What is it about?

Social movements in such as Occupy draw on the 'new left's' understanding of social change as a fragmented and non-linear process. This conceptualisation has little to contribute to social struggles in highly marginalised settings.

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Why is it important?

Many people say that Paulo Freire's theory of change is out of date, and has been superseded by ideas arising from the burgeoning global protest movements of the 21st century. This article argues against imposing inappropriate western theories of change onto less privileged settings arguing that Freire's work remains a powerful starting point for activism in extremely difficult settings.

Perspectives

There is no 'one size fits all' model of political change for the 21st century. There is a need for a pastiche of approaches to accommodate political movements in different times and places.

Prof Catherine Campbell
London School of Economics and Political Science

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This page is a summary of: Community mobilisation in the 21st century: Updating our theory of social change?, Journal of Health Psychology, September 2013, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/1359105313500262.
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