It provides a rich inventory of strategies for use in mobilizing the public will through an integration of models of agenda building, social problem construction, issues management, social movements, media advocacy, and social capital. In addition, the paper provides cases and examples of public will campaigns directed at various social problems, along with criteria for evaluating these campaigns at various stages of a social problem's life cycle." Numerous case examples include a perspective on VAWA. Advocates may find this document helpful for its explanation that activities and strategies that focus on individual behavior change are viewed apolitically (e.g. less resistance) in a construct of Western philosophical perspective. In comparison, policy efforts to change powerful institutions, industry and government, receive political labeling meant to defuse such efforts (e.g. more resistance). The paper also supports the idea that evaluation of social change, while something to strive for, is exceedingly complex. The paper is also helpful for advocating for community-level change because people's options/choices are constrained and determined in significant part by their environments.
* Public will campaigns are defined as "organized, strategic initiatives designed to legitimize and garner pub lic support for social problems as a mechanism of achieving policy action or change."
Contents include:
- The Philosophy of the Public Will Campaign
- Challenges for Public Will Campaign Planners
- Interdisciplinary Models and Theories for Public Will Campaigns
- Exemplars
- Evaluating Social Change
