Abstract
Through an ethnographic analysis of activism in Oak Park, a working-class neighborhood of Sacramento, California, this work explores conflict in the ways different community groups define social change and reveals how different perspectives on such change and competing strategies of neighborhood improvement help shape residents’ claims to the city. Sources of Data: Data were gathered by the author’s participation in community groups and non-profit organizations in Oak Park and observation of their attempts to improve the quality of life for residents in the community. The author’s fieldwork was further substantiated by the use of extensive anthropological and sociological research in print, as well as a small amount of research from other fields. In addition, the author made use of historical news articles from the Sacramento Bee as well as the Sacramento News and Review, a news and entertainment publication. Conclusions Reached: Efforts to improve the quality of life for residents occur through revitalization projects, grass-roots projects, labor organizing, and programs of non-profit agencies. The ethnographic data highlight the ways that community groups are facilitating social change in the gentrifying neighborhood of Oak Park. Although the community groups’ agendas for social change are aimed at improving the quality of life for residents, their efforts are heterogeneous and different strategies to facilitate such change are fueled by various notions of social change of the middle-class, women, and activist residents. Analysis of the data suggests that groups’ efforts to improve the quality of life for residents in Oak Park are counterproductive and do not improve the quality of life for all residents, especially the poor. Moreover, the author perceives the occurrence of what are often referred to as “dilemmas of activism.” While these projects benefit the overall quality of life for the middle-class and promote a middle-class lifestyle, they in fact contradict their own objective, which is to improve the quality of life for the poor. Poor residents are being displaced in the neighborhood, are depending more on social services to sustain their livelihood, and some are even resisting gentrification of the neighborhood as they struggle to maintain their lifeways. The strategies used by community groups to facilitate their notions of social change cause social conflict among residents as they struggle and compete to attain what they perceive as their rights to the city. In hindsight, the efforts of community groups to improve the quality of life for poor residents in urban and ethnically diverse neighborhoods need further study. By analyzing dilemmas of activism, we can better understand questions about who benefits from community activism and how to address social issues in low-income communities.