Opportunity Spaces (33)

Opportunities help determine the possible paths to the future that are available to people. Hence the opportunities that society offers are of critical importance. An Opportunity Space presents possible steps that people might take as they plan for, and move into, the future. Opportunities can include classes and seminars, volunteer positions, jobs, contests, access to the media, timely announcements, mentoring, scholarships, grants and others. A number of questions came up in our exploration of opportunity spaces. What opportunities exist? Do they exist for all citizens or just privileged ones? How are these opportunities developed? Do people know about them? How are they publicized? It is important to devote attention and resources (including policy, services, media and technological systems) to help create new (and improve existing) "opportunity spaces" for people and communities who need them. Text: Douglas Schuler; Image: Wikimedia Commons Strategic Capacity (34) Occasionally, a small group with meager resources fighting a powerful foe, actually wins. One of the most famous examples is David vanquishing Goliath. A thousand other struggles, against poverty, against oppression, against environmental degradation, retell the story with equally improbable outcomes. What's the secret to these unlikely successes? Resources don't tell the whole story: the powerful group sometimes fails while the impoverished group succeeds. Neither does the idea of "political opportunity." And characteristics such as dedication, drive, emotional commitment don't always portend success or failure of activist struggles or social movements. According to Marshall Ganz, "Leaders devise strategy in interaction with their environments." He stresses that leadership teams are more likely to have effective Strategic Capacity when they include "insiders" and "outsiders", have strong and weak "ties" (connections) to a variety of networks, and have "knowledge of diverse collective action repertoires." Based on Ganz's reading of Jerome Bruner, "Strategic thinking is reflexive and imaginative, based on ways leaders learn to reflect on the past, attend to the present, and anticipate the future." Text