Social Justice and Deep Participation - by Paula Donnelly Roark (Paperback)

About the Book

"Economic and political power alone is inadequate to solve 21st century problems of poverty, climate change, and securing the peace. Social movements are making a comeback but they also do not seem to be up to the task. Deep Participation and Social Justice offers the means to change this status quo. Original research identifies the unknown dynamic of deep participation culminating in a hard-to-find social integrative power. Operating within communities in the midst of rapid social change, this power provides the social legitimacy and sustainability for difficult but necessary economic and political change. As a result, social groups can collectively re-invent and re-organize their own institutions within their own preferred culture. This is not just one more ideology. Rather, social integrative power is a natural dynamic of the world, similar to the much better recognized 'political threat power' and 'economic coercive power'. This new approach to hands-on change and emerging participatory social theory promises a greater shared prosperity and justice for all. "--

Book Synopsis

Knowing what deep participation is, and how it works, can make a critical difference in solving 21st century economic, political, and social problems. This book provides a new approach to hands-on change and begins formulation of a participatory social theory promising greater prosperity and justice for all.

About the Author

Paula Donnelly Roark is a social scientist with a long career in international development starting as a Fulbright Hayes professor in West Africa. She is a skilled scholar/practitioner in social analysis, participation, poverty eradication and sustainable environments. Donnelly Roark's long experience combining theory and practice enables a particularly insightful analysis and discussion of social change.