Contrary to Marxist theory, commitments to traditional cultural values and immediate communal relations are crucial to many radical movements. Radical mobilization occurs when people have something to defend, have some social strength, and confront social transformations which threaten to take everything from them. (Author/KC)

Neighborhood organizations in Seattle (Washington) were more concerned with political issues and less with socializing in 1979 than in 1929. However, earlier characterizations of neighborhoods as natural communities have overstated the social cohesion of urban neighborhoods and understated the political role they played. (Author/IS)