Power in Community: research and Social Action Scoping Study

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bradford
Department Name: Faculty of Social Sciences

Abstract

This Scoping Review explores the academic debate on power and talks with communities about power. At a time when the state is proposing to „disengage? from society and hand „power? to communities, it reviews power in communities. The academic debate points to a paradigm shift in understanding power, from power over to power to. Although not all power over is dominating power, the latter remains the conventional form of power in practice. In talking to a range of groups in four socially varied communities across the north of England, it became clear that amongst those seeking change at the grass roots, most understand power in non dominating forms, as about cooperation, listening, sharing and enabling others. Non dominating forms of power, it is argued, offer the best potential for building participation and connecting communities. However, they are not the most effective for acting on power. Those who use them reject the way power is conventionally exercised and can end up acting on the margins and giving up expectations of wider impacts. The Scoping Review asks, therefore, how can non dominating forms of power become effective in changing power and power structures without reproducing dominating power?

Publications

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Pearce J (2013) Power and the Twenty-first Century Activist: From the Neighbourhood to the Square in Development and Change

 
Description This research produced a scoping review on the nature of power in communities. It explored the academic debate on power and involved discussions with communities about power. At a time when the state has proposed to 'disengage' from society and hand 'power' to communities, the paper reviewed the nature of power in communities. The academic debate has involved a paradigm shift in understanding power, from power over to power to. However, power over or dominating power has remained the conventional form of power in practice. The scoping paper argued that there was still a need to hang onto such an understanding of power for that reason, but that today we can park that idea and focus on a much wider range of issues around power. The argument for instance, that we have to view power as emanating from an agent and in terms of a dichotomy between the 'powerful' and 'powerless' has been questioned. We cannot only see power as a negative force upon us, but as something which is part of our social world and which forms our subjectivity and structures our dispositions in ways that we reconfirm through life but can also 'unconfirm'. The Scoping Review looked at how the idea of empowerment and tools for analysing power have been developed to build a critical consciousness around power for those who feel 'powerless'. However, it argued that there was a need to go beyond 'empowerment' to transform power itself. In talking to a range of groups in four socially varied communities across the north of England, it became clear that amongst those seeking change at the grass roots, most understood power in non dominating forms, as about cooperation, listening, sharing and enabling others. Non dominating forms of power, it was argued, offered the best potential for building participation and connecting communities. However, they are not the most effective for acting on power. Those who use them reject the way power is conventionally exercised and end up acting on the margins and giving up expectations of wider impacts. The Scoping Review asked, therefore, how can non dominating forms of power become effective in changing power and power structures without reproducing dominating power?
Exploitation Route The findings of this scoping review have been taken forward into the co-construction of a Community University with funding from the ESRC and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The participants in the'Power Talks' came together to design the bid for the Community University on Power and Participation. The bid was successful, but some of those involved in the 'Power Talks' were no longer able to participate by the time the Community University got underway, due to illness and personal factors. There were nevertheless a core group, and it is this core group that formed part of the Community University Council, enabling local activists to co-run the Community University and strengthening strong links between academics and activists aiming to bring about change in housing and community relations in Bradford District, for example. Following year long Community University, some participants have continued the process of co production and co reflection of issues around power and participation in their localities through the Thinkspace of the Programme for a Peaceful City, University of Bradford. We therefore have a story of continuity and development from the original Scoping Review, which has centred on ongoing reflection between academics and community activists around power and 'non dominating power' and how the latter might enhance effectiveness for change. The International Centre for Participation Studies which is the institutional framework within Bradford Peace Studies for this process along with the Programme for a Peaceful City, was also part of a 'learning adviser' team to the government's Community Organising Programme. Learning from the Scoping Review and the Community University has fed into that Programme through this role. In addition, a collaboration was set up with the Civic Driven Change group of the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, which has enabled the findings from the Scoping Review to feed into a global debate about change and power. An Academic article was published in Development and Change 2013, which explored the idea of 'Power and the Activist: from the Neighbourhood to the Square'. Further academic development was channelled through a workshop of the Journal of Power in Galway Ireland, in 2013. The Power in Community research and my subsequent ESRC/JRF Comm-Uni-ty project, have now been taken forward in my work with Salford Council to build a Learning City. I began this work in 2016, and also got another AHRC award to work with two other previous AHRC award holders on how our AHRC research could feed into the Learning City.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice
 
Description This project continues through the Community Thinkspace which is reported in ResearchFish under the ESRC
First Year Of Impact 2014
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy
Impact Types Societal
 
Description Connecting Communities Catalyst Fund
Amount £2,000 (GBP)
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2017 
End 10/2017
 
Description Salford's Learning City 
Organisation Salford City College (SCC)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution My role in this is to bring the ideas of the Community University in Bradford to Salford. I participate in regular meetings with the working group we have set up, and I also am getting to know Salford city and groups interested in the idea of 'learning' as a lifelong activity. In addition to the partners above , Salford Community and Voluntary Sector have joined the Learning City Steering Group which meets monthly and the Salford Foundation Trust. In the course of 2020 the Learning City Steering Group made of the partners listed, has met regularly and is planning a formal launch of Salford Learning City on 25 March 2021. During COVID19 we continued to meet virtually. I continue to play a key role, bringing my experience with the Community University and other experiences from participatory research in Latin America to the process. I was a key speaker at the launch conference. On 28 March 2022, we will be presenting our progress so far to Salford Councillors, and I will be the key speaker. Our Steering Group meetings are monthly (virtually) , with guests from varied connected learning processes in Salford who feed in their experiences so that we can articulate initiatives across the City under the umbrella of Salford Learning City
Collaborator Contribution The 'Learning City' has been adopted as part of Salford City Council's portfolio of activities, located in the Children and Adult Services Directorate. All the partners are now developing ideas and pilot projects. The University of Salford has provided student volunteers to help with the outreach work and Salford College is helping to build a Salford Learning City App.. Salford Council has allocated a place on the website since 2020, we held virtual meetings with a group of women working with the one of the partners to check that the website and the leaflet we have produced resonate for them. The URL is below. All the partners worked with community groups in the city to prepare a community panel for the launch of the Learning City on 25 March 2020, which was very well attended, lively and engaging. It had to be held online due to COVID . It involved a hackathon, of break out groups, to ensure that Salford residents help shape the Learning City. The City Mayor and the Chief Executive of Salford launched the event.It has been followed up by A Salford Peoples Panel to ensure that voices from the City feed into the direction of the Learning City..
Impact We now have agreed shared principles as a working group. We have extended the partnership and now have regular monthly online meetings. An operational working group has been formed (The Learning City Steering Group). A leaflet has been produced with inputs from all partners and Salford residents and was launched at the Learning City launch in 2020. T Covid19 forced the postponement of a plan to set up a Community University in Salford, but as soon as possible, I will return to this., however, I have begun working with an academic from Wolverhampton University and a Phd student at Cambridge University, both of whom were born in Salford. The process is multidisciplinary in that the Learning CIty is trying to value all knowledges and experiences, and engaging people in wanting to learn without this being confined to formal education. These are the principles from Popular Education in Latin America, from which this process originated and which were applied in the original research grant while I was at Bradford University, Peace Studies and Director of the International Centre of Participation Studies. The Learning City App will help connect citizens with learning opportunities of varied kinds, and is being designed with the help of students from Salford College.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Salford's Learning City 
Organisation Salford City Council
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution My role in this is to bring the ideas of the Community University in Bradford to Salford. I participate in regular meetings with the working group we have set up, and I also am getting to know Salford city and groups interested in the idea of 'learning' as a lifelong activity. In addition to the partners above , Salford Community and Voluntary Sector have joined the Learning City Steering Group which meets monthly and the Salford Foundation Trust. In the course of 2020 the Learning City Steering Group made of the partners listed, has met regularly and is planning a formal launch of Salford Learning City on 25 March 2021. During COVID19 we continued to meet virtually. I continue to play a key role, bringing my experience with the Community University and other experiences from participatory research in Latin America to the process. I was a key speaker at the launch conference. On 28 March 2022, we will be presenting our progress so far to Salford Councillors, and I will be the key speaker. Our Steering Group meetings are monthly (virtually) , with guests from varied connected learning processes in Salford who feed in their experiences so that we can articulate initiatives across the City under the umbrella of Salford Learning City
Collaborator Contribution The 'Learning City' has been adopted as part of Salford City Council's portfolio of activities, located in the Children and Adult Services Directorate. All the partners are now developing ideas and pilot projects. The University of Salford has provided student volunteers to help with the outreach work and Salford College is helping to build a Salford Learning City App.. Salford Council has allocated a place on the website since 2020, we held virtual meetings with a group of women working with the one of the partners to check that the website and the leaflet we have produced resonate for them. The URL is below. All the partners worked with community groups in the city to prepare a community panel for the launch of the Learning City on 25 March 2020, which was very well attended, lively and engaging. It had to be held online due to COVID . It involved a hackathon, of break out groups, to ensure that Salford residents help shape the Learning City. The City Mayor and the Chief Executive of Salford launched the event.It has been followed up by A Salford Peoples Panel to ensure that voices from the City feed into the direction of the Learning City..
Impact We now have agreed shared principles as a working group. We have extended the partnership and now have regular monthly online meetings. An operational working group has been formed (The Learning City Steering Group). A leaflet has been produced with inputs from all partners and Salford residents and was launched at the Learning City launch in 2020. T Covid19 forced the postponement of a plan to set up a Community University in Salford, but as soon as possible, I will return to this., however, I have begun working with an academic from Wolverhampton University and a Phd student at Cambridge University, both of whom were born in Salford. The process is multidisciplinary in that the Learning CIty is trying to value all knowledges and experiences, and engaging people in wanting to learn without this being confined to formal education. These are the principles from Popular Education in Latin America, from which this process originated and which were applied in the original research grant while I was at Bradford University, Peace Studies and Director of the International Centre of Participation Studies. The Learning City App will help connect citizens with learning opportunities of varied kinds, and is being designed with the help of students from Salford College.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Salford's Learning City 
Organisation Salford Community and Voluntary Services
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution My role in this is to bring the ideas of the Community University in Bradford to Salford. I participate in regular meetings with the working group we have set up, and I also am getting to know Salford city and groups interested in the idea of 'learning' as a lifelong activity. In addition to the partners above , Salford Community and Voluntary Sector have joined the Learning City Steering Group which meets monthly and the Salford Foundation Trust. In the course of 2020 the Learning City Steering Group made of the partners listed, has met regularly and is planning a formal launch of Salford Learning City on 25 March 2021. During COVID19 we continued to meet virtually. I continue to play a key role, bringing my experience with the Community University and other experiences from participatory research in Latin America to the process. I was a key speaker at the launch conference. On 28 March 2022, we will be presenting our progress so far to Salford Councillors, and I will be the key speaker. Our Steering Group meetings are monthly (virtually) , with guests from varied connected learning processes in Salford who feed in their experiences so that we can articulate initiatives across the City under the umbrella of Salford Learning City
Collaborator Contribution The 'Learning City' has been adopted as part of Salford City Council's portfolio of activities, located in the Children and Adult Services Directorate. All the partners are now developing ideas and pilot projects. The University of Salford has provided student volunteers to help with the outreach work and Salford College is helping to build a Salford Learning City App.. Salford Council has allocated a place on the website since 2020, we held virtual meetings with a group of women working with the one of the partners to check that the website and the leaflet we have produced resonate for them. The URL is below. All the partners worked with community groups in the city to prepare a community panel for the launch of the Learning City on 25 March 2020, which was very well attended, lively and engaging. It had to be held online due to COVID . It involved a hackathon, of break out groups, to ensure that Salford residents help shape the Learning City. The City Mayor and the Chief Executive of Salford launched the event.It has been followed up by A Salford Peoples Panel to ensure that voices from the City feed into the direction of the Learning City..
Impact We now have agreed shared principles as a working group. We have extended the partnership and now have regular monthly online meetings. An operational working group has been formed (The Learning City Steering Group). A leaflet has been produced with inputs from all partners and Salford residents and was launched at the Learning City launch in 2020. T Covid19 forced the postponement of a plan to set up a Community University in Salford, but as soon as possible, I will return to this., however, I have begun working with an academic from Wolverhampton University and a Phd student at Cambridge University, both of whom were born in Salford. The process is multidisciplinary in that the Learning CIty is trying to value all knowledges and experiences, and engaging people in wanting to learn without this being confined to formal education. These are the principles from Popular Education in Latin America, from which this process originated and which were applied in the original research grant while I was at Bradford University, Peace Studies and Director of the International Centre of Participation Studies. The Learning City App will help connect citizens with learning opportunities of varied kinds, and is being designed with the help of students from Salford College.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Salford's Learning City 
Organisation The Lowry
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution My role in this is to bring the ideas of the Community University in Bradford to Salford. I participate in regular meetings with the working group we have set up, and I also am getting to know Salford city and groups interested in the idea of 'learning' as a lifelong activity. In addition to the partners above , Salford Community and Voluntary Sector have joined the Learning City Steering Group which meets monthly and the Salford Foundation Trust. In the course of 2020 the Learning City Steering Group made of the partners listed, has met regularly and is planning a formal launch of Salford Learning City on 25 March 2021. During COVID19 we continued to meet virtually. I continue to play a key role, bringing my experience with the Community University and other experiences from participatory research in Latin America to the process. I was a key speaker at the launch conference. On 28 March 2022, we will be presenting our progress so far to Salford Councillors, and I will be the key speaker. Our Steering Group meetings are monthly (virtually) , with guests from varied connected learning processes in Salford who feed in their experiences so that we can articulate initiatives across the City under the umbrella of Salford Learning City
Collaborator Contribution The 'Learning City' has been adopted as part of Salford City Council's portfolio of activities, located in the Children and Adult Services Directorate. All the partners are now developing ideas and pilot projects. The University of Salford has provided student volunteers to help with the outreach work and Salford College is helping to build a Salford Learning City App.. Salford Council has allocated a place on the website since 2020, we held virtual meetings with a group of women working with the one of the partners to check that the website and the leaflet we have produced resonate for them. The URL is below. All the partners worked with community groups in the city to prepare a community panel for the launch of the Learning City on 25 March 2020, which was very well attended, lively and engaging. It had to be held online due to COVID . It involved a hackathon, of break out groups, to ensure that Salford residents help shape the Learning City. The City Mayor and the Chief Executive of Salford launched the event.It has been followed up by A Salford Peoples Panel to ensure that voices from the City feed into the direction of the Learning City..
Impact We now have agreed shared principles as a working group. We have extended the partnership and now have regular monthly online meetings. An operational working group has been formed (The Learning City Steering Group). A leaflet has been produced with inputs from all partners and Salford residents and was launched at the Learning City launch in 2020. T Covid19 forced the postponement of a plan to set up a Community University in Salford, but as soon as possible, I will return to this., however, I have begun working with an academic from Wolverhampton University and a Phd student at Cambridge University, both of whom were born in Salford. The process is multidisciplinary in that the Learning CIty is trying to value all knowledges and experiences, and engaging people in wanting to learn without this being confined to formal education. These are the principles from Popular Education in Latin America, from which this process originated and which were applied in the original research grant while I was at Bradford University, Peace Studies and Director of the International Centre of Participation Studies. The Learning City App will help connect citizens with learning opportunities of varied kinds, and is being designed with the help of students from Salford College.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Salford's Learning City 
Organisation University of Salford
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution My role in this is to bring the ideas of the Community University in Bradford to Salford. I participate in regular meetings with the working group we have set up, and I also am getting to know Salford city and groups interested in the idea of 'learning' as a lifelong activity. In addition to the partners above , Salford Community and Voluntary Sector have joined the Learning City Steering Group which meets monthly and the Salford Foundation Trust. In the course of 2020 the Learning City Steering Group made of the partners listed, has met regularly and is planning a formal launch of Salford Learning City on 25 March 2021. During COVID19 we continued to meet virtually. I continue to play a key role, bringing my experience with the Community University and other experiences from participatory research in Latin America to the process. I was a key speaker at the launch conference. On 28 March 2022, we will be presenting our progress so far to Salford Councillors, and I will be the key speaker. Our Steering Group meetings are monthly (virtually) , with guests from varied connected learning processes in Salford who feed in their experiences so that we can articulate initiatives across the City under the umbrella of Salford Learning City
Collaborator Contribution The 'Learning City' has been adopted as part of Salford City Council's portfolio of activities, located in the Children and Adult Services Directorate. All the partners are now developing ideas and pilot projects. The University of Salford has provided student volunteers to help with the outreach work and Salford College is helping to build a Salford Learning City App.. Salford Council has allocated a place on the website since 2020, we held virtual meetings with a group of women working with the one of the partners to check that the website and the leaflet we have produced resonate for them. The URL is below. All the partners worked with community groups in the city to prepare a community panel for the launch of the Learning City on 25 March 2020, which was very well attended, lively and engaging. It had to be held online due to COVID . It involved a hackathon, of break out groups, to ensure that Salford residents help shape the Learning City. The City Mayor and the Chief Executive of Salford launched the event.It has been followed up by A Salford Peoples Panel to ensure that voices from the City feed into the direction of the Learning City..
Impact We now have agreed shared principles as a working group. We have extended the partnership and now have regular monthly online meetings. An operational working group has been formed (The Learning City Steering Group). A leaflet has been produced with inputs from all partners and Salford residents and was launched at the Learning City launch in 2020. T Covid19 forced the postponement of a plan to set up a Community University in Salford, but as soon as possible, I will return to this., however, I have begun working with an academic from Wolverhampton University and a Phd student at Cambridge University, both of whom were born in Salford. The process is multidisciplinary in that the Learning CIty is trying to value all knowledges and experiences, and engaging people in wanting to learn without this being confined to formal education. These are the principles from Popular Education in Latin America, from which this process originated and which were applied in the original research grant while I was at Bradford University, Peace Studies and Director of the International Centre of Participation Studies. The Learning City App will help connect citizens with learning opportunities of varied kinds, and is being designed with the help of students from Salford College.
Start Year 2016
 
Description CommUnity Thinkspace 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Participants of from the ESRC/JRF funded CommUNIty knowledge exchange project (April 2013-March 2014) agreed to carry on meeting as a network from June 2014. A core group of academics and practitioners/activists from the original project agreed to keep meeting.The key aim was to carry on conversations about power, resistance and change.
The key hopes for the network articulated in our first meeting June 2014 included:
* Seeing places/ideas in action.
* Staying connected with CommUNIty participants and making new connections.
* Help from experienced people with formatting writing.
* Opportunities for reflection.
* An opportunity to be stimulated, to share ideas and think of things.
* Find something locally (or nationally) that I will become active in, in a belief that it will have an impact.
* Connecting more and more varied networks of community activists/people wanting to change things.
* Bounce ideas off each other.
* Learn from each other.
* More imaginative ideas for action/connection with artist activists.
CommUNIty Thinkspace conversations through 2014 & 2015 have included: the nature of democracy, trade unionism, art and activism, responses to the 2015 General Election & sharing stories from activism. We try and meet once every other month. Themes are agreed collectively and there is no distinction made between academic and activist. The meetings are organised by members with the support of the PPC PeaceHub Community Associate.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016