Prisms of the People - (Chicago Studies in American Politics) by Hahrie Han & Elizabeth McKenna & Michelle Oyakawa (Paperback)

About the Book

"In recent years we have been seeing many grassroots groups forming at the local level aimed at issues such as women's rights, the rights of Dreamers, and policing in minority communities, among others. Creating collective action, particularly among the poor and marginalized, is difficult. But we have seen remarkable campaigns that have galvanized many who feel powerless in our society. The authors of this book explore the obstacles to collective action and the creative ways in which they have been overcome. Their approach is to study improbable cases of successful collective action. They argue that the power of these groups comes from the "politics of articulation" or the ability of the group to understand their interests and strengths, to build on those strengths in developing strategies, to respond flexibly to an uncertain political environment, and to know what the group can effectively do to achieve their goals. It de-emphasizes the size of the group and its ability to raise money"--

Book Synopsis

Grassroots organizing and collective action have always been fundamental to American democracy but have been burgeoning since the 2016 election, as people struggle to make their voices heard in this moment of societal upheaval. Unfortunately much of that action has not had the kind of impact participants might want, especially among movements representing the poor and marginalized who often have the most at stake when it comes to rights and equality. Yet, some instances of collective action have succeeded. What's the difference between a movement that wins victories for its constituents, and one that fails? What are the factors that make collective action powerful?

Prisms of the People addresses those questions and more. Using data from six movement organizations--including a coalition that organized a 104-day protest in Phoenix in 2010 and another that helped restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated in Virginia--Hahrie Han, Elizabeth McKenna, and Michelle Oyakawa show that the power of successful movements most often is rooted in their ability to act as "prisms of the people," turning participation into political power just as prisms transform white light into rainbows. Understanding the organizational design choices that shape the people, their leaders, and their strategies can help us understand how grassroots groups achieve their goals.

Linking strong scholarship to a deep understanding of the needs and outlook of activists, Prisms of the People is the perfect book for our moment--for understanding what's happening and propelling it forward.

Review Quotes

"Prisms of the People is a thorough account of the many ways in which people can become power through their collective actions. Grassroots organizations and their leaders are able to do so when they are 'grounded in constituencies that had committed to standing together, to becoming something new together that they could not be alone.' One of the many virtues of the book is to show, in a granular way, how this is practically achieved in contexts of high uncertainty and among structurally disadvantaged populations."-- "Public Books"

"Prisms of the People provides answers to a fundamental question of our time: how can we rewire American democracy from the bottom up so that it includes all voices equally? Forging impulses of Tocqueville and Alinsky into a twenty-first-century recipe for participatory activism, the authors show how disenfranchised people across America built organizations that were vital democratic spaces in which they transformed each other into more capable members and leaders."--Archon Fung, Harvard University

"In their compact but ambitious Prisms of the People, Hahrie Han, Elizabeth McKenna, and Michelle Oyakawa suggest that contemporary poitical practice and scholarship have overemphasized 'numbers' at the expense of deeper consideration of questions of worthiness, unity, and commitment."-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"By motivating future research that will investigate these topics and more, Prisms' unique voice of a muscular optimism provides guideposts for advancing the book's concluding vision of deepening our understanding of 'how participation translates into political influence.'"-- "Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics"

"Han, McKenna, and Oyakawa remind us of the transformative capacity of social movements. When movements are committed to
an inclusive vision of 'the people, ' they can help us reimagine what is possible."-- "Mobilization"

"Best books of 2021"-- "Stanford Social Innovation Review"

"Reading we enjoyed in 2021"-- "Act Build Change"

"Prisms of the People provides more than a hint about how to build and sustain powerful community organizations, an approach firmly rooted in principles of inclusion and engagement rather than boilerplate routines or recipes. The difficult approach makes all kinds of sense: saving democracy takes democratic organizing."-- "Social Forces"

"Offer[s] a fundamentally more valuable way to think about the challenge of building people power than the stale and repetitive debate between those who want Democrats to downplay social justice issues and merely focus on policies that poll well with swing voters... and those who want Democrats to tailor their messaging towards expanding their base." -- "The Connector"

"The book is filed with incredible nuance about the nature of power, interests, and strategy."-- "3 Streams"

"Vivid, accessible, and keenly analytic, Prisms of the People provides an invaluable guide and inspiration for the politics of this moment."--Elisabeth S. Clemens, University of Chicago

"Whither US democracy? In this compelling and deeply informed book, Han, McKenna, and Oyakawa challenge accounts of collective action as leaderless, rudderless, and therefore bound to fail. Rather they uncover a prismatic politics that is people-powered, strategic, nimble, and full of possibility. With intellectual rigor, theoretical originality, and incisive analysis, they offer a renewed vision for democratic political participation: an inclusive, vital, and enduring process, never perfected or completed, but ever attuned to new social conditions."--Alondra Nelson, Social Science Research Council

About the Author

Hahrie Han is the inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute and professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University. Elizabeth McKenna is a postdoctoral scholar at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Michelle Oyakawa is visiting professor at Kenyon College.