Collaborations for Social Justice: Professionals, Publics, and Policy Change

(Paperback)

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The importance of community empowerment in advancing public policy cannot be underestimated. Collaborations for Social Justice provides powerful examples of how professionals have successfully mobilized the public. Written primarily for students, academics, and lawyers, this book bridges the widely publicized gap between professional advocates and grassroots organizations. The authors demonstrate that participation on the part of professionals in the process of empowerment of low-income communities is transformative and enriching for everyone affected.

Reviews

Academics who want their work to be useful in public policy debates would do well to use the case studies in this book as a reference manual. Barlows contributors provide real life examples of the way social science research can frame issues and validate community demands for changewithout giving up the methodological rigor, creativity, and objectivity scientific inquiry requires. The book provides refreshingly clear-eyed accounts of the tensions and rewards of working with community-based groups, while consistently reminding us of the power dynamics that underlay the production of knowledge and its use in political debates. Collaborations for Social Justice should be required reading for introductory and graduate courses in the social sciences, schools of law, education, and environmental studies, and for new grantmakers. It is a little gem of a book, full of nuggets of insight and wisdom about social change work in contemporary America. -- Katherine McFate, The Ford Foundation
Collaborations for Social Justice addresses some of the most critical and most overlooked questions in the fight for social justice in this country today. By so doing it offers us an exciting vision of the impact low income communities can have on issues of importance to us all. I thank the authors for both their commitment and their contribution to the struggle. -- Barbara Lee, U.S. Congresswoman
This book offers lawyers and other professionals a powerful vision of a career in service to social justice. The authors include a number of prominent academics, educators, and lawyers who have been on the front lines of California's historic battles for equality for many years. Collaborations for Social Justice will inspire a generation of students and young professionals with its fresh ideas and compelling call to action. -- Eva Paterson, president, Equal Justice Society

Author Bio

Andrew L. Barlow, a long-time civil rights activist, is visiting associate professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, and professor of sociology at Diablo Valley College. He is also the author of Between Fear and Hope: Globalization and Race in the United States.