Paul W. Speer and Joseph Hughey’s “Community Organizing: an ecological route to empowerment and power” theorizes empowerment as a manifestation of social power on multiple tiers of organization: individual, organizational, and community. Through their assessment of the Pacific Institute for Community Organization, a framework of processes and common outcomes at each level of the organization is identified to better understand the benefits of using community organization as well as the three main principles that guide the organizational cycle.
Principles of Community Organizing
1. “Empowerment can only be realized through organization.” Collectives created to respond to community issues must be able to compete against the institutions and organizations, which traditionally hold power within a community. Power grants channels for the implementation of self-interest.
2. “Social power is built on the strengths of interpersonal relationships.” The creation of strong social networks focused on shared values and interpersonal connections can continually adapt to changes in community issues while issue-focused groups typically dissolve after addressing a