Book review of Robert Fisher, Ed., The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2009. $69.95 hardcover, $27.95 paperback

Beck, Elizabeth

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The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 37 Issue 4 December - Special Issue on Homelessness in Canada Article 18 2010 Review of The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Robert Fisher, Ed. Reviewed by Elizabeth Beck. Elizabeth Beck Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw  Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Beck, Elizabeth (2010) "Review of The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Robert Fisher, Ed. Reviewed by Elizabeth Beck.," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 37 : Iss. 4 , Article 18. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol37/iss4/18 This Book Review is brought to you by the Western Michigan University School of Social Work. For more information, please contact wmu-scholarworks@wmich.edu. result in their inability to successfully adjust in times of eco-nomic transformations.The strength of this book is that it highlights multiplefactors that result in homelessness for many people-a shiftfrom a Soviet-style to an open-market economy which causeda drastic increase in poverty, especially among people withmental illness and substance abuse problems or in dysfunc-tional families. Eloquently, the researcher incorporates person-al experiences and reflections, as well as qualitative inquiry,to highlight the subjective perception of the problem throughlinguistic and cultural idiosyncratic expressions.On the other hand, there is a need to understand the mul-tiple factors that can potentially cause homelessness based onage, family construction, substance abuse problems, criminalrecord, policy changes, economic disadvantages, or personalchoice. Moreover, the problems of bank and housing fraudare especially important to evaluate in transitional economies.Finally, the argument that violence among generations is oneof the causes of homelessness is worth further attention.In sum, the book stresses the concept of space through thesocial stratification paradigm and the reality of having limitedliving space provided by the welfare state and charities to thehomeless. The role of social capital and family support are pre-sented as almost the only guaranteed pathways for individu-als to remain human and come back to established society. Theunderstanding of the larger context and the conditions thatlead to loss of housing in Russia as well as how personal prob-lems affect human dignity are worth further investigation.Sviatlana Smashnaya, Boston UniversityRobert Fisher, Ed., The People Shall Rule: ACORN, CommunityOrganizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice. Nashville,TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2009. $69.95 hardcover,$27.95 paperback.In The People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing,and the Struggle for Economic Justice, editor Robert Fisher con-tinues his efforts to advance theory, strategies, and tacticsof achieving social justice while providing communityBook Reviews 215Journal of Sociology & Social Welfareorganizers with frameworks to support their work. In previ-ous work Fisher achieved these goals by exploring historicalmodels of organizing and examining specific issues, such asthe influence of social and economic conditions, on commu-nity organizing efforts. In The People Shall Rule, Fisher uses theAssociation of Community Organizations for Reform Now(ACORN) as a vehicle to expand our understanding of the field ofcommunity organizing while reminding his readers of our col-lective obligation to pursue economic justice.At the time the book was written ACORN was, accordingto its website, "the nation's largest community organizationof low- and moderate-income families, working together forsocial justice and stronger communities." Today ACORN isbeleaguered, making framing a book review awkward as it ishard to know if the book serves as an historical artifact or areview of an existing organization. The edited volume contains12 chapters that explore ACORN from theoretical and appliedperspectives. Individually, the chapters provide organizerswith tools and frameworks to support their work.Against a backdrop of controversy, ACORN has becomeemblematic of some contemporary tensions. For example, inthe first chapter, Peter Dreier juxtaposes the possibilities ofcommunity organizing represented by President Obama's in-spirational presidential campaign with contrary challenges,such as attacks from the right and fragmentation of the left.While the strategic goals of many community organizingefforts often have a single focus, Dreier points out that ACORNhas been successful in bridging strategic areas. ACORN's workhas included building a membership organization, advancingelectoral politics, and combining organizing with communi-ty development and social services. While ACORN's use ofmultiple strategies has been effective, it will be interesting toobserve in subsequent analyses if ACORN's wide focus hascontributed to its present problems.Most chapters are case studies about ACORN coveringhistorical, comparative, empirical, and narrative enquiries.Topics range from school reform, housing, predatory prac-tices of tax preparation organizations, voter mobilizationand gentrification. Each chapter has lessons for organizers inthe areas of strategy, leadership, partnership, issue-framing,216identifying targets and tactics, motivating people/groups forsocial change, and how "old fashioned organizing [was ableto] trump resources and sophistication ... of a well fundedpublic relations effort."Fisher claims that many community organizing efforts arehampered by four dominant trends within the field: (1) a turnfrom organizing for economic justice to culture; (2) a turn fromoppositional strategies to community building; (3) a turn frombuilding power to local organizing; and (4) a turn from socialmovement building to community organizing-and that thesetrends dampen social justice efforts. ACORN has bucked thesetrends, and Fisher uses its successful 38 years to remind or-ganizers that there are alternatives to accepting dominanttrends.Fiduciary issues raised against ACORN-a source of pos-sibly trumped up scandal-are not addressed until page 251.Chapter author Gary Delgado links the questions of ACORN'sfuture existence to the possibilities associated with "developingthe internal and external strategies to grow beyond" its exist-ing success. ACORN has seen more difficulties since Delgadowrote these words, and yet ACORN still has many lessons toteach. These include: how many of ACORN's problems are aresult of attacks from the right, and therefore an outgrowth ofits success, and how many result from poor management deci-sions that left the organization vulnerable to such attacks?No matter what the future of ACORN entails, the future ofcommunity practice theory is always strengthened by Fisher'sprobing eye, and this book is no exception.Elizabeth Beck, Georgia State UniversityFrances Smith Foster, 'Til Death or Distance Do Us Part: Love andMarriage in African America. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2010. $21.95 hardcover.Documenting the history of Africans in America fromslavery through the century has typically proved to be a dif-ficult task. Many slaves and, later, free Blacks were not liter-ate, making it difficult to document the events in their lives.Researchers interested in writing about the lives of Africans inBook Reviews 217

Review of \u3cem\u3eThe People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice.\u3c/em\u3e Robert Fisher, Ed. Reviewed by Elizabeth Beck.

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Review of \u3cem\u3eThe People Shall Rule: ACORN, Community Organizing, and the Struggle for Economic Justice.\u3c/em\u3e Robert Fisher, Ed. Reviewed by Elizabeth Beck.

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