Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The literature on participatory communication for social change contains a variety of definitions specifying exactly what participatory communication is. Definitions various focus on project planning, implementation, evaluation, interpersonal communication, radio, participatory communication as a means to an end, participatory communication as an end in itself, and more. There is also debate over whether social marketing and entertainment-education can be employed in a participatory manner. Some say yes and others no. This paper reviews past and current approaches, and argues that Habermas’s theory of communicative action provides a useful approach to the definitional problem. It presents a scheme for differentiating among kinds of communication for social change using this theory’s classification of "action types," differentiating "communicative" from "strategic" action, as well as subtypes within these. And it argues that communication behavior, in terms of action types, should be fundamental in determining participation rather than a school of thought or program type.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: A 3-year experiment with NGO-led participatory democracy in Naples, Italy indicates that nonprofit NGOs, in their newly assumed role of social service providers, are becoming clients of the state. As they are also entrusted with aggregating citizen preferences and articulating direct participation, they are becoming patrons of citizen groups. Thus, both the participation and accountability associated with participatory democracy are undermined. This suggests that nonprofit NGOs can either become bureaucratized and develop their role as providers of social services, or aggregate grassroots demands on the state and develop an active role in participatory democracy. Throughout, I compare this case with an analysis of the literature on Europe and Latin America. The contribution of this paper comes from its combined use of case study and the literatures on participation and devolution to interpret the transformations of the welfare state in the Italian context. It further identifies a remarkable and mutually informative similarity in the dynamics taking hold in Europe and Latin America.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper reconstructs the Dewey-Lippmann debate of the 1920s, an exchange that centered on their contrasting normative ideals of democracy. While the debate holds historical significance in itself, this paper uses it as a historical point of departure toward the broader sociological objective of understanding the current direction of democratic scholarship. In particular, this paper focuses on the descendants of Lippmann and Dewey – the democratic elitists and the participatory democrats. While the elitist model tends to hold a dominant position in academic and popular discourse, I argue that the divide between elites and citizens can be bridged if the habits surrounding knowledge and expertise are fundamentally transformed – that is, if citizens as well as elites engage in intelligent and critical reflective agency. I conclude the paper by outlining three empirical social problems – the expansion of intellectual property rights, media conglomerates, and reliance on standardized tests – that work to delimit the capabilities of public citizens to engage in critical and reflective agency, and thus to bridge the gap between themselves and elites. I suggest that radical and participatory democrats must struggle with these empirical issues in order to understand and ultimately transform the tense relationship between expert knowledge and democracy.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Cooperatives have a long history in the United States. A question surrounding cooperatives, in the United States and elsewhere, is their ability to maintain one-person-one-vote governance or participatory democracy with size. Results of this study show the more the employees in a cooperative grocer in the United States, the less likely participatory democracy. Evidence was also found of bureaucratization reducing the likelihood of participatory democracy. The chances of a grocer’s being a participatory democracy or collectively managed were increased by internal funding and member participation in labor.
Data for this study are from the Cooperative Grocer Retail Operations Survey. The Cooperative Grocer Retail Operations Survey is a survey of all known cooperative grocers in the Unites States and Canadian cooperative grocers subscribing to the Cooperative Grocer. The survey was written and is distributed by the editor and publisher of the Cooperative Grocer, Dave Gutknecht. Potential problems for this study are out of sample size (a maximum of 89 and 90 cases for two years studied).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In any sustained effort for change we need to know, “Where do we want to go, how are we going to get there, and how will we know if we are getting close?” These questions can be useful for both consumers and providers as we seek to naturalize and democratize the process of evaluation in human service policy and practice. The strengths-based, solutions-focused movement within human services recognizes that change is most likely to occur when people recognize their existing strengths and resources, envision a better future, and build on their strengths to set a path to realize their dreams. Individualized service plans co-developed in a partnership process by providers and service users give a reflective focus to the process of “helping.” This paper will make the case that a naturalized evaluation approach can use the same concepts, with local programs developing their own theory of change and integrating an ongoing process of assessment and critical reflection, using outcome measures and a logic model to express their theory of change.