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Forms of Representation: Participation of the Poor in the Community Action Program

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  • Peterson, Paul E.

Abstract

Debate over representation has been a continuing part of the Western political tradition at least since the writings of Hobbes. Recently, Hanna Pitkin, using the tools of linguistic analysis, has clarified, if not resolved, the debate by examining the disparate uses of the term in both political and non-political discourse. In order to elucidate the issues, she discussed such different forms of representation as formal representation, descriptive representation, substantive representation and interest representation. In this paper I will utilize the distinctions she has developed as a framework for analyzing the process of representation within the community action program of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) during its initial formative period (1964-1966) in the cities of Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City.I will argue that 1) the manner of selecting representatives of the poor (formal representation) was a function of the political resources of competing interests in the city; 2) the orientations (interest representativeness) of the formal representatives affected their influence (actual representation); 3) the influence (actual representation) of the formal representatives affected the level of intra-neighborhood conflict, which in turn affected the representatives' orientations (interest representation); 4) the character of the actual and interest representation was affected by the type of formal representation; and 5) the social characteristics of the representatives (descriptive representation) influenced the character of actual and interest representation.

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  • Peterson, Paul E., 1970. "Forms of Representation: Participation of the Poor in the Community Action Program," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(2), pages 491-507, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:64:y:1970:i:02:p:491-507_12
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    Cited by:

    1. Aaron A Moore & R Michael McGregor, 2021. "The representativeness of neighbourhood associations in Toronto and Vancouver," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(13), pages 2782-2797, October.
    2. Pettijohn Sarah L. & Boris Elizabeth T., 2018. "Testing Nonprofit State Culture: Its Impact on the Health of the Nonprofit Sector," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 9(3), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Brad Wright, 2015. "Voices of the Vulnerable: Community health centres and the promise and peril of consumer governance," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 57-71, January.

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