Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

2-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Program

Political Science

Advisor

John Krinsky

Committee Members

John Mollenkopf

Michael Fortner

Subject Categories

Political Science | Political Theory | Public Policy

Keywords

New York City, Housing Activism, Normative Analysis, Tenant Movement, Public Policy, Political Theory

Abstract

What are the distinct contributions of normative orientations (including theological and ideological ones) in the public policy process? While the literature on policy formation in the past three decades has embraced at least some idea that ideology matters, little has focused on whether the content of their specific normative orientations leads groups to contribute to, and engage in, a policy process differently. By examining Paul Sabatier’s advocacy coalition framework in conversation with Rev. Dr. Gayraud Wilmore’s tripartite, theoethical framework of liberation, elevation, and survival, this dissertation contends that the normative commitments of advocacy stakeholders within New York City’s tenant movement inspires and informs their participation — including their stated understanding of said participation — in the rental housing policy system.

Drawing on a comparative-historical study of religious and secular stakeholders in the tenant movement in New York City between 1964 and 1989, this dissertation challenges the conventional political development storyline of an initial period of contention that moves in a linear, neat direction to demobilization. Against this received wisdom, the dissertation argues that the tenant movement adopts an uneven path towards nonprofitization, a term of art which refers to the consolidation of a policy regime of affordable housing provision that centers nonprofit organizations as a preferred provider and manager of housing for lower-income communities.

The dissertation employs a modified Most Similar Systems Design, consultation of five archives across a 25-year period, semi-structured interviews, and a close reading of secondary works on New York City’s tenant movement to examine the impact of normative orientations on housing activism, as well as how that activism influences the tenant movement’s evolution in New York City.

By evaluating the behavior of fifty organizations within the tenant movement across a 25-year period, the dissertation finds that a remnant of tenant organizing, an internally complex practice of nonprofit housing development, and a consistent practice of direct service exist within an overall decline in contentious organizing across the 25-year period.

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