The social action process identifies stages on the community level that lay the groundwork for collective action. Thesestages include Stimulation of Interest, which is the recognition of need; Initiation which involves development of the problem definition and possible solutions via programs proposed by community members; Legitimization, which is when there is acceptance of local leaders of the need for action; Decision to Act, which is the development of specific plans involving members from the wider community; and Action, which is implementation.
Later, you will see parts of each of these models incorporated into the Community Readiness Model’s Stages of Community Change. The researchers then took their model out into the field to test it in communities. These communities varied widely in ethnicity, level of rurality, region of the U.S., and more recently, country. The model has now been extensively used, and based upon the many communities’ experiences with the Model, it has been updated and made better over time.