Tamarack works in
communities across Canada every day. Most often, we’re
working with community leaders and citizens who are involved
in comprehensive initiatives, and typically, those comprehensive
initiatives are movements for social change.
That’s not wholly unexpected - we all
have a bias for action and for creating and promoting positive
social change, as our involvement in Vibrant
Communities can attest.
Each year we take on a summer learning initiative.
Last year, we looked at “dynamic” community engagement
and we began to think of the work we were doing in a very
different way. (Take a look at a matrix
that influenced our early thinking on this.) We realized that
we, and many of our partners, work like an organization, but
we think like a movement.
Movements
for Change - Part 2 (Runs 00:45:30) |
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Movements
for Change - Part 1 (Runs 01:05:16) |
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But, what does that really mean and how does
it work on the ground? That’s where this year’s
learning theme on Movements for Change comes in (we hope!).
Our basic thesis is that: “It is possible
to deliberately create movements for positive change in Canada.”
We’re looking for resources, papers, writings, websites,
organizations and anything that helps us prove our case.
Through a review of social movement literature,
and in talking with Canadian activists, academics and innovators,
we have found certain characteristics are associated with
successful movements. These characteristics and trends include:
The importance of vision and shared
values:
- A movement taps into shared core values.
- A movement requires vision.
- A common vision helps a group develop a common identity
and purpose.
- The vision must be “framed” in a way
that both motivates movement supporters and builds
broad-based support among the general public.
Movements are generally positive:
- A movement involves optimistic expectations and works
towards a constructive goal.
- A movement for positive social change is focused on
social justice. The ends desired cannot be divorced from
the means used to achieve them.
Movements require leadership:
- A movement is driven by the leadership of individuals,
groups, or organizations that can articulate, develop,
and frame the common vision.
A movement is collaborative:
- A movement for change requires the interaction and
participation of all members of a group, or “sectors”
of society. It is easier for a movement to grow in an
engaged population.
- A movement is larger than any single actor, but is the
collaborative work of engaged actors towards the realization
of a common vision. The “whole” is greater
than the “sum of the parts”.
Other frequently mentioned characteristics:
- A movement involves conflict and conflicting viewpoints.
It taps into creative and emotional tension.
- A movement builds on existing sources of energy and
motion. It learns from previous movements and does not
“reinvent the wheel”.
- A movement requires a wide range of resources, one of
which is funds. Funders can play an important role in
building movements and supporting the creativity of movement
actors.
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- What does creating a movement for change in Canada mean
for you?
- What are some of your favourite Canadian examples of
movements for change? Why?
- What are some of the features and characteristics of
movements for change?
- Do you have other examples that are not Canadian that
you think are important for us to highlight? Why?
- How are movements created?
- Do you know of any resources (papers, organizations,
etc.) that might give us some insight?
- Who do you know that is particularly knowledgeable
about this topic?
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We are in the midst of a research initiative
on Movements for Change. We’ve been looking for and
collecting resources that relate to movements and social change.
One goal of our research project is to prepare an annotated
bibliography of resources related to movements for change
that will be made publically available. We have prepared a
draft of the Methodology
section of this report. Our goal in this section is to
present resources that highlight common patterns, processes,
and characteristics of movements for change. Links to four
of the key resources in this section can be found below.
Please note that this research report is
still in its initial stages. If you know of any resources,
papers, articles, etc. that you think are relevant, please
let us know by emailing
us.
- Building
Movement Project. “Building Movement vs. Building
Organization:
Summary of Regional Discussions (New York:
Building Movement Project).
This report, published by an organization called Building
Movement, is based on a series of discussions
in cities across the United States. The central question
the report poses is: How do organizations develop
strategies and structures to facilitate the process of
building momentum towards social change, and when do strategies
and structures hurt this momentum? The executive
summary contains some useful ideas about what a movement
is and how we can work towards creating new social movements,
but most of the real “gems” in the report
come from participants’ comments.
- Civic Gemstones: Emergent Communities Movement, Norris,
T. 90:4 (Winter 2001) 307-
318.
In this article, Tyler Norris describes community movements
as: “collaborative, participatory, multisectoral
initiatives.” He explores the key characteristics
and design principles that shape community movements and
offers useful insights into movements for change. Norris’
“fresh look at movements” suggests these social
phenomena shape our civic landscape and challenges us
to create synergy across sectors that will “accelerate
the personal, organizational, and public policy change
sought by all.”
-
Ms. Foundation for Women commissioned
this study to investigate key components of movement structure,
strategy, theory, and practice. This report identifies
eight successful movement strategies and explores three
key structural components of social movements. While this
study seeks to contextualize and examine the reproductive
health and rights movements, the lessons learned are directly
applicable to a wide variety of movements for social change
in Canada. This report offers insight into, and analysis
of, four well known movements for change: the American
civil rights movement, the contemporary conservative movement,
the environmental justice movement, and the contemporary
labour movement.
-
Social Movements: A summary of what works, Dobson,
C. (Vancouver: Vancouver Citizen’s Committee, August
2001).
A significant amount of writing and thinking
on movements for change has been done by academics at
Universities around the world. This concise article focuses
on one of the major theories of social movements: Resource
Mobilization theory. Charles Dobson distills key pre-conditions,
individual inducements, micro-mobilization techniques,
and maintenance strategies for social movements. As the
Editor of the Vancouver Citizen’s Committee’s
Citizen’s Handbook, and professor of art and design
at Emily Carr in Vancouver, Dobson brings a Canadian perspective
to his analysis of movements for change.
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As we find resources and new papers we’re
adding them to a running bibliography. We invite you to take
a look at what we’ve found so far. We know you’ll
keep in mind that this research, and this bibliography,
is very much a work in progress.
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