Ebook: Democracy in the Making: How Activist Groups Form

With civic engagement commonly understood to be on the decline and traditional bases of community and means of engagement increasingly fractured, how do people become involved in collective civic action? How do activist groups form? What hampers the ability of these groups to invigorate political life, and what enables it? Kathleen Blee's groundbreaking new study provides a provocative answer: the early times matter. By following grassroots groups from their very beginnings, Blee traces how their sense of possibility shrinks over time as groups develop a shared sense of who they are that forec.;Cover Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgments; Democracy in the Making; 1. Making Democracy; 2. Theorizing the Emergence of Activism; 3. Who Belongs?; 4. What's the Problem?; 5. How Should We Treat Each Other?; 6. Lessons; Appendices; End Notes; Bibliography; Index.