Why don’t social movement leaders and community organizers understand each other? Conflicting logics of social change

Community organizers and social movement leaders often struggle to understand each other’s approaches to social action and social change, reflecting a long history of tension between these traditions. From the perspective of each side, the approaches of the other can seem illogical and misguided. This article argues that there is a discernible pattern in these conflicts, grounded in a set of key conceptual disagreements. Because each tradition is addressing different pragmatic challenges and seeking different goals, they have developed very different logics of strategy and action. The article focuses on three areas of conceptual divergence: theories of power, approaches to structure, and the aims of action. If organizing and social movement groups can better understand why they approach social action differently, the two traditions may be able to find ways to work more effectively together and gain new insights about ways to foster social change.