Overview
Planning and Action for Community Change delves into the underlying intellectual traditions of community studies and introduces you to the realities of community practice. The central idea of the course is that planning for action, particularly action resulting in community change, is something to be desired in a society that values rationality. In this course, we will draw on a number of academic disciplines that provide a theoretical as well as practical basis for understanding change at the community level. We will apply planning theory from traditions of sociology, political science, and psychology to real organizations in local communities, using theories of practice of community social work and action research. Four traditions of planning provide the framework of the course:
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social reform
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policy analysis
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social learning
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social mobilization
These traditions cluster into two divergent intellectual positions (Campfens, 1999, p. 26), which we will call
I. technical reason, which is manifest in programs of social reform and the practice of policy analysis
II. social transformation, which is manifest through social learning and the processes of social mobilization
This theoretical framework will facilitate a deep understanding of how planning for community change takes place from the highest planning authority to the most spontaneous of grassroots groups. Examining these traditions in the light of actual conditions in real communities will facilitate your critical analysis and teach you alternative options and tactics for community change.