This second edition of Organizing for Power and Empowerment draws on extensive research to portray how social-action organizations have evolved over the past twenty-five years, building power in the struggle for social and economic justice. It explores how organizers increasingly target corporate influence and attacks on democracy. Their strategies and theories of change confront racial, gender, and economic inequity and fight pervasive intersectional injustice. The book tells the stories of a variety of geographically and racially diverse organizations and features the voices and experiences of more than forty organizers working across a range of issues. The organizers describe campaigns that activate people around issues that matter in their daily lives--work schedules, bail reform, schools, voting, and affordable housing--and connect them to broader topics such as racial justice, immigration, climate change, criminal justice, and workers' rights. They share their thoughts on building community organizations and empowering ordinary citizens to become leaders. The book underscores the leadership of Black Americans, other people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people as they lead campaigns to address the disparate effects of inequality faced by their communities. It provides detailed analysis of new organizational structures and change strategies, including electoral activism, statewide organizing, and community-labor coalitions. This book sheds important new light on foundational organizing practices and the challenges and opportunities for progressive social action today.

本書は単なる社会運動の指南書ではなく、沈黙を強いられてきた人々が自らの尊厳を取り戻すための「魂の叙事詩」です。権力構造の歪みに抗い、人種や性別の枠を超えて連帯する人々の姿は、現代社会が失いかけている真の民主主義の熱量を鮮烈に描き出しています。 最大の見どころは、四十名を超える活動家たちの生の「声」が紡ぐ圧倒的なリアリティです。日々の生活に根差した闘争がいかにして世界を変える巨大なうねりへと変貌していくのか。その過程で凡人がリーダーへと覚醒していく人間ドラマの深みは、読者の胸を熱く揺さぶり、自らも歴史の一部であるという自覚を強く呼び覚ますでしょう。