In recent decades, the community field has come to be viewed as a multiple-paradigm field in which each of the basic models - social planning and research, social-action community organizing, and community development - has been pushed and pulled in various directions. The first part of this course traces the evolving focus of these models, understanding them both as historical responses to the particular conditions of the American city and as strategic approaches that continue to inform contemporary forms of community action. The second part of the course involves stepping back from particular models to trace more explicitly the challenges faced by doing community work in a multiple-paradigm field and to examine recent "boundary-crossing" strategies as potential sources of innovation. The course assumes a basic knowledge of traditional community approaches (such as might be gained from SSA 48300: Theories and Strategies of Community Change) and, from this basis, seeks to deepen students' understanding of the evolving relationship between the broader political economy, the socio-spatial organization of the city and the changing opportunities for community-oriented action by marginalized urban groups.
Instructor: William Sites