health is also seen as an indicator
for the state of the natural environment, or an early warning system for what may human to
humans.

Socio-Religious Reform Movements

Reforms movements are movements which are organized to carry reforms in some specific areas.
Usually such movements use legitimate means within larger framework of the society and
without disturbing the existing framework. The Brahmo Samaj led by Raj Ram Mohan Roy,
Arya Samaj Movement by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Ali Garh Movement by Sir Syed Ahmed
Khan, and Ramakrishna Movement by Swami Vivekananda are some example of socio-religious
movements of 19th century India.

Brahmo Samaj: The phrase Brahmo Samaj literally means the society of the worshippers of the
One True God. Brahmo means one who worships Brahma, the Supreme Spirit of the universe
and Samaj means a community of men. The Brahmo Samaj therefore represents a body of men
who want to establish the worship of the Supreme Being in spirit as opposed to the prevailing
idolatry of the land. The movement was started by Raja Rammohan Roy and his friends by
opening a place for public worship on the Chitpore Road in Calcutta, and was duly and publicly
inaugurated in January 1830 by the consecration of the first house of prayer, now known as the
Adi Brahmo Samaj.

Arya Samaj: The founder of the Arya Samajwas Swami Dayananda Saraswati, who was born in
Kathiawar in 1824. This Samaj is more of a social institution, with a religious background. It has
Gurukulas, schools, and Pathshalas. The Suddhi Sabha is a proselytizing branch of the Arya
Samaj. The followers of the Arya Samaj do not perform idol worship. Swami Dayanand
Saraswati wrote "Satyarth Parkash" ( Light of Truth).
Aligarh Movement was the movement led by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, to educate the Muslims of
the Indian subcontinent after the defeat of the rebels in the Indian rebellion of 1857. It had
enormous success and had a profound impact on the future of the subcontinent. It’s most
significant achievement was the establishment of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at
Aligarh, which later became Aligarh Muslim University. Almost all the reformers were
influenced by the modern science and rationality and the conclusion of humanism. But from the
nature’s point of view, there were some differences in these movements. In some reforms the
dependence on Western thought was more.

For example Arya Samaj, Theosophical Society etc. were dependent on the past and on other
hand Brahma Samaj, Prathana Samaj and Rahnumai Majdayasan Sabha were influenced by
Western thought.

If we have an overall look at 19th century socio-religious reform movement’s nature, it becomes
clear that this movement was associated with urban middle class and upper class which
rationalism and religious universalism put importance on the social system reforms and
modernisation. In the realm of culture emphasis was on religious and philosophical field, and art,
music, science and technology etc. were benefited less comparatively. In modern National
Movement, socio-religious reform played the prime role. Those reforms helped Indians to have
comparatively more self-confidence, self-respect and the feelings of patriotism. Those
movements helped introduced to all Indians political and social freedom, equality and friendship.
From these, humanity and morality among the common people spreaded and the feelings of
political freedom and modern development raised. Naturally socio-religious reforms played a
very important role in the formation of the base for National Movement.

Peasant Movement

Peasant movement is a movement led by the peasants which seeks facilities and concessions so
to better their lot. The history of peasants’ movement, in India can be traced back to colonial
period, when repressive economic policies, the new land revenue system, the colonial
administrative and judicial system and the ruin of handicrafts leading to the overcrowding of
land transformed the agrarian structure and impoverished the peasantry. The peasant movements
occupy an important place in the history of social unrest in India tough the aims and objectives
of these movements differ in nature and degree from the region to region. It is in this sense that
these movements also aim at unification of peasants of a region, development of leadership,
ideology and a peasant elite. Through these movements emerge a new power structure and
peasant alliance. The genesis of peasant movement rest in the different relationship patterns of
different social categories existing within the framework of feudal and semi-feudal structure of
our society. In the post-independence period the nature and objectives of peasant movement have
changed to getting remunerative prices for agricultural produce, to increase agricultural
production, to establish parity between prices of agricultural produce and industrial goods, and to
get minimum wages for the agricultural laborers. Some of the peasants movement, including
uprisings, can be stated as these: Sanyasi Rebellion (1770), Wahabi Uprising (1831), Santhal
Uprising (1855), Indigo Revolt (1859), Punjab Kisan Struggle (1890-1900), Champaran
Satyagraha (1917-18), Telangana Movement (1946), Naxalbari Movement (1957).

Agrarian movements in contemporary India may be broadly classified into two main
categories. The first type of movements is those of the poor, the marginal or small peasants.
These movements voice the demands related to their economic condition, for example, demand
of the agricultural labourers for higher wages and better working condition. The second type of
movements is of the more prosperous peasants, those who produce a considerable surplus within
the rural economy. These movements are often in social science literature referred to as
‘Farmers’ Movement’ or ‘New Agrarianism’ or ‘New Peasant Movements’.
The first category of movements dated back to the colonial period. Kathleen Gough in 1974
found that in India 77 peasant uprisings took place since the British period (Gough 1974). In the
initial years the sporadic movements were directed against the extraction of the Zamindars and
other forms of intermediaries. We shall see later that these movements were and are around the
grievances of the rural poor and in the pre independence years they developed in close
connection with the national movement. The second category of movement has arisen in recent
years in the Green revolution areas such as in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab or south-
western Maharashtra or in the far south such as Karnataka or Tamil Nadu and it is the rich and
the middle peasants, the prosperous within the rural economy that organise and lead it. These
movements have become much more prominent in recent years.The movements target the state,
the bureaucratic apparatus and demand among other things concessions from the state like, rise
in the remunerative prices for crops, decrease in the prices of agricultural inputs, providing
electricity at a cheap rate etc. By focussing on the decline in the terms of trade over the years
they also have created and highlighted a distinction between the ‘town’ and the ‘country’ and
some of the leaders (for example, Sharad Joshi of the Shetkari Sangathana) emphasises that
‘Bharat’ is being exploited by ‘India’.

Types of Movements-

Redemptive social movement-

. A redemptive social movement is one that seeks total personal transformation and is typically
religious in nature. The spread of Christianity is a prime example of a redemptive social
movement.

Alternative Social Movements are looking at a selective part of the population, and the amount
of change is limited due to this. Planned Parenthood is an example of this, because it is directed
toward people of childbearing age to teach about the consequences of sex.

Reformative social movements are looking at everyone, but they seek a limited change. The
environmental movement fits here, because they try to address everyone to help the environment
in their lives (like recycling).
Revolutionary social movements want to change all of society. The Communist party is an
example of wanting to radically change social institutions.

Theories of Movement-

Deprivation Theory-

According to proponents of the deprivation theory, some social movements are born when
certain people or certain groups of people in a society feel that they are deprived of a specific
good, service, or resource (McAdam, McCarthy, & Zald, 1988; Opp, 1988). Within the
deprivation theory camp, there were two branches: absolute deprivation and relative deprivation.
The proponents of absolute deprivation treated these grievances of the affected group in isolation
from that group's position in society.

The deprivation theory, seemingly, provides a powerful reason as to why some social
movements may be born. However, it does have one major disadvantage that is difficult to
explain away. It fails to explain why in some cases deprivation fails to ignite the birth of a social
movement. This gives rise to the suspicion that while the existence of a deprivation may be a
necessary condition for the birth of a social movement, it may not be a sufficient condition for
the social movement to be born. In other words, for a social movement to be born, deprivation
needs to be present along with other factors (that the deprivation theory overlooks) in order for a
social movement to be born.

Resource Mobilization Theory-

The resource mobilization theory invokes the importance of the availability of suitable resources
in the birth of a social movement. This theory thus says that when some individuals in a society
have certain grievances, they may be able to mobilize necessary resources to do something to
alleviate those grievances. The term "resources" in this context refer to things like money, labor,
social status, knowledge, support of the media and political elites, etc (Dobson, 2001;
Foweraker, 1995; McAdam, McCarthy, & Zald, 1988; Phongpaichit, 1999) . One of the
great advantages of this theory is that it offers a convincing explanation as to why in some
situations some grievances may give birth to a successful social movement, whereas in other
situations the same types of grievances may not give birth to anything similar.
Political Process Theory-

Political process theory treats social movements as a type of political movement in that the
origins of a social movement are traced to the availability of political opportunities. More
precisely, this theory looks at the social movement in question to that of the state – or the power
of the government in charge. If the government’s position is strongly entrenched and it also is
prone to repressive behavior, then the chances are high that a social movement might fail. If, on
the other hand, the government is weak or more tolerant of dissenting behaving, then the chances
are high that any social movement that is born might have the opportunity to grow and flourish.

Structural Strain Theory-

The structural strain theory was proposed by Smelser (1965). The theory advocates that any
nascent social movement needs six factors to grow. These six factors are: people in a society
experience some type of problem (deprivation); recognition by people of that society that this
problem exists; an ideology purporting to be a solution for the problem develops and spreads its
influence; an event or events transpire that convert this nascent movement into a bona fide social
movement; the society (and its government) is open to change for the movement to be effective
(if not, then the movement might die out); and mobilization of resources takes place as the
movement develops further.

New Social Movement Theories-

The new social movement theories (the term "theory" is not appropriate because it is not one
specific theory, but a smorgasbord of somewhat different theories) arose during the 1960s,
primarily in several different West European countries. These theories arose as a reaction to the
deficiencies of classical Marxist theories for analyzing collective action (Buechler, 1995;
Welton, 1993). New social movement theories (NSMT) move away from the typical Marxist
framework of analyzing collective action from a primarily economic perspective. Instead, these
theories look to other motivators of collective action that are rooted in politics, ideology, and
culture. In addition, NSMT focus on new definers of collective identity, like ethnicity, gender,
and sexuality to understand the causal factors for collective action (Buechler, 1995). Traditional
Marxism, of course, made socio-economic class as the primary definer of collective identity.
NSMT tend to be based on the philosophical works of Continental thinkers like Jurgen Habermas
and Alain Touraine. These theorists try to generate theories that can explain the behavior of
postmodern societies, where much of the workforce is educated, skilled, white- collar, and
working in service industries (Phongpaichit, 1999). The fundamental struggle that workers in a
postmodern society face have to do with maintaining a balance of life-work issues -- this is in
direct contrast to workers in the "modern" society of yesteryears who faced problems pertaining
to exploitation by the ruling classes.

NSMT, in addition, operate in an ideological context framed by issues pertaining to individual

rights vis-à-vis the state's rights over its citizens. NSMT posit that this tussle between individual
rights and state's rights occurs in a background of postmodern societal values that are grounded
in a desire for community, self-actualization, and personal satisfaction (McAdam, McCarthy, &
Zald, 1988).

Social Movements, Social Action and Social Change: Movement Analysis : Ideology,
Structure, Leadership, Process and Outcomes, Analysis of ideology and approach of
(Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Frantz Fanon)-

Ideology of Social Movements Social Action and Social Change-

Ideology is an important aspect of social and political movements. The most basic and com-
monly held view of ideology is that it is a system of multiple beliefs, ideas, values, principles,
ethic, morals, goals, and so on, that overlap, shape, and reinforce one another. In Swidler’s
(1986: 279) influential terms, ideology is “a highly articulated, self-conscious belief and rit- ual
system, aspiring to offer a unified answer to problems of social action.” Ideology is often an
implicit and assumed feature of movements. Without an ideology that articulates and identifies a
mobilization’s beliefs and goals, it would be difficult to speak of this as a movement at all.
Rather, collective action without ideology would appear disorga- nized and temporary. In
contrast, movements are generally held to be relatively organized and relatively sustained over a
period of time. Ide- ology can be one such feature of organization and a marker of sustained
collective action which can helpful in social change and social action.

Social movements begin with some feeling of discontent with the existing social order to give
birth the condition of social change and action. Discontent is always a product of a relationship
between objective conditions and ideas about those conditions. If all the members in a society
feel satisfied about everything, there is no chance for any social movement to emerge. The very
presence of a movement indicates that people are dissatisfied with something or the other.

Social movements include two characteristics about which there is considerable agreement
among the sociologists which are as follows:

Collective action - Social movement undoubtedly involves collective action. However, this
collective action, takes the form of a movement only when it is sustained for a long time. This
collective action need not be formally organized. It could be an informal attempt also. But it
should be able to create an interest and awakening in relatively large number of people.

Oriented towards social change - Social movement is generally oriented towards bringing
about social change. This change could either be partial or total. Though the movement is aimed
at bringing about a change in the values, norms, ideologies of the existing system, efforts are also
made by some other forces to resist the changes and to maintain the status quo.

Structure of Social Movements-

Social movements are conceived of as networks that provide structures within which
organizations negotiate meaning through the construction of collective identities. Network
analysis is applied as a method for mapping the relationship among organizations. Results show
that these diverse groups form an expansive, but loosely coupled, network that is bound by a
collective identity of “liberalized” feminism and liberalism. However, different types of
movements including minority, peasant, agrarian or environmental movements tend to be
implement through action within the movement and there are surprisingly few linkages with
other core social movements. Intra-movement position has significant extra-movement
consequences as demonstrated by the finding that network position is a highly significant
predictor of the perceived effectiveness of a social movement organization.

Most common type of organization who planned social movements and being part of social
movements was neither centralized and bureaucratic nor amorphous, but one that was a
segmentary, polycentric, and integrated network-
  Segmentary: Composed of many diverse groups, which grow and die, divide and fuse,
proliferate and contract.
 Polycentric: Having multiple, often temporary, and sometimes competing leaders or
centers of influence.
 Networked: Forming a loose, reticulate, integrated network with multiple linkages
through travelers, overlapping membership.

Leadership in social movements-

People organise themselves to begin a social movement because they are discontented with the
way things are. They wish to see it changed but despair at the available means of doing so. The
mobilization of discontent lies in bringing the affected group into action. Social movements
constitutes people’s efforts to organise themselves to fight against inequalities, discrimination
and deprivation. Widespread collective mobilisation has led to organised movements with
defined ideologies and leaders who have brought important changes in the societies from which
they originate.

 The centrality of communication and the need for continual organization in a social
movement makes their leaders particulary imporant.
 Leaders speak in movements to:
o develop the sense of joining with others in shared concern;
o motivate that concern into an active collective approach to addressing the
concerns;
o direct the action so it can be focused toward accomplishment of the movement's
goals.
 Because of the threat of "entropy" (movements disintegrate over time if energy is not
expended to keep them together and active), leadership must be constant in a movement,
always again uniting it, motivating it, and directing it.

No social movement begins all of a sudden because thousands of people feelthat they have a
common problem. While studying social movements we will inevitably find that in the initial
phase or even later on, one person or a small group has motivated the others to start a movement.
In most of the movements mentioned earlier we will find that they were shaped by a leader. The
Rajbanshi Kshatriya movement was under the leadership of Panchanan Thakur who was the first
to assert that the Rajbanshis were Kshatriyas. He mobilized the peoplearound this demand. The
Naxalite movement had the initial leadership of Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jungal
Santhal in West Bengal, N. Patnaik and Chandra Pullu Reddy and Nagi Reddy and Seetharamiah
in Andhra Pradesh. The women’s movement too has several leaders in different parts of the
country.In Kerala the SNDP movement had Sri Narayana Guru as its chief leader. The
movement was, characterized by collective leadership with a division of labour among the
different types of elites (Rao 1979: 251).Leaders are important for movements because they help
clarify the issues and thus shape the movement. It is the leaders who provide guidance to a
movement. They prevent it from becoming a desperate, unruly collection of people. A
movement can degenerate into a mob if it does not have a leader or a group of leaders guiding it.

Process of social Movements-

One of the earliest scholars to study social movement processes was Herbert Blumer, who
identified four stages of social move- ments’ lifecycles. The four stages he described were:
“social ferment,” “popular excitement,” “formalization,” and “institu- tionalization” (De la Porta
& Diani 2006, p.150). Since his early work, scholars have refined and renamed these stages but
the underlying themes have remained relatively constant. Today, the four social movement
stages are known as:

• Emergence,

• Coalescence,

• Bureaucratization, and

• Decline.

Although the term decline may sound negative, it should not nec- essarily be understood in
negative terms. Scholars have noted that social movements may decline for several reasons and
have identified five ways they do decline. These are
• Success,
• Organizational failure,

• Co-optation,

• Repression, or

• Establishment within mainstream society (Macionis, 2001; Miller, 1999).

Stage 1: Emergence-

The first stage of the social movement life cycle is known as the emergence, or, as described by
Blumer, the “social ferment” stage (De la Porta & Diani, 2006). Within this stage, social
movements are very preliminary and there is little to no organization. Instead this stage can be
thought of as widespread discontent (Macionis, 2001; Hopper, 1950). Potential movement
participants may be unhappy with some policy or some social condition, but they have not taken
any action in order to redress their grievances, or if they have it is most likely individual action
rather than collec- tive action. A person may comment to friends and family that he or she is
dissatisfied with conditions or may write a letter to the local newspaper or representative, but
these actions are not strategic and not collective. Further, there may be an increase in media
coverage of negative conditions or unpopular policies which contributes to the general sense of
discontent.

Stage 2: Coalescence-

At this next stage in the life cycle, social movements have over- come some obstacles which
many never overcome. Often, social unrest or discontent passes without any organizing or wide-
spread mobilization. For example, people in a community may complain to each other about a
general injustice, but they do not come together to act on those complaints and the social move-
ment does not progress to the next level. Stage two, known as coalescence, or the “popular
stage,” is characterized by a more clearly defined sense of discontent. It is no longer just a
general sense of unease, but now a sense of what the unease is about and who or what is
responsible.
Stage 3: Bureaucratization-

The third stage is known as bureaucratization. This stage, defined by Blumer as “formalization,”
(De la Porta & Diani, 2006) is characterized by higher levels of organization and coalition- based
strategies. In this stage, social movements have had some success in that they have raised
awareness to a degree that a coor- dinated strategy is necessary across all of the SMOs.
Similarly, SMOs will come to rely on staff persons with specialized know edge that can run the
day-to-day operations of the organization and carry out movement goals.

Stage 4: Decline-

Finally, the last stage in the social movement life cycle is decline, or “institutionalization.”
Decline does not necessarily mean failure for social movements though. Instead, Miller (1999)
argues, there are four ways in which social movements can decline:

• Repression,

• Co-optation,

• Success, and

• Failure,

Outcomes of social movement-

Consequences of social movements in the background for a long time, focusing instead on
movement emergence, characteristics, and dynamics. Since the mid-1970s, however, scholars
have paid an increasing interest in how social movements and protest activities may produce
change at various levels. The existing literature can be ordered according to the kind of
consequence addressed. In this regard, one can roughly distinguish between political,
biographical, and cultural outcomes. Political consequences are those effects of movement
activities that alter in some way the movements’ political environment. Biographical
consequences are effects on the life course of individuals who have participated in movement
activities, effects that are at least in part due to involvement in those activities. Although their
contours are less easily defined, cultural outcomes can be seen as the impact that social
movements may have in altering their broader cultural environment. The bulk of the existing
works have dealt with policy outcomes, which can be considered as a subcategory of political
outcomes. Biographical outcomes are less numerous, but they form a substantial and quite
coherent body of literature. Cultural outcomes have been studied much less often. More recently,
scholars have started to investigate the effects that social movements and protest activities may
have on other aspects of society, such as the economy and market-related institutions, or on other
movements. In addition, one should also consider the distinction between internal and external
outcomes as well as that between intended and unintended consequences. Both distinctions
partly cross-cut the typology of political, biographical, and cultural outcomes, although one
might think of political outcomes as mostly external and more intended, biographical outcomes
as mostly internal and unintended, and cultural outcomes as both internal and external and
mostly unintended.

Analysis of ideology and approach of Gandhi-

In his childhood, the Mohandas Karamchand turned out to be an obedient son and honest among
children ofhis age group. He was fairly influenced by the stories of Shravan Kumar, Bhakt
Prahlad, and king Harishchandra. The three mythological characters became his ideal to follow
in life. He moved to England for higher studies in law and here he was influenced by host of
western thinkers and theological intellectuals such as Edward Carpenter and Henry Salt. His
interactions with intellectuals made him understand and further his interests in different religious
and their respective philosophies. Thus, he thoroughly studied Gita.

Gandhism-

The historical relevance of Gandhi might be debatable but it is hardly questionable. Gandhi and
his several techniques and thoughts actually led to several debates and some of them turned out
to be bitter controversies. In the course of the Indian Nationalist Movement he readily conceded,
what the great critics of Gandhi never denied in his lifetime was the authentic validity of his
fundamental principles in his milieu. If the question of relevance of Gandhi is to be renewed in
the present circumstances it is worthwhile to examine it in the specific context of the
contemporary relevance of Gandhi’s life and works. It is precisely this criterion that renders the
reference to ‘Gandhism’ relevant in this connection. The distinction between Gandhi and
Gandhism, for the present purpose, is more ideological than historical. Gandhism does not mean
in any sense a narrow cult or a rigid doctrine.

According to Gandhi every human interest must have a support of religion, and, politics to be a
valuable pursuit is no exception to it Gandhi did not regard political power as an end in
itself. It was only a means to ensure better conditions for people in every department of life.
Gandhi infuses morality and spiritualism not only in politics but also in economics.

Gandhi always kept truth and non-violence above reason. However, it is clear that Gandhi must
have felt a great strain and stress due to the feet that most of the people, even his closest ones,
were unable to keep pace with Mm and failed to understand his personal way off using reason
with faith.3 Jawaharlal Nehru’s thought was useful in Gandhi’s as is available in Ms
commitment to civilization, ethos and institution of India or say between his profoundest and
purest Sanatani Hindu approach to the global and Indian reality on the one hand and to the idea
of a secular Indian State on the other.

Modernity in view of Gandhi and his Contemporary Thinkers:

One of the most famous writings of Gandhi is Hind-Swaraj written in 1909, While returning
from England to South Africa Gandhi wrote this phenomenal book in which he expressed his
opinions on modernization and all its ill results. Such of Gandhi’s views, to a great extent, were
influenced by the opinions and writings ofJohn Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, and Rousseau and through
other writings and his own thoughts.

Challenges of Twenty-first century and Mahatma Gandhi-

The increasing reliance on personal and structural violence to solve our problems and the
accelerating environmental degradation pose the greatest challenge to human society in the
twenty-first century. Gandhi’s values, ideas, and action strategies do offer an adequate

Analysis of ideology and approach of Martin Luther King Jr.

TRIPLE EVILS

The Triple Evils of POVERTY, RACISM and MILITARISM are forms of violence that exist in
a vicious cycle. They are interrelated, all-inclusive, and stand as barriers to our living in the
Beloved Community. When we work to remedy one evil, we affect all evils. To work against the
Triple Evils, you must develop a nonviolent frame of mind as described in the “Six Principles of
Nonviolence” and use the Kingian model for social action outlined in the “Six Steps for
Nonviolent Social Change.”

Some contemporary examples of the Triple Evils are listed next to each item:

Poverty – unemployment, homelessness, hunger, malnutrition, illiteracy, infant mortality, slums.

“There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we now have the resources
to get rid of it. The time has come for an all-out world war against poverty … The well off and
the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their
midst. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if
it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.”

Racism – prejudice, apartheid, ethnic conflict, anti-Semitism, sexism, colonialism, homophobia,

ageism, discrimination against disabled groups, stereotypes…

“Racism is a philosophy based on a contempt for life. It is the arrogant assertion that one race is
the center of value and object of devotion, before which other races must kneel in submission. It
is the absurd dogma that one race is responsible for all the progress of history and alone can
assure the progress of the future. Racism is total estrangement. It separates not only bodies, but
minds and spirits. Inevitably it descends to inflicting spiritual and physical homicide upon the
out-group.”

Militarism – war, imperialism, domestic violence, rape, terrorism, human trafficking, media
violence, drugs, child abuse, violent crime.

“A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war- ‘This way of
settling differences is not just.’ This way of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our
nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of
peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically
handicapped psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A
nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs
of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

SIX PRINCIPLES OF NONVIOLENCE

Fundamental tenets of Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence described in his first book, Stride
Toward Freedom. The six principles include:

1. PRINCIPLE ONE: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people.It is active

nonviolent resistance to evil.It is aggressive spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
2. PRINCIPLE TWO: Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding.The end
result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation.The purpose of nonviolence is the
creation of the Beloved Community.
3. PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice not people.Nonviolence
recognizes that evildoers are also victims and are not evil people.The nonviolent resister
seeks to defeat evil not people.
4. PRINCIPLE FOUR: Nonviolence holds that suffering can educate and
transform.Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation.Unearned suffering is
redemptive and has tremendous educational and transforming possibilities.
5. PRINCIPLE FIVE: Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate.Nonviolence resists
violence of the spirit as well as the body.Nonviolent love is spontaneous, unmotivated,
unselfish and creative.
6. PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.The
nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.Nonviolence believes
that God is a God of justice.

SIX STEPS OF NONVIOLENT SOCIAL CHANGE

The Six Steps for Nonviolent Social Change are based on Dr. King’s nonviolent campaigns and
teachings that emphasize love in action. Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence, as reviewed in
the Six Principles of Nonviolence, guide these steps for social and interpersonal change.
 1. INFORMATION GATHERING:To understand and articulate an issue, problem or
injustice facing a person, community, or institution you must do research. You must
investigate and gather all vital information from all sides of the argument or issue so as to
increase your understanding of the problem. You must become an expert on your
opponent’s position.
2. EDUCATION:It is essential to inform others, including your opposition, about your
issue. This minimizes misunderstandings and gains you support and sympathy.
3. PERSONAL COMMITMENT:Daily check and affirm your faith in the philosophy and
methods of nonviolence. Eliminate hidden motives and prepare yourself to accept
suffering, if necessary, in your work for justice.
4. DISCUSSION/NEGOTIATION:Using grace, humor and intelligence, confront the
other party with a list of injustices and a plan for addressing and resolving these
injustices. Look for what is positive in every action and statement the opposition makes.
Do not seek to humiliate the opponent but to call forth the good in the opponent.
5. DIRECT ACTION: These are actions taken when the opponent is unwilling to enter
into, or remain in, discussion/negotiation. These actions impose a “creative tension” into
the conflict, supplying moral pressure on your opponent to work with you in resolving
the injustice.
6. RECONCILIATION:Nonviolence seeks friendship and understanding with the
opponent. Nonviolence does not seek to defeat the opponent. Nonviolence is directed
against evil systems, forces, oppressive policies, unjust acts, but not against persons.
Through reasoned compromise, both sides resolve the injustice with a plan of action.
Each act of reconciliation is one step close to the ‘Beloved Community.’

Analysis of ideology and approach of Frantz Fanon-

Frantz Fanon was one of a few extraordinary thinkers supporting the decolonization struggles
occurring after World War II, and he remains among the most widely read and influential of
these voices. His brief life was notable both for his whole-hearted engagement in the
independence struggle the Algerian people waged against France and for his astute, passionate
analyses of the human impulse towards freedom in the colonial context. His written works have
become central texts in Africana thought, in large part because of their attention to the roles
hybridity and creolization can play in forming humanist, anti-colonial cultures. Hybridity, in
particular, is seen as a counter-hegemonic opposition to colonial practices, a non-assimilationist
way of building connections across cultures that Africana scholar Paget Henry argues is
constitutive of Africana political philosophy.

Influences on Fanon’s Thought-

The first significant influence on Fanon was the philosophy of negritude to which he was
introduced by Aimé Césaire. Although this philosophy of black pride was a potent
counterbalance to the assimilation tendencies into which Fanon had been socialized, it was
ultimately an inadequate response to an imperializing culture that presents itself as a universal
worldview. Far more fruitful, in Fanon’s view, were his studies in France of Hegel, Marx, and
Husserl. From these sources he developed the view that dialectic could be the process through
which the othered/alienated self can respond to racist trauma in a healthy way, a sensitivity to the
social and economic forces that shape human beings, and an appreciation for the pre-conscious
construction of self that phenomenology can reveal. He also found Sartre’s existentialism a
helpful resource for theorizing the process of self construction by which each of us chooses to
become the persons we are. This relation with Sartre appears to have been particularly mutually
beneficial; Sartre’s existentialism permeates Peau Noire and in turn, Sartre’s heartfelt and radical
commitment to decolonization suggests that Fanon had quite an influence on him.