COMMUNITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Who are we?

The Community Research and Development Division is for scholars, activists, researchers, practitioners, students, and other individuals who are interested in supporting social justice efforts in communities. Our focus on social justice at the group level leads us to ask questions about the determinants and consequences of inequality in communities. We also address the collective identities and lived realities of communities, and how those identifications and experiences affect everyone’s well-being and quality of life. We focus on urban, rural, suburban, and other place-based communities as well as identity, cultural, and interest-based communities.

Why join?

• Connect with others studying and acting to address issues of social justice in communities.
• Participate in a rich community of collaborators with shared interest in the interplay of scholarship and activism.
• Engage in an environment that values a balanced approach to researching inequality at the community level.
• Get support and recognition for producing rigorous academic work that has practical implications for members of diverse communities.

Graduate students and junior faculty: we encourage you to take an active role in the division! This is a great way to get experience working within a professional organization and to develop relationships with more senior scholars and activists. Don’t forget the annual Community Research and Development Division Graduate Student Paper Competition and Community Partner Paper Competition!

Division mission statement reviewed in November 2022 by Thomas P. Pineros-Shields, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Community Research and Development Division Chair, 2021-2023. No edits were made. Division mission statement edited in November 2019 by Judith R. Halasz, State University of New York at New Paltz, Community Research and Development Division Chair, 2019-2021, based on feedback from division members at the SSSP 2019 annual meeting.

 Some Readings:

Kotlowitz, Alex, There Are No Children Here. Doubleday, 1991.

Hayden, Dolores, The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History. MIT Press, 1995.

Anderson, Elijah, Streetwise: Race, Class, and Change in an Urban Community. University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Anderson, Elijah, The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. W.W. Norton and Company, 2011.

Gans, Herbert, The Urban Villagers: Group and Class in the Life of Italian-Americans. The Free Press, 1962 (1982).

Jacobs, Jane, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Random House, 1961.

Davis, John Emmeus, Contested Ground: Collective Action and the Urban Neighborhood. Cornell University Press, 1991.

Erikson, Kai, Everything in Its Path: Destruction of Community in the Buffalo Creek Flood. Simon and Schuster, 1976.

Ledwith, Margaret. Community development: A critical approach. The Policy Press, 2011.

Small, Mario Luis, Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio. University of Chicago Press, 2004.

Sanchez-Jankowski, Martin, Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods. University of California Press, 2008.

Waters, Mary C., Black Identities: West Indian Immigrant Dreams and American Realities. Russell Sage Foundation Books and Harvard University Press, 2001.

Zhou, Min, Chinatown: The Socioeconomic Potential of an Ethnic Enclave. Temple University Press, 1991.


Mollenkopf, John H., Mary C. Waters, and Jennifer Holdaway. Inheriting the city: The children of immigrants come of age. Russell Sage Foundation, 2009.

Smith, Robert Courtney, Mexican New York: Transnational Lives of New Immigrants. University of California Press, 2005.

Putnam, Robert, and Lewis Feldstein, Better Together: Restoring the American Community. Simon and Schuster, 2003.

Putnam, Robert, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Sampson, Robert J., Great American city: Chicago and the enduring neighborhood effect. University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Wilson, William Julius, The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. University of Chicago Press, 1987.

Wilson, William Julius, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. Vintage, 1996.

Smith, Neil, The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. Routledge, 1996.

Zukin, Sharon, Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982.

Patillo, Mary, Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Logan, John and Harvey Molotch, Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. University of California Press, 1987.

Saracino-Brown, Japonica, A Neighborhood That Never Changes: Gentrification, Social Preservation, and the Search for Authenticity. University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Lees, Loretta, Hyun Bang Shin, and Ernesto Lopez-Morales, Planetary Gentrification. Polity Press, 2016.

Grazian, David, Blue Chicago: The Search for Authenticity in Urban Blues Clubs. University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Duneier, Mitchell, Sidewalk. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999.

Kornblum, William, Blue Collar Community. University of Chicago Press, 1974.

Bourgois, Philippe, In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Wacquant, Loic, Urban Outcasts: A Comparative Sociology of Advanced Marginality. Polity Press, 2008.

Desmond, Matthew, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. Crown Publishers, 2016.

Medoff, Peter and Holly Sklar, Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood. South End Press, 1994.

Stoecker, Randy, Defending Community. Temple University Press, 1994.

Bookman, Ann and Sandra Morgan (eds.), Women and the Politics of Empowerment: Perspectives from Communities and Workplaces. Temple University Press, 1988.

Stack, Carol, All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. Basic Books, 1974.

Stoecker, Randy. Research methods for community change: A project-based approach. Sage, 2012.

Cashin, Sheryll, The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream. Public Affairs, 2004.

Ohmer, Mary L. and Karen DeMasi, Consensus Organizing: A Community Development Workbook, A Comprehensive Guide to Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating Community Change Initiatives. Sage, 2009.

Stone, Michael E., Shelter Poverty: New Ideas on Housing Affordability. Temple University Press, 1993.

Williamson, Thad, David Imbroscio, and Gar Alperovitz, Making a Place for Community: Local Democracy in a Global Era. Routledge, 2002.