"An emphasis on participation has links with the interest in democracy in community organization and in self-help and political incorporation in the community development tradition. But what is community participation? Influenced by the political debates of the late 1960s more radical approaches to community work became influential. Instead of seeking to help deprived communities to improve their social and environmental circumstances, the new community work activists urged that people take direct political action to demand changes and improvements was especially influential. Social action is employed by groups and organizations which seek to alter institutional policies or to make changes in the distribution of power. Social planning is the method of community organization traditional to health and welfare councils although its scope and arena were enlarged in the 1960s to encompass city planners, urban renewal authorities and the large public bureaucracies. As is suggested from the name, this work compiles encyclopedic information on social work and community organization encompassing all dimensions within its fold."