Not All Civic Action Is Equal: How Place-Based and Identity-Based Civic Organizations Differentially Impact Neighborhoods and Cities

My dissertation provides a new understanding of how civic organizations affect structural inequality in U.S. neighborhoods and cities. Its fundamental premise is that the effects of civic organizations differ, depending on the form they take and the level of analysis at which they operate. It also overcomes a central tension in civil society research: some social scientists argue that civic organizations are the key to well-functioning democracy, allowing people the ability to collectively organize for the promotion of their interests, but others argue that civic organizations instead breed exclusion, leaving only organized communities in the position to reap the benefits of organization. To move beyond this, I treat organizations as having heterogeneous effects. Specifically, I investigate the effects of two forms: place-based neighborhood organizations and identity-based community organizing. My research provides evidence that civic organizations are neither wholly positive nor wholly negative.