Cultural Dilemmas of Progressive Politics: Styles of Engagement Among Grassroots Activists

306 Pages·2001·1.048 MB·English

by  Stephen Hart

Cultural Dilemmas of
Progressive Politics
MORALITY AND SOCIETY SERIES
Edited by Alan Wolfe
THE NECESSITY OF POLITICS: RATIONALITY AND POWER:
RECLAIMING AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE DEMOCRACY IN PRACTICE
Christopher Beem, with a foreword by Bent Flyvbjerg
Jean Bethke Elshtain (translated by Steven Sampson)
CHILDERLEY: NATURE AND MORALITY FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN:
IN A COUNTRY VILLAGE THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF
Michael Mayerfeld Bell RESPONSIBILITY IN THE HOSPITAL
AND THE HOME
BEYOND CARING: Carol A. Heimer and Lisa R. Staffen
HOSPITALS, NURSES, AND THE
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF ETHICS MONEY, MORALS, AND MANNERS:
Daniel F. Chambliss THE CULTURE OF THE FRENCH AND
THE AMERICAN UPPER-MIDDLE CLASS
HEALING POWERS: Michèle Lamont
ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE, SPIRITUAL
COMMUNITIES, AND THE STATE SPEAKING OF ABORTION:
Fred M. Frohock TELEVISION AND AUTHORITY IN THE
LIVES OF WOMEN
MORE THAN VICTIMS: Andrea L. Press and Elizabeth R. Cole
BATTERED WOMEN, THE SYNDROME
SOCIETY, AND THE LAW PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IN THOUGHT
Donald Alexander Downs AND PRACTICE: PERSPECTIVES ON A
GRAND DICHOTOMY
THE END OF THE LINE: Edited by Jeff Weintraub and Krishan
LOST JOBS, NEW LIVES IN Kumar
POSTINDUSTRIAL AMERICA
Kathryn Marie Dudley
Cultural Dilemmas of
Progressive Politics
(cid:2)
Styles of Engagement among
Grassroots Activists
Stephen Hart
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO AND LONDON
STEPHEN HARTworks in medical research at Frontier Science and Technology
Research Foundation and teaches sociology at State University of New York, Buf-
falo. In the past he has worked as a peace organizer in the religious community
and as director of survey research for the Lutheran Church in America. He is au-
thor of What Does the Lord Require? How American Christians Think about Economic
Justice(1992; expanded ed. 1996).
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2001 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2001
Printed in the United States of America
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN: 0-226-31817-6 (cloth)
ISBN: 0-226-31818-4 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hart, Stephen, 1946–
Cultural dilemmas of progressive politics : styles of engagement among
grassroots activists / Stephen Hart.
p. cm.—(Morality and society)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-226-31817-6 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 0-226-31818-4 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Political participation—United States. 2. Social movements—United
States. 3. Religion and politics—United States. I. Title II. Series.
JK1764.H39 2001
323(cid:2).042(cid:2)0973—dc21
00-009876
(cid:2)(cid:3) The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
For Ann Webster Hart and Albert Gailord Hart

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
I. How We Engage in Politics and Why It Matters
1 Varying Styles of Political Activity 3
II. Congregation-Based Community Organizing
2 How Congregation-Based Community Organizing
Works 27
3 The Religious and Political Perspective of Community
Organizing 49
4 Stories and Practices of Community Organizing 82
Conclusion to Part II: Expansive and Constrained
Discourse in Community Organizing 108
III. Human Rights and Amnesty International
5 The Human Rights Tradition and Amnesty International 123
6 Cultural Work in Amnesty International 146
Conclusion to Part III: Dilemmas in Human Rights
Discourse 176
IV. How Should We Talk about Politics?
7 Individualism and Its Discontents 189
8 Integrating Culture and Politics 212
Appendixes
A. Results from Two National Surveys of Congregation-Based
Community Organizing 231
B. A Catholic Framework for Economic Life
(U.S. Catholic Conference) 236
C. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
(Republic of France) 238
D. The Bill of Rights and Supporting Documents
(United States of America) 241
E. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(United Nations) 244
F. Excerpts from the Statute of Amnesty International 250
Notes 253
Index 277
Preface
Sincethe1970sAmericannationalpoliticshavemoveddecisivelytothe
right. Yet polls indicate that there has been no corresponding shift in the
values of most Americans. What explains this disparity? In this book I
argue that part of the problem is that people working for social justice
have largely—but unnecessarily—ceded the moral high ground to the
right. Too often progressive activists present their proposals in a cool
and technical tone, avoid articulating broad social visions, and fail to
make links between politics and the cultural traditions to which Ameri-
cans are attached. In short, the compassionate and even egalitarian val-
ues found at the grass roots, and the public-spirited energy seen every
day in local communities around the country, have not been adequately
connected to our national political debates. To address these failings,
we need to pay greater attention to the cultural dimension of political
activity and to “styles” of political discourse.
While the style of progressive politics is often anemic, there are ef-
forts currently underway to construct a more culturally robust politics,
and these offer hope for the future. In this book, I examine the differing
styles of engagement adopted by grassroots activists, looking closely at
two major movements—faith-based community organizing and hu-
man rights—and more briefly at others. On the basis of the evidence
from such groups and an analysis of the arguments made by contem-
porary social critics, I argue that the potential gains from adopting a
more “expansive” mode of politics are greater, and the risks less, than
one might imagine.
The work of social movements is the focus of this book. These
movements representanidealofactivecitizenshipthatisanenduring
strengthofAmericanpolitics.Furthermore,whilepoliticaldevelopments
ix