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Community Participation in Urban China: Identifying Mobilization Factors

Boston College

The rise of community participation is premised on perceived benefits that participation brings to community programs in terms of added efficiency, sustainability, and the collective community power. It is critical for social service professionals to gain the knowledge and skills to mobilize community members to join together and move from personal social concerns to collective concerns via organized community actions. However, the type of people who are likely to become involved in community mobilization efforts, and the motives for such participation, vary by country and culture. The purpose of this article is to present an urban community in Beijing and to identify factors that have affected community mobilization in urban China. Why might community mobilization factors in urban China be of interest to Western community practitioners and scholars? What is the appropriate theoretical framework within which to consider them? This article discusses these questions and raises questions for future research.

Key Words: community participation • community mobilization • urban city • China

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This version was published on December 1, 2007

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 4, 622-642 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0899764006297675


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Qingwen Xu Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?