Communicative Tensions of Community Organizing: The Case of a Local Neighborhood Association

This study investigates the communicative tensions of community organizing within the context of a local neighborhood association. Results of our qualitative analysis revealed two themes of organizational tension shaping this community organization: dispositional disagreements and positional paradoxes. These tensions were illustrated within the issues of prayer, diversity, gentrification, and neighborhood quality. Analysis also showed that communication practices of balance, diversion, deflection, sense-making, reframing, and qualifying served to manage tensions and sustain the participation and involvement of voluntary collective action.

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