This thesis seeks to understand collective practices of urban grassroots, rationalities behind the practices and their potential role in urban politics. The study used insurgent planning and co-production frameworks to highlight practices of the studied organization and adopted theories about relationship between the local and the global. The thesis addressed questions about collective practices for building self-reliance, practices that aim to directly engage the state and how being part of an international network of slum dwellers shapes the collective practices of the local organization. The research is based upon a case study of Zambian Homeless and Poor People’s Federation. The empirical data was collected during two months of fieldwork in Zambia using observations and semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that the studied organization uses elements of both insurgent planning and co-production in its practices. The federation starts with self-help and building financial assets to continue with practices aimed at engaging the state. The results suggest that, as an affiliate of an international network, the federation is influenced by the flow of ideas in the network and that the international cooperation has potential implications for the local urban politics.

This dissertation assesses the impact of structural constraints to participation on residents of a rural, non-core county and members of a local grassroots organization in conjunction with the measurement of grassroots members for the presence of transformative learning. This study was motivated by three research questions: (1) To what extent may the presence of structural constraints to participation in community action activities be found in the adult residents of a rural, non-core county? (2) To what extent may the presence of structural constraints to participation in community action activities be found in members of a local grassroots organization? (3) How many members of a local grassroots organization show evidence of the 10 phases found in transformative learning? Theoretical foundations for this work are based upon the following research; Theodori’s (2008) analysis of structural constraints to participation in community action activities; Mezirow’s (2009) development of transformative learning theory in adult populations; and King’s (2009) Learning Activities Survey as a measurement of transformative learning. Purposefully obtained data were collected from the general population to establish a measurement of structural constraints to participation. Within the grassroots organization, survey data were used to determine the presence of structural constraints to participation and transformative learning. The findings utilizing regression analysis suggest significance for structural constraints to participation in the general population is minimal, and not significant at all in members of the grassroots organization. Transformative learning in members of the grassroots organization was confirmed by significance for 5 of the 15 variables analyzed. The results were contrary to expectation; yet, these conclusions do contain important implications for those involved in community development.

La thèse se positionne au croisement de la problématique de la publicisation des problèmes sociaux et de celle de la transformation des engagements militants. La recherche entend expliquer, par une double approche locale et internationale, l’essor de la participation associative depuis les années 1970 dans les quartiers populaires urbains situés en périphérie de Paris et de Buenos Aires. La première partie est consacrée à l’analyse des théories politiques du fait associatif et à leur insertion au sein d’une sociologie empirique de la participation associative. La généalogie de la notion de société civile est mise en relation avec l’avènement de la démocratie moderne afin d’inscrire l’essor associatif des dernières décennies dans une perspective historique de longue portée. Notre approche de la participation associative est ensuite explicitée en référence à trois grandes thématiques du fait associatif : le tiers secteur, le capital social et l’engagement militant.La deuxième partie articule la participation associative avec les transformations socio-économiques des classes populaires et le développement des politiques sociales territorialisées. L’analyse d’une association dans le territoire français illustre d’abord les possibilités offertes par la désagrégation du système politique communiste des « banlieues rouges » et l’intervention croissante de l’État dans les quartiers populaires au travers de la politique de la ville. L’étude de l’activité et du fonctionnement de cette association, des années 1980 aux années 2000, met en lumière à la fois la capacité des acteurs à s’auto-organiser en référence à un problème public local et les tensions générées par la relation partenariale avec les pouvoirs publics. En Argentine, les conséquences de la fragilisation de la société salariale sur les formes de sociabilités populaires dans la périphérie urbaine de Buenos Aires sont analysées au travers d’une association qui s’inscrit dans le prolongement du mouvement social des travailleurs au chômage (piqueteros). Le rôle d’intermédiaire des politiques sociales joué par cette association permet de questionner les liens qui unissent ces organisations populaires aux pouvoirs publics et le possible redéploiement des réseaux politiques clientélaires du péronisme.La troisième partie s’attache à analyser la participation associative en relation avec les évolutions des principaux partis politiques des classes populaires et les changements intervenus dans les configurations politiques locales. Dans le cas français, les phénomènes de désengagement communiste et de désarticulation des « organisations satellites » du parti sont intégrés à l’analyse d’une association regroupant d’anciens militants communistes. Les trajectoires de ces militants et le fonctionnement de cette association permettent de cerner les raisons d’un changement dans les formes d’engagement et de s’interroger sur le processus d’autonomisation des associations locales à l’égard des systèmes politiques. Dans le cas argentin, la recomposition des liens entre le parti justicialiste et les classes populaires est questionnée au travers de l’analyse d’une association fondée par des militants péronistes dans le contexte d’un discrédit des institutions politiques. L’adaptation de ces militants politiques à la forme associative illustre les changements dans les modalités d’engagement et permet une réflexion sur la proximité entre les associations locales et les partis politiques. / This thesis is situated at the intersection of two historical phenomena: the publicization of social problems and the transformation of activist commitment. The research undertaken has sought to explain, through an approach that is both local and international in scope, the rise of grassroots volunteering since the 1970s in working-class urban neighborhoods on the periphery of Paris and Buenos Aires. The first part presents an analysis of the various political theories which relate to the voluntary movement, and discusses their place within an empirical sociological study of grassroots volunteering. The intellectual genealogy of the notion of civil society is considered in relation to the appearance of modern democracy, in order to situate the rise of volunteerism in recent decades within a larger historical perspective. Attention is given to the emergence of three characteristic themes: the third sector, social capital, and activism. The second part relates volunteerism to socio-economic transformations within the working class and to the development of social policy at the local community level. The study of grassroots organization in France reveals the importance of possibilities created by the breakdown of the communist political system in certain Paris suburbs (banlieues rouges) along with increased state intervention in working-class neighborhoods through urban policy initiatives. An analysis of the activities and the workings of the grassroots organizations which appeared in these neighborhoods between the 1980s and the 2000s, reveals that these organizations had the capacity to self-organize for the purpose of addressing public problems at a local level, and that tensions resulted from partnership arrangements with local public authorities. In Argentina, consequences of the labor society’s weakening in terms of working-class social solidarity in neighborhoods on the outskirts of Buenos Aires are analyzed through the prism of grassroots organizations operating in the wake of social movements among unemployed workers (piqueteros). The grassroots organization’s role as an intermediary for social policy raises questions concerning the link between these popular movements and public authorities, and the possible redeployment of Peronist corporatism. The third part relates volunteer participation to historical transformations within the principal working-class political parties and to the changes observed in the local political landscape. In France, popular withdrawal from communism and the disassociation of the Party’s former “satellite organizations” are considered through an analysis of a grassroots organization composed primarily of former communist partisans. Their personal trajectories as activists, as well as the workings of their organization, reveal the causes of a change in the operative forms of political commitment and give rise to questions concerning the processes by which these local organizations are made autonomous of political systems. In Argentina, new links emerging between the Justicialist party and the working class are considered through the study of an organization founded by Peronist partisans in a context where political institutions are represented as lacking legitimacy. The adaptation of these political activists to grassroots volunteerism is likewise indicative of changes in the operative forms of political commitment and gives rise to questions concerning the proximity between grassroots organizations and political parties.

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