The Color of Commitment: Social Change, the Development of Collective Commitment toward Collective Action, and the Negotiation of Race

Abstract

Background/Context: Theory suggests that improving the education system and improvement of educational outcomes will require collective action generated by cross-sector partnerships. Yet as multi-sector groups attempt to pursue collective work, understanding the connection between collective commitment, collective action, and the role of race may be paramount to realizing change.

Purpose/Focus of Study: The purpose of this study was to examine how collective action (via cross-sector partnership work) has been and could be used to address large social problems, and how collective commitment contributes to the success (or lack of success) of the collective action pursued by cross-sector initiatives aiming to make change in communities of color.

Research Design: I first present a review and synthesis of four historical cases that examine how collective commitment and action was established and pursued within two grassroots (community-based) initiatives and two grass-high initiatives (initiatives started or charged by those with high influence and power). I drew data from primary and secondary sources that spoke of and/or provided an evaluation of these initiatives and conducted a two-phased analysis of each case first focusing on the contexts and mechanisms through which collective action was pursued with what outcomes and second on the role that collective commitment played. I then present a narrative of each case using these frameworks, followed by a cross-case analysis.

Second, I provide an extended case study of a local grass-high initiative--Highland County My Brother’s Keeper-- where I spent a year researching and working with the initiative as it evolved. I addressed the same questions as with the historical cases, using participatory ethnographic methods, and drawing on data from audio recordings of 13 team meetings, team meeting notes, 30 interviews with participants, field notes of informal interactions, personal reflections, artifacts developed, and electronic communications.

Lastly, I use critical race theory (CRT) to challenge the narrative of all cases, and examine evidence of how White interest-convergence was employed as a racial negotiation strategy across all 5 cases.

Conclusions/Implications: I find that the grass-high initiatives attracted powerful people to the table, yet the initiatives pursued by the grassroots cases were more sustainable, and these groups were also more successful in developing collective commitment. Analysis also revealed that race was indeed crucial to the ways in which commitments were acquired. Whereas all partnerships showed evidence of using White interest-convergence as a racial negotiation strategy, this tactic did not guarantee successful outcomes. Rather, creating spaces that privileged the voice, needs, and desires of communities of color, as each grassroots initiative did to some extent, appeared to make a critical difference in the collective commitment that was garnered and collective action they accomplished. This work and findings are significant because they challenge cross-sector leaders to consider whose interests are truly being served and think about the intricate connection between collective commitment, race, and power in a praxis-based way.