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Activism, Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America Hardcover – July 26, 2006

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3.8 out of 5 stars 8 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 168 pages
  • Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (July 26, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0804752176
  • ISBN-13: 978-0804752176
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #987,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsVery insightful
By Irina Tavera on March 24, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
As a former Director for the organization this book is about, I can say that most of this is true. I quit abruptly because I felt I was mistreated and not appreciated for my work and sacrifice. My staff loved me, I trained two of the best canvassers in the organization still has and was myself was a great fundraisers yet my superiors still hated me and lied to me all the time. I know so many people who have been turned off from activism because of this organization, who otherwise would have been a great addition to the causes this organization claims to fight for. Senior staff required blind loyalty to the organization and saw the organization and the cause as one in the same. Very much like a cult or religion. Senior staff was also grossly unorganized and incompetent, often making my job much more difficult than it had to be. I believed the organization is just supposed to serve as a means to an end, that being the cause. Anyone who didn't believe the cause and the organization were the same was shunned like I was. It existed only for the sake of itself even at the expense of said causes. I am glad I am out. The canvass is an incredible political tool but the outsourcing and the existance of organizations like the People's Project are the problem.
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4.0 out of 5 starsA Must Read Book Before You Take A Job Canvassing
By Frederick S. Goethel VINE VOICE on January 23, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This book is a description of a research project undertaken to determine if the use of canvassers is hurting the ability of progressive politics to keep young people engaged and that it actually blocks entry into beginning jobs at progressive political organizations and non-profits. Much of the book is devoted to describing canvassing and contains material from a number of interviews she conducted with canvassers in 2003 and 2004.

My daughter took a position as a canvasser for one summer, and much as the author described in the book, the ads for the job were highly misleading and the work it entailed had little to do with helping with environmental campaigns, unless you consider raising money as an effective tool for fixing environmental issues. As a major in Environmental Science with a minor in Public Policy, my daughter thought she would be working on a campaign to help clean up the plastic patch in the Pacific Ocean, not standing on a street corner begging people to give money so that lobbyists could be paid.

The author presents a somewhat rosy picture of the canvass. In fact, my daughter worked for 10 to 12 hours a day (no overtime) standing in front of stores and at college campuses describing the campaign and trying to get people to give her cash, or better yet, from the organizations perspective, a monthly pledge on their credit card. She wasn't bothered by the long hours or the rejection, but was bothered by the pay system and by a lack of knowledge of the area by her "directors". Because they were new to the area, as they were moved frequently around the country, they had little clue as to where to find places to solicit that would not be repetitive.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Balanced View
By Aaron Kreider on December 7, 2006
Format: Hardcover
Reviews on this book are going to be slanted based on whether the reviewer agrees with the author's thesis. I feel that the author did a good job of presenting both the positive and negative aspects of canvassing, and of doing her research. More often people's opinions on canvassing tend to fall to the extremes.

Interestingly the most vehement defenders tend to come from the 1% or so of canvassers who have stuck with it, and secured higher-level positions in canvassing or social change organizations.

What's missing is a model for an alternative form of getting people started in activism. For me, that model would be to get involved in community organizations that get to choose their own local campaigns, run themselves, and fund their own positions by doing grassroots fundraising (and raise the money from people who are involved in the democratic decision-making of the organization - for instance by having regular membership meetings). These organizations would stay in a community for ten years or more, build deep relationships with its members and other progressive organizations, and create a base for longterm social change.
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3.0 out of 5 starsHow Well Does a United Way Structure Work for Politics ...
By The Lifelong Learner on April 17, 2007
Format: Hardcover
... where a few organizations serve as the umbrella for the activism of many. Interesting premise of how the shift toward centralized activism has hurt liberal/left political causes by distancing them from true grassroots. It's missed the value of community relationships and narrows a pipeline through which future leadership develops. Certainly the Democratic party did better nationally when they focused on party infrastructure closer to the grassroots. And that's this author's premise: to shift the democrartic party away from a more top-down elitist structure to the more grassroot egalitarian approach of the republican party.

While candidates and issues matter, her book is strictly about presentation of these. And she underscores the idea that people who know their neighbors and are involved in a community are more likely to win votes. Good documentation (4 stars) and dry until nearly the end (2 stars) but worthy reading.
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