Reflections on Piven and Cloward’s “Poor People’s Movements”

I attended the Institute for the Research of Race and Public Policy’s Bowman Lecture after my class, Community Development I, in Spring 2019. In class, we had discussed Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward’s Poor People’s Movements: How They Succeed and Why They Fail and this discussion was fresh in my mind as I heard Bill Ayers, Eve Ewing, Erica Meiners, Isaura Pulido, David Stovall, and Elizabeth Todd-Berland speak on “Demand[ing] the (Im)Possible” in regards to the future of Chicago’s Public Schools. Hearing these education scholars discuss their dreams for the children and families of Chicago Public Schools provided an interesting juxtaposition to the measured theory Piven and Cloward used to make sense of the protest and organizing of poor people. I was especially thinking about the idea that protesters win only what historical circumstances have already made ready to be conceded, how that squares with “demanding the impossible,” and the movements I’ve observed in my life.

The full essay is available here.