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Democratic scholars may be hesitant to view unequal, traditional relationships as
a resource for democratic initiative and participation out of concern that such
relationships undermine independent, autonomous political behavior.
21
But support from
community allies may be necessary if a person’s participation in mainstream politics is
challenged as inappropriate or illegitimate (consider criticism of participation by less-
educated people, undocumented immigrants, ex-felons, or even people who need to bring
their children to public meetings). More generally the ideal of an autonomous democratic
actor also presumes that every person will find political action desirable or meaningful
apart from their experience within a community that accepts forms of traditional religious
authority. Community organizing methods assume that people take support and meaning
from communities, and therefore use local relationships as a primary resource for
collective action. But their focus on relationships should not suggest to observers that
they are unconcerned about the arrangement of power within and among those
relationships. A goal of this chapter has been to show how part of the work of organizing
is the navigation of authority, for common ends.
CONCLUSIONS
“Organizing” is the development of actionable political community, which
necessarily incurs social and political consequences for community members.
Community organizers must navigate internal power relations and clergy’s different
approaches to leadership in order to translate the congregation’s social capital into
political action. The different opportunities for lay-driven ministries across
21
For example, see Mark E. Warren’s (1996) discussion of scholars who argue that democracy and
authority are incompatible, based on the assumption that authority, “requires a surrender of autonomous
judgment” (Arendt 1961; Warren 1996, 51-52; Wolff 1970).
Convention