Transcript Outline - Widener University

Outline
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Spring Carnival
MLK video
Markets and Politics
Poor People’s Movement
Saul Alinsky and the Industrial Areas Foundation
BUILD
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Relational Power
Living Wage Movement
Evaluations?
Returns…someone stop me at 3:10
Saturday
Eyes on the Prize, Volume 5
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“The Promised Land”
Eyes on the Prize: The Promised Land
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1. Briefly summarize why Dr. King thought opposition to the war in Vietnam was linked to his goal of
improving the lives of African Americans and poor people.
2. In what ways did this position seem to impact his civil rights campaign?
3. How many cities experienced riots in 1967? According to King, what did the riots represent? How
did the riots influence Dr. King’s decision to create a poor people’s movement?
4. The decision to organize a poor people’s march on Washington was a controversial one. What
were some of the reasons given in support of the position that that the march was a good idea?
What were some of the reasons given by those who thought it was a bad idea?
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5. What brought Dr. King to Memphis Tennessee?
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6. What type of “disruptive” tactics were planned or used by the poor people’s campaign?
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7. Did it seem like the poor people’s march on Washington was a successful tactic? Why or why not?
“Life is just unfair…” or “Liberty and Justice
for All”
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Capitalism and Democracy
“…markets exist in an uneasy tension with welfare
states” (Iceland 2003:194)
Market institutions and Political Institutions exist side
by side in American society
They offer different strategies for the “mobilization
of resources, the distribution of rewards, and the
steering of society” (Korpi 1989: 312)
Politics Against Markets
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“Numerically large collectivities, which are relatively weak in terms of their
market resources, can therefore be expected to attempt to use their more
favorable positions in terms of political resources to affect the conditions
for and outcomes of distributive market conflicts” (Korpi 1989: 312)
Groups of citizens (i.e. workers, senior citizens, poor people) can
be expected to organize to alter the distribution of society’s
resources
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“Social policy can be used by those who are relatively weak in terms of
market resources to extend social rights and thereby enrich the status of
citizenship” (Korp 1989: 313)
People use “Democracy” to provide an alternative logic of
distribution to “Markets”
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Social Security; Labor law; Min wage, TANF, Food Stamps, etc.
Poor People’s Movements: Why they
succeed and how they fail
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“What remained as their main resource
was…disruption, the breakdowns that resulted when
people defied the rules and institutional routines that
ordinarily governed life”(p.707)
A limited power that would not happen very
often…but when “large scale socio-economic change
interrupted those routines” (p.707)
Poor People’s Movements: Why they
succeed and how they fail
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Poor possess a limited power that would not be exercised very
often …but when “large scale socio-economic change
interrupted those routines” (p.707)
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Piven and Cloward thought that attempts to build from
“spontaneous” disruption to organization were doomed to
failure
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Could not really be planned or organized…
Organizations that resulted would be small and ineffective
Moreover, attempts to build organizations led to attempts to
become “respectable” and to reign in disruption…the very thing
that they found to be most effective…
Saul Alinsky Disagreed
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Very famous community organizer
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Agreed with Piven and Cloward
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Hilary Clinton and President Obama connect to him or his
organizations
Electoral politics in US offers little for poor
Disruption and conflict is main source of power
Tactic to get the Mayor of Chicago to meet with group about
community issues?
Tactic to get Kodak to meet with reprsentatives from the
Rochester Community?
Dirsuption…but via permanent
Organizations
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Agreed with Piven and Cloward
Electoral politics in US offers little for poor
 Disruption and conflict is main source of power
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Shit ins, Fart ins, Picketing Buckingham Palace…
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“Very often the most ridiculous tactic can prove the most effective.”
Alinsky
Goal is to disrupt…or credibly threaten to disrupt…
Disagreed with notion that powerful local organizations
could not be built to give voice to poor
Industrial Areas Foundation and BUILD
Politics Against Markets
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BUILD has accomplished many things in Baltimore.
Please briefly describe anyone of their
accomplishments. Be sure to note at least one form
of pressure that BUILD used to win their objective.
Except the living wage…More on that later
BUILD’s Accomplishments…via Disruption
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Banks only lending small proportion of mortgage funds to inner city
neighborhoods
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$660,000 out of $50 million in Baltimore
BUILD collects data
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BUILD asks churches to calculate their savings in local banks
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$15 million
BUILD asks to meet with Bank heads to build relationship
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Banks say no
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BUILD members demand change in pennies
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Banks agree to meet
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Banks finance 500 low income families
BUILD
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Forces Greater Baltimore Committee (GBC) to
provide priority hiring for high school graduates
with 95% attendance rate and GPA of 80
 Politics
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shape markets
Child First Authority
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address educational problems in Baltimore
Politics Against Markets…Baltimore as
Microcosm
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In your own words, try to explain what “relational
power” is. It might be easier to answer this question
after you have read the entire article. Be sure to
use an example/cite from the text in your answer.
From Disruption to Relationships…
Relational Power and Community Building
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Building relationships between community members
and cultivating indigenous leaders
“The Alinsky method, which Obama taught long
afterward, is centered on one-on-one conversations.
The organizer's task is to draw out people's stories,
listening for their goals and ambitions -- "the stuff
that makes them tick," one of his teachers told him.
There he would find the self-interest that would
spark activism.”
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Washington Post Article about President Obama and
Alinsky
Relational Power with Others
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BUILD forges “significant long standing relations with public
officials and civic leaders” (Orr 2001: 71)
Relationships are centered on BUILD’s “capacity to mobilize
hundreds of Baltimore’s citizens (Orr 2001: 72)
BUILD’s Goal: amass power…but not brute power, but
“relational power”
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Not just “protest” but policy initiation and “governance”
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Initially, BUILD may have to force people into relationships, but over
time relationships of trust develop
Economy
State
Civil Society
Informal
Neighborhood
Connections
Food Bank
Church
Individual
Economy
State
Civil Society
Informal
Neighborhood
Connections
BUILD
Food Bank
Church
Individual
Relational Power…an Example
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Public schools failing in many urban areas…
BUILD’s parent organization, the Industrial Areas Foundation
(IAF) brings together parents, teachers, clergy, business
leaders to address problem
IAF builds relationships between social actors…
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Relationships open doors of communication, problem solving
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Relationships help build coalitions that can gain more leverage
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Individual parents are angry that schools are failing
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Parents unite in BUILD which builds relationships with local Banks, Clergy,
Politicians to address issue
Economy
State
Civil Society
Informal
Neighborhood
Connections
BUILD
Food Bank
Church
Individual
Living Wages…
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How did the redevelopment of Baltimore’s inner harbor
ultimately lead to BUILDs living wage campaign. Be sure to cite
the text in your answer.
Briefly summarize what living wage laws require. Be sure to
cite the text in your answer.
Briefly describe the rationale used by proponents of living
wage ordinances. Why do they think these laws are both
necessary and justified? Be sure to cite the text in your answer.
BUILD’s Living Wage Campaign
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BUILD wants to link
“downtown development
projects benefiting from
public subsidies with the
creation of higher-quality
job opportunities for
Baltimore residents” (Orr
2001: 81)
Ministers notice that many
(1/3) of the people using
their food kitchens were
employed, and many
worked downtown.
Wages could not lift a
family out of poverty
BUILD’s Living Wage Campaign
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BUILD demands that
government and business
“consider the plight of the
working poor, the men and
women who are ‘invisible
in the bustling downtown,
who arrive early to
prepare for those
valuable tourists, and who
clean up after the business
executives go home” (Orr
2001: 81)
Logic of the Living Wage
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BUILDs/Living Wage Logic:
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If government provides special loans, incentives, tax breaks and services
to firms, government should require that these firms pay their workers a
living wage.
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Attach strings to government monies
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Welfare moms must work for government money
Businesses must pay a living wage for government money
Businesses that do not pay a living wage unfairly create a tax burden
for society when workers turn to food stamps, housing programs, etc.
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Taxpayers end up subsidizing company profits…That’s not right
Politics Against Markets
1.
How did advocates of the living wage “frame” their
argument? Why did they think a living wage was needed?
What was the basis of their appeals?
2.
How did the opponents of the living wage “frame” their
argument? Why did they think a living was not needed?
3.
NOTE NEXT SLIDE…markets or politics
“Life is just unfair…” or “Liberty and Justice
for All”
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Capitalism and Democracy
“…markets exist in an uneasy tension with welfare
states” (Iceland 2003:194)
Market institutions and Political Institutions exist side
by side in American society
They offer different strategies for the “mobilization
of resources, the distribution of rewards, and the
steering of society” (Korpi 1989: 312)
Politics Against Markets
This a clip from the PBS show NOW that aired earlier in early April
200. As you watch, be attentive to the way politics are used to shape
markets and address poverty
How much were the workers in the video paid at the beginning? At the
end?
1.
What was the basis of power utilized by those who wanted the
university to enact a living wage policy? Money? Economic resources?
Voting? Collective Action?
2.
1.
3.
What were some of the tactics/actions that they engaged in?
Did social actors pursue the living wage policy alone, or was a coalition
of different groups formed? If a coalition, who was part of the
coalition?
Politics Against Markets
One of the students in the video mentions a “culture of
subservience” at the university. He suggests workers are
invisible to students who don’t appreciate what they do. Is it
like that at Widener?
Living Wage Movement Has Spread…
Living Wage Laws
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“Require employers to pay wages that are above federal or state
minimum wage levels.
Only a specific set of workers are covered by living wage ordinances,
usually those employed by businesses that have a contract with a city
or county government or those who receive economic development
subsidies from the locality.
The living wage level is usually the wage a full-time worker would
need to earn to support a family above federal poverty line, ranging
from 100% to 130% of the poverty measurement.
The rationale behind the ordinances is that city and county
governments should not contract with or subsidize employers who pay
poverty-level wages.” http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguides_livingwage_livingwagefacts
Living Wage Laws
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January 30, 2006, University Memorandum,Series 4 - #8
ARAMARK Update
Last spring a group of students and faculty asked that the
university consider its responsibility regarding the wages of
individuals hired by contract employers such as ARAMARK.
Since that time, I personally spoke with ARAMARK hourly
employees about their concerns and had several conversations
about this issue with my faculty and staff colleagues, members
of the Board of Trustees as well as student leaders
Widener Living Wage
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I am pleased to announce that ARAMARK and
Widener have agreed to set the minimum hourly
wage for ARAMARK employees at or above $8.50
per hour beginning in September, 2006. In addition,
there will be an annual inflationary increase so that
within a year the minimum hourly rate for all
ARAMARK employees will be approximately $9.00 an
hour. Increases for current ARAMARK employees will
be based on the performance reviews of the
individuals as set by corporate policy in the future.
Poor People’s Movements
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Now well over 50 city or county ordinances effecting
over 100,000 workers nationwide
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Do you think this is positive thing or a negative thing? Do you
think it will help alleviate poverty in a meaningful way?
Market wage vs. Fair Wage
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Capitalism and Democracy
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“…markets exist in an uneasy tension with welfare states” (Iceland
2003:194)
Market institutions and Political Institutions exist side by side in
American society
They offer different strategies for the “mobilization of
resources, the distribution of rewards, and the steering of
society” (Korpi 1989: 312)
Why do you think that there are not more poor people’s
movements aimed at addressing low wages, substandard
housing, failing education, and the other problems that the
poor face?
Outline
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Poor People’s Movements
Wake County, North Carolina
Harlem Children’s Zone
 60
Minutes
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Thinking Sociologically
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Next week due on TUESDAY…
 As
always, optional review questions on readings
 Final ANONYMOUS Reflection questions that are a
mandatory assignment
Poor Town, Poor Human
Capital…And the game of life
Algebr 4 yrs of 4 yrs of AP
Reading Math
a
math
science courses SAT
SAT
before
9th
Write
SAT
Attend
College
Chester
0%
10%
1%
2
347
336
348
38%
Swarthm
ore/Wal
lingford
88%
95%
97%
21
555
564
550
90%
Improving the Human Capital of the
Poor
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The New York Times article describes an innovative
education policy that was implemented in Raleigh
North Carolina. Please describe what this policy is
and discuss whether or not it has improved
educational outcomes.
Raleigh, NC
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Schools integrated using income as key factor
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No school should have more than 40 percent low income
students
To achieve this, students sometimes attend schools that
are not the closest ones to their house
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Suburban students bused to magnet schools in city
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Urban kids bused to suburban schools
Results?
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Wake County 1995…40 percent of Black students in grades 3-8
scored at grade level
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Wake County 2005…80 percent did…
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What has been offered as an explanation for the success?
“Low income students who have an opportunity to go to middle
class schools are surrounded by peers who have bigger dreams
and who are more academically encouraged. They are
surrounded by parents who are more likely to be involved active in
the school. And they are taught by teachers who more likely are
highly qualified than the teachers in low income schools.”-Kahlenberg
Solutions…
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Do you think that the policy of integrating students by
social class is a good or bad policy? Why?
Why might Mark Rank applaud such efforts, but also
note that it won’t reduce poverty in society as a whole?
Do you think it could be implemented in Delaware
County to help the kids you tutor?
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8. Use google or the search engine of your choice
to find out what recently happened to the
innovative education policy described in number 7.
North Carolina county schools reverse busing
law By David Zucchino 3/24/2010
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In a contentious 5-4 vote, the Wake County school board voted late Tuesday to approve a new policy that will
assign students to schools in their neighborhoods under a "community school zone" program.
Opponents of the move said it will create more schools with high concentrations of poor, African American students
in the 140,000-student district. A coalition of supporters of the current policy said the new policy will create
"have" and "have-not" schools.
The vote ended three decades in which schools in Raleigh and surrounding Wake County used either race or
socioeconomic status as significant factors in school assignments.
The new policy was spearheaded by parents and their supporters angry about the busing of students out of their
neighborhoods. Conservative opponents of the current diversity policy gained control of the nine-member school
board after elections in November.
Since 2000, the district has used socioeconomic status as a prime factor in determining student assignments, with
the goal of creating diversity.
Socioeconomic status is determined primarily by the percentage of students in the federal school lunch program,
many of them poor African Americans but others from low-income white or Latino families.
The 159-school district is 51% white, 25% black and 11% Latino.Even with busing, 85% of district students attend
schools within five miles of their homes, Evans said.
Improving the Human Capital of the
Poor
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5. In Wilson’s article on The Obama administration’s
proposals to address concentrated poverty, he
discusses the Harlem Children’s Zone. Briefly
describe what this project is.
Remind you of other “welfare
states?”
Improving the Human Capital of the
Poor
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Harlem Children’s Zone
Improving the Human Capital of the
Poor
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Harlem Children’s Zone
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Ok…interesting…but does it work…
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Trickier question than one might think…
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Let’s think sociologically…
Drawing Conclusions: Self Selection
Bias?
Baby College
High Achieving
Kids?
Self Selection Bias
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It may be that the most savvy, motivated, “together”
parents send their kids to charter schools
Their kids would have done ok anywhere
Not
But
Promise
Academy
Motivated
Parents
High Achieving
Kids
Promise
Academy
High Achieving
Kids
So…how does a social scientist
deal with this possibility?
Experimental Design
Lottery Controls for Parent Effect…
Random Lottery
of Applicants
Promise
Academy
Educational
Outcome
No Promise
Academy
Educational
Outcome
Results…does the HCZ seem to
work?
Evidence of a “Spectacular Effect”
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An effect…but still questions…can anyone
remember? Or maybe just reason through?
Evidence of an Effect…but what exactly explains the
improvement…School or Neighborhood Improvement?
Health
Care?
After
School
Programs?
PreSchool?
High
Achievement
Baby
College?
Charter
Schools?
Wilson presents evidence which leads him to believe it is
mostly the schools…but the debate continues
Differences?
Lottery
Winners in
Zone
Non Lottery
Winners in
Zone
In Zone bud
Did Not Apply
In Promised
Academy but
not in zone
Obama, Canada and Public Policy: Good
Idea? Do you think it can be replicated?
Improving the Human Capital of the
Poor
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Harlem Children’s Zone
Next…
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The Future of Poverty