Edward T. Walker – författare

Although 'grassroots' conjures up images of independent citizen organizing, much mass participation today is sponsored by elite consultants working for corporations and powerful interest groups. This book pulls back the curtain to reveal a lucrative industry of consulting firms that incentivize public activism as a marketable service. Edward Walker illustrates how, spurred by the post-sixties advocacy explosion and rising business political engagement, elite consultants have deployed new technologies to commercialize mass participation. Using evidence from interviews, surveys and public records, Grassroots for Hire paints a detailed portrait of these consultants and their clients. Today, Fortune 500 firms hire them to counter-mobilize against regulation, protest or controversy. Ironically, some advocacy groups now outsource organizing to them. Walker also finds that consultants are reshaping both participation and policymaking, but unethical 'astroturf' strategies are often ineffective. This pathbreaking book calls for a rethinking of interactions between corporations, advocacy groups, and elites in politics.

Although 'grassroots' conjures up images of independent citizen organizing, much mass participation today is sponsored by elite consultants working for corporations and powerful interest groups. This book pulls back the curtain to reveal a lucrative industry of consulting firms that incentivize public activism as a marketable service. Edward Walker illustrates how, spurred by the post-sixties advocacy explosion and rising business political engagement, elite consultants have deployed new technologies to commercialize mass participation. Using evidence from interviews, surveys and public records, Grassroots for Hire paints a detailed portrait of these consultants and their clients. Today, Fortune 500 firms hire them to counter-mobilize against regulation, protest or controversy. Ironically, some advocacy groups now outsource organizing to them. Walker also finds that consultants are reshaping both participation and policymaking, but unethical 'astroturf' strategies are often ineffective. This pathbreaking book calls for a rethinking of interactions between corporations, advocacy groups, and elites in politics.

Although ''grassroots'' conjures up images of independent citizen organizing, much mass participation today is sponsored by elite consultants working for corporations and powerful interest groups. This book pulls back the curtain to reveal a lucrative industry of consulting firms that incentivize public activism as a marketable service. Edward Walker illustrates how, spurred by the post-sixties advocacy explosion and rising business political engagement, elite consultants have deployed new technologies to commercialize mass participation. Using evidence from interviews, surveys and public records, Grassroots for Hire paints a detailed portrait of these consultants and their clients. Today, Fortune 500 firms hire them to counter-mobilize against regulation, protest or controversy. Ironically, some advocacy groups now outsource organizing to them. Walker also finds that consultants are reshaping both participation and policymaking, but unethical ''astroturf'' strategies are often ineffective. This pathbreaking book calls for a rethinking of interactions between corporations, advocacy groups, and elites in politics.

Although ''grassroots'' conjures up images of independent citizen organizing, much mass participation today is sponsored by elite consultants working for corporations and powerful interest groups. This book pulls back the curtain to reveal a lucrative industry of consulting firms that incentivize public activism as a marketable service. Edward Walker illustrates how, spurred by the post-sixties advocacy explosion and rising business political engagement, elite consultants have deployed new technologies to commercialize mass participation. Using evidence from interviews, surveys and public records, Grassroots for Hire paints a detailed portrait of these consultants and their clients. Today, Fortune 500 firms hire them to counter-mobilize against regulation, protest or controversy. Ironically, some advocacy groups now outsource organizing to them. Walker also finds that consultants are reshaping both participation and policymaking, but unethical ''astroturf'' strategies are often ineffective. This pathbreaking book calls for a rethinking of interactions between corporations, advocacy groups, and elites in politics.

Opportunities to "have your say," "get involved," and "join theconversation" are everywhere in public life. From crowdsourcing and town hallmeetings to government experiments with social media, participatory politics increasinglyseem like a revolutionary antidote to the decline of civic engagement and thethinning of the contemporary public sphere. Many argue that, with newtechnologies, flexible organizational cultures, and a supportive policymakingcontext, we now hold the keys to large-scale democratic revitalization.Democratizing Inequalities shows that the equation may not be sosimple. Modern societies face a variety of structural problems that limitpotentials for true democratization, as well as vast inequalities in politicalaction and voice that are not easily resolved by participatory solutions. Popularparticipation may even reinforce elite power in unexpected ways. Resisting anoversimplified account of participation as empowerment, this collection ofessays brings together a diverse range of leading scholars to reveal surprisinginsights into how dilemmas of the new public participation play out in politicsand organizations. Through investigations including fights over theauthenticity of business-sponsored public participation, the surge of the TeaParty, the role of corporations in electoral campaigns, and participatorybudgeting practices in Brazil, DemocratizingInequalities seeks to refresh our understanding of public participation andtrace the reshaping of authority in today's political environment.

Opportunities to "have your say," "get involved," and "join theconversation" are everywhere in public life. From crowdsourcing and town hallmeetings to government experiments with social media, participatory politics increasinglyseem like a revolutionary antidote to the decline of civic engagement and thethinning of the contemporary public sphere. Many argue that, with newtechnologies, flexible organizational cultures, and a supportive policymakingcontext, we now hold the keys to large-scale democratic revitalization.Democratizing Inequalities shows that the equation may not be sosimple. Modern societies face a variety of structural problems that limitpotentials for true democratization, as well as vast inequalities in politicalaction and voice that are not easily resolved by participatory solutions. Popularparticipation may even reinforce elite power in unexpected ways. Resisting anoversimplified account of participation as empowerment, this collection ofessays brings together a diverse range of leading scholars to reveal surprisinginsights into how dilemmas of the new public participation play out in politicsand organizations. Through investigations including fights over theauthenticity of business-sponsored public participation, the surge of the TeaParty, the role of corporations in electoral campaigns, and participatorybudgeting practices in Brazil, DemocratizingInequalities seeks to refresh our understanding of public participation andtrace the reshaping of authority in today's political environment.

This volume contains an Open Access chapter.While the domains of organizational theory, grand challenges, and environmental sociology have developed via relatively distinct fields in sociology and management, they speak to a common set of social change phenomena at the intersection of the state, non-profits, and businesses. Organizations and Climate Change brings together new empirical papers that bridge these domains and sets an agenda for a more holistic theory of organizations and climate change, a theory that examines how various kinds of organizations respond to what is considered as one of the most important challenges for humanity during the 21st century.Each of papers included in this volume focus on the way in which organizations shape or respond to the climate change challenge. Three papers examine how business organizations address the climate change problem, including corporate communication of climate change mitigation actions, corporate strategies that undermine decarbonization, and corporate marketing of low-carbon technologies. Three papers investigate how non-profit organizations form networks that shape climate change negotiations, incorporate climate change into their missions, and justify not incorporating climate change into their mission. Finally, three papers explore how universities, boundary organizations, and organizational fields engage in climate change mitigation or attempt to influence other organizations to engage in these actions. The afterword summarizes research on both enablers and blockers of climate action and identifies several promising directions for future work.Organizations and Climate Change distils insights and highlights opportunities for future research on organizations and the climate change grand challenge.

This volume contains an Open Access chapter.While the domains of organizational theory, grand challenges, and environmental sociology have developed via relatively distinct fields in sociology and management, they speak to a common set of social change phenomena at the intersection of the state, non-profits, and businesses. Organizations and Climate Change brings together new empirical papers that bridge these domains and sets an agenda for a more holistic theory of organizations and climate change, a theory that examines how various kinds of organizations respond to what is considered as one of the most important challenges for humanity during the 21st century.Each of papers included in this volume focus on the way in which organizations shape or respond to the climate change challenge. Three papers examine how business organizations address the climate change problem, including corporate communication of climate change mitigation actions, corporate strategies that undermine decarbonization, and corporate marketing of low-carbon technologies. Three papers investigate how non-profit organizations form networks that shape climate change negotiations, incorporate climate change into their missions, and justify not incorporating climate change into their mission. Finally, three papers explore how universities, boundary organizations, and organizational fields engage in climate change mitigation or attempt to influence other organizations to engage in these actions. The afterword summarizes research on both enablers and blockers of climate action and identifies several promising directions for future work.Organizations and Climate Change distils insights and highlights opportunities for future research on organizations and the climate change grand challenge.