Theoretical Foundation for social Mobilization and Citizen Participation

ABSTRACT: Social Mobilization involves assembling resources and utilizing them for the common good based on the principle of citizen participation with a goal to empower people for collective action. Citizen participation is regarded to be an outcome of social mobilization. Several theories try to explain why people engage in citizen participation while putting into account personal and social processes. There is no theoretical approach integrating all aspects of social mobilization. The Resource Mobilization Approach suggests that resources are central in the empowerment of social groups to launch collective action. The expectancy-value models suggests that people make projections regarding possible outcomes before engagement while empowerment theory emphasizes actions, activities and structures involved in the attempts to gain control over
challenges. The social capital model of citizen participation emphasizes the nature of the social relationships and the bonds that keep the community members connected, while the functional motivation theory suggests that all volunteers engage in volunteerism as a means of satisfying underlying psychological functions. The social role theory of gender points out that while women put others needs before their own, indicating a sense of self – sacrifice, the males are seen to engage more in heroic and magnanimous helping.
KEY WORDS: Social mobilization, citizen participation, resource mobilization, empowerment, social capital