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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Polletta (sociology, Columbia) considers whether, as a process in decision-making, participatory democracy can be successful in effecting social change or is doomed to fail because it lacks organizational focus and an awareness that strategizing is essential. She closely analyzes the dynamics of participatory democracy in several movements in recent American history-organized labor, pacifist groups, the Civil Rights Movement, the New Left, and groups protesting against globalization. She postulates that the primary challenges of participatory democracy have been how to "coordinate actions and programs across de-centralized units" and how to choose a group interest from among competing individual interests. Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, Polletta focuses on distinct strengths that participatory democracy can provide to social and political action groups-the gathering and evaluation of information, the development of skills in "negotiating common agendas," and the ability to look beyond immediate conflict and focus on "future battles waged in electoral institutions." Although somewhat repetitive and densely written, this generally supportive critique of participatory democracy as a decision-making process challenges both proponents and opponents to re-think their deeply held beliefs. For academic and large public libraries.
Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa Coll. Lib., CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
See all Editorial Reviews
Polletta (sociology, Columbia) considers whether, as a process in decision-making, participatory democracy can be successful in effecting social change or is doomed to fail because it lacks organizational focus and an awareness that strategizing is essential. She closely analyzes the dynamics of participatory democracy in several movements in recent American history-organized labor, pacifist groups, the Civil Rights Movement, the New Left, and groups protesting against globalization. She postulates that the primary challenges of participatory democracy have been how to "coordinate actions and programs across de-centralized units" and how to choose a group interest from among competing individual interests. Drawing on extensive interviews with activists, Polletta focuses on distinct strengths that participatory democracy can provide to social and political action groups-the gathering and evaluation of information, the development of skills in "negotiating common agendas," and the ability to look beyond immediate conflict and focus on "future battles waged in electoral institutions." Although somewhat repetitive and densely written, this generally supportive critique of participatory democracy as a decision-making process challenges both proponents and opponents to re-think their deeply held beliefs. For academic and large public libraries.
Jack Forman, San Diego Mesa Coll. Lib., CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
Freedom Is an Endless Meeting offers vivid portraits of American experiments in participatory democracy throughout the twentieth century. Drawing on meticulous research and more than one hundred interviews with activists, Francesca Polletta challenges the conventional wisdom that participatory democracy is worthy in purpose but unworkable in practice. Instead, she shows that social movements have often used bottom-up decision making as a powerful tool for political change.
Polletta traces the history of democracy in early labor struggles and pre-World War II pacifism, in the civil rights, new left, and women's liberation movements of the sixties and seventies, and in today's faith-based organizing and anti-corporate globalization campaigns. In the process, she uncovers neglected sources of democratic inspiration—Depression-era labor educators and Mississippi voting registration workers, among them—as well as practical strategies of social protest. But Freedom Is an Endless Meeting also highlights the obstacles that arise when activists model their democracies after familiar nonpolitical relationships such as friendship, tutelage, and religious fellowship. Doing so has brought into their deliberations the trust, respect, and caring typical of those relationships. But it has also fostered values that run counter to democracy, such as exclusivity and an aversion to rules, and these have been the fault lines around which participatory democracies have often splintered. Indeed, Polletta attributes the fragility of the form less to its basic inefficiency or inequity than to the gaps between activists' democratic commitments and the cultural models on which they have depended to enact those commitments. The challenge, she concludes, is to forge new kinds of democratic relationships, ones that balance trust with accountability, respect with openness to disagreement, and caring with inclusiveness.
For anyone concerned about the prospects for democracy in America, Freedom Is an Endless Meeting will offer abundant historical, theoretical, and practical insights.
"This is an excellent study of activist politics in the United States over the past century. . . . Assiduously researched, impressively informed by a great number of thoughtful interviews with key members of American social movements, and deeply engaged with its subject matter, the book is likely to become a key text in the study of grass-roots democracy in America."—Kate Fullbrook, Times Literary Supplement
"Polletta's portrayal challenges the common assumption that morality and strategy are incompatible, that those who aim at winning must compromise principle while those who insist on morality are destined to be ineffective. . . . Rather than dwell on trying to explain the decline of 60s movements, Polletta shows how participatory democracy has become the guiding framework for many of today's activists."—Richard Flacks, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"In Freedom Is an Endless Meeting, Francesca Polletta has produced a remarkable work of historical sociology. . . . She provides the fullest theoretical work of historical sociology. . . . She provides the fullest theoretical picture of participatory democracy, rich with nuance, ambiguity, and irony, that this reviewer has yet seen. . . . This wise book should be studied closely by both academics and by social change activists."—Stewart Burns, Journal of American History
Polletta traces the history of democracy in early labor struggles and pre-World War II pacifism, in the civil rights, new left, and women's liberation movements of the sixties and seventies, and in today's faith-based organizing and anti-corporate globalization campaigns. In the process, she uncovers neglected sources of democratic inspiration—Depression-era labor educators and Mississippi voting registration workers, among them—as well as practical strategies of social protest. But Freedom Is an Endless Meeting also highlights the obstacles that arise when activists model their democracies after familiar nonpolitical relationships such as friendship, tutelage, and religious fellowship. Doing so has brought into their deliberations the trust, respect, and caring typical of those relationships. But it has also fostered values that run counter to democracy, such as exclusivity and an aversion to rules, and these have been the fault lines around which participatory democracies have often splintered. Indeed, Polletta attributes the fragility of the form less to its basic inefficiency or inequity than to the gaps between activists' democratic commitments and the cultural models on which they have depended to enact those commitments. The challenge, she concludes, is to forge new kinds of democratic relationships, ones that balance trust with accountability, respect with openness to disagreement, and caring with inclusiveness.
For anyone concerned about the prospects for democracy in America, Freedom Is an Endless Meeting will offer abundant historical, theoretical, and practical insights.
"This is an excellent study of activist politics in the United States over the past century. . . . Assiduously researched, impressively informed by a great number of thoughtful interviews with key members of American social movements, and deeply engaged with its subject matter, the book is likely to become a key text in the study of grass-roots democracy in America."—Kate Fullbrook, Times Literary Supplement
"Polletta's portrayal challenges the common assumption that morality and strategy are incompatible, that those who aim at winning must compromise principle while those who insist on morality are destined to be ineffective. . . . Rather than dwell on trying to explain the decline of 60s movements, Polletta shows how participatory democracy has become the guiding framework for many of today's activists."—Richard Flacks, Los Angeles Times Book Review
"In Freedom Is an Endless Meeting, Francesca Polletta has produced a remarkable work of historical sociology. . . . She provides the fullest theoretical work of historical sociology. . . . She provides the fullest theoretical picture of participatory democracy, rich with nuance, ambiguity, and irony, that this reviewer has yet seen. . . . This wise book should be studied closely by both academics and by social change activists."—Stewart Burns, Journal of American History
See all Editorial Reviews
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