Neighborhood Organization and Interest-Group Processes / / David J. O'Brien.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton Legacy Lib. eBook Package 1931-1979
• VerfasserIn: O'Brien, David J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2015]; ©1976
• Year of Publication: 2015
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1792
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (278 p.)

Since the end of the civil rights era in the sixties it has become increasingly clear that social and political conflicts cannot be resolved entirely at the national level. Struggles between residents of poor neighborhoods and local interest groups or public authorities present some of our most explosive domestic political problems today. This study seeks insight into these problems through an analysis of efforts during the sixties to organize the poor to pursue their interests in local decision-making processes. David J. O'Brien holds that both organizers and scholarly observers of the grass-roots movement have failed to understand properly the process by which interest groups are formed. Arguing that the demise of neighborhood organization cannot be attributed to supposedly unique social, psychological, or cultural characteristics of the poor, he develops an analytical framework that emphasizes the strategic role of incentives and organizational resource problems. This framework helps explain not only the failure of organizers in the sixties to grasp the problems of interest group formation, but also the assumptions that prevented them from identifying the source of their frustration. The author assesses the different approaches that have been taken to neighborhood organization, and outlines a model for future efforts.Originally published in 1976.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- CHAPTER ONE. Incentives and Individual Support for Collective Action -- CHAPTER TWO. Resource Needs and Environmental Problems -- CHAPTER THREE. Community Development -- CHAPTER FOUR. Social Action-Protest Strategies -- CHAPTER FIVE. Community Action Programs -- CHAPTER SIX. Variations in Development in Local Community Action Programs -- CHAPTER SEVEN. The Future of Neighborhood Organization -- References -- Index