Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Community Psychology: Journeys in the Global Context

Chapter Aims

In this chapter, you will learn:

1. the defining features of community psychology

2. the roots of community psychology in the U. S.

3. factors leading to the emergence of community psychology

4. how community psychology has developed around the world

5. a bit about the two authors of this book.

We begin this book with a brief history of the field of community psychology. History is about the roots of a subject, where it comes from and why. As Rappaport and Seidman (2000) stated in the introduction to their Handbook of Community Psychology, Aevery field requires a narrative about itself - a vision of its possibilities, a story that explains why it studies what it deems to be important@ (p. 1). In the case of community psychology, a historical review provides an analysis of the development of the identity of the field. In order to look forward to the future of community psychology, we need to first look backwards in time at our history and the lessons that we have learned from past experiences.

Throughout this book, we use metaphors as a way of understanding the field of community psychology, its phenomena of interest, key concepts, and methods. In this chapter on the history of community psychology, we use the metaphor of a journey as way of understanding the context of community psychology. Journeys have personal, community and historical dimensions; journeys are about individuals and communities and how their stories unfold over time. Journeys are also stories or narrative accounts that describe important milestones and turning points, highlight the contributions of key players and settings, note main themes and trends and different points in the journey, and provide coherence and meaning about the journey. This chapter is organized around three journeys in community psychology: (a) the journey of the field of community psychology, (b) the journey of the two authors/editors of the book (the storytellers), Geoff and Isaac, and (c) the journey of the readers of the book. Most of the chapter is devoted to the journey of community psychology, but we touch upon these other journeys to bring ourselves (teachers and students) and our subjectivity into the picture of community psychology. Are you ready to travel with us? Then let us begin.

THE JOURNEY OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY

The first journey that we describe is that of community psychology. Community psychology is a sub-discipline of the larger discipline of psychology. While the roots of psychology were in Europe, the field of psychology expanded at a rapid rate in the U. S. during the 20^th century. Community psychology was a part of this growth. The specific historical context of the U. S. in the 1960s played an important role in shaping the field of community psychology. At the same time, however, community psychology has grown and developed in other countries around the world as well. In this section, we review the roots of community psychology in the U. S. and in other countries. Before we consider where community psychology comes from, we first consider what it is.

What Is Community Psychology?

Community psychology is hard to define in a sentence or even in a paragraph. As the authors of a recent community psychology text book stated: A. . . No single definition can accurately capture the complexities inherent in its theory and praxis@ (Seedat, Duncan, & Lazarus, 2001, p. 19). In one of the first textbooks in community psychology, one which played a major role in defining the field, Julian Rappaport (1977) noted the problem of defining community psychology. He argued that it is difficult to define precisely community psychology, because it is more of a new paradigm, perspective, or way of thinking whose contours are constantly emerging, than a distinct and fixed entity. Similarly, the authors of another recent text note that community psychology entails a Ashift in perspective@ (Dalton, Elias, & Wandersman, 2001, p. 6). In discussing what community psychology is, rather than defining it, Rappaport (1977) wrote about the following themes: its ecological nature (the fit between people and their environments), the importance of cultural relativity and diversity so that people are not judged against one single standard or value (Aan attempt to support every person=s right to be different without risk of suffering material and psychological sanctions,@ p. 1), and a focus on social change (Atoward a maximally equitable distribution of psychological as well as material resources,@ p. 3). Moreover, Rappaport (1977) argued that community psychology is concerned with human resource development, political activity, and scientific inquiry, three elements that are often in conflict with one another. As the sub-title of his book, Community Psychology: Values, Research and Action, suggests, community psychology is a balancing act between values, research and action.

Psychology has traditionally focused on the individual level of analysis. While applied psychology sometimes pays attention to micro-systems, such as the family or peer group, most of the major theories of personality and clinical psychology emphasize individualistic explanations of behavior and individual strategies of change such as psychotherapy. This is a very western view that puts the individual in the foreground over the collective, whereas other parts of the world do the opposite. In contrast, community psychology is the study of people in context. There is a more holistic focus on the person within multiple social systems, ranging from micro-systems (e.g., the family) to macro-sociopolitical structures. There is a strong belief that people cannot be understood apart from their context. When problems are defined in terms of individualistic conceptions of human nature, this can lead to a stance of Ablaming the victim@ (Caplan & Nelson, 1973; Ryan, 1971), which is common in the social sciences. Whether intentional or not, victim-blaming holds individuals responsible for the causes of and solutions to their problems. However, when problems are reframed in terms of their social context and seen as arising from degrading social conditions, this tendency of blaming the victim is reduced. Moreover, community psychology tends to focus on the strengths of people living in adverse conditions as well as the strengths of communities, rather than focusing on individual or community Adeficits@ or problems (Rappaport, 1977). Focusing on problems puts people in a subordinate position to whomever is making such a categorization or diagnosis and suggests that they need monitoring and correction, whereas focusing on strengths enables people to build upon their pre-existing resources, capacities, and talents.

In terms of intervention, traditional applied psychology intervenes late after problems have already developed, whereas community psychology emphasizes the importance of prevention and early intervention. While traditional applied psychology interventions have a goal of reducing Amaladaptive@ behaviors or overcoming deficits through treatment and rehabilitation, community psychology has a goal of promoting competence and well-being through self-help, community development, and social and political action. From a community psychology perspective, behavior is not viewed as maladaptive. People are viewed as adapting in the best ways they can to oppressive and stressful conditions. In traditional psychology, the role of the Aclient@ is a passive one, with compliance and deference to the professional helper as the norm. Community psychology emphasizes active participation, choice, and self-determination of the participants in any intervention, assuming that people know best what they need and that active participation in individual and collective change is healthy and desirable. Community psychologists eschew the traditional role of the helper as the Aexpert@ who knows best and who is well versed in the science and practice of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. Instead community psychologists typically function as resource collaborators, who bring both science and social activism to their community work.

Research in applied psychology is typically guided by a philosophy of science known as logical positivism, or what we more commonly know as the scientific method. Community psychologists believe that there is no one scientific method, but many, and their research is often very participatory, action-oriented, and guided by assumptions of alternative philosophies of science. Research isn=t conducted just for the sake of developing new knowledge; research is conducted to create knowledge and change social conditions. Since community psychologists do not believe in the Aexpert@ approach of traditional applied psychology, community stakeholders participate in the creation of knowledge. The question of Awhose knowledge?@ is one that concerns community psychologists. The ethics of traditional applied psychology is focused on the individual Aclient@ or research participant and emphasizes values such as informed consent and confidentiality. Community psychology also abides by such individual ethics, but it goes further to consider social ethics and values that promote social change. Traditional psychology often claims to be Avalue-neutral@ when it comes to social ethics, but such a position often provides tacit acceptance of unjust social conditions.

Finally, traditional applied psychology has inter-disciplinary ties with other helping professions, such as psychiatry and clinical social work, while community psychology allies itself with critical perspectives in a range of social and health science and humanities disciplines that focus on the interface between people and social environments. The question often arises how community psychology differs from social work. Like psychology, social work is a broad field; unlike psychology, social work has more of a professional practice orientation and less of a research orientation. As in applied psychology, the dominant approach to social work training focuses on clinical intervention with individuals, families, and groups. Community psychology has much more in common with that part of social work that emphasizes community development and social policy. In community psychology, research is emphasized much more than social work and is seen as inseparable from practice. Finally, while there is diversity within community psychology, the field is based on a fairly coherent set of values and concepts. In contrast, social work is a broader field with more diverse strands and less of a uniform ideology.

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The Emergence of Community Psychology in the U. S.

Having provided a brief sketch of community psychology, we now turn to an examination of the roots of community psychology. We begin with a focus on the U. S. scene, because much of the early history of community psychology has been centered in the U. S., We want to examine the context from which these emphases and themes emerged.

The Foreshadowing of Community Psychology

While the field of community psychology did not formally coalesce until the 1960s, the work of community psychology was foreshadowed as early as the turn of the last century. From 1890 to 1914 was a time of considerable social unrest in the U. S., with social institutions being plagued with problems related to immigration, industrialization, urbanization and poverty. Community psychologist Murray Levine and sociologist Adeline Levine have written an important book about this time period, entitled Helping Children: A Social History. In their book, Levine and Levine (1992) described how many social programs that are common today throughout North America had their roots during this time period, including mental health associations, the YWCA and YMCA, scout groups, juvenile courts, and psychological clinics. While these activities were not typically tied to the field of psychology, in many ways, they were the beginning of the journey of community psychology.

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Returning to Levine and Levine=s (1992) historical study of children=s services, they found that the progressive era at the turn of the century was followed by a conservative era in the aftermath of World War I during the 1920s. With this shift in political climate, there was also a shift in the ideology of social services from one of social change to one emphasizing individual change and blaming the victims for not Aadjusting@ to degrading social conditions. As an example, the field of psychology had created intelligence testing in the U. K. (Francis Galton) and France (Alfred Binet), and IQ tests were imported to and refined in the U. S. during this time period. Galton and other psychologists in the area of intelligence testing were proponents of Social Darwinism (Albee, 1996a, 1996b), which took Darwin=s concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest and applied them to human beings and intelligence. IQ was viewed as an innate quality of individuals, and people with low IQ scores were seen as inferior and unworthy, people who should be Aweeded out@ of society because they weaken the genetic stock. The eugenics movement, which was prominent in the 1920s, used the philosophy of Social Darwinism to advocate for the separation of the Afeeble-minded@ from the rest of society into institutions, sterilization of people with low IQ, and restrictions on the immigration of people deemed to be inferior (those from eastern and southern Europe, Africa, and Asia). Consider the following chilling quotes that Albee (1981) has gathered from advocates of the eugenics movement.

A We face the possibility of racial admixture here that is infinitely worse than that favored by any European country today, for we are incorporating the negro into our racial stock, while all of Europe is comparatively free from this taint. . . the decline of American intelligence will be more rapid. . . owing to the presence of the negro.@ (Brigham [Princeton psychologist], 1923)

A[Massive sterilization] . . . is a practical, merciful and inevitable solution of the whole problem and can be applied to an ever widening circle of social discards, beginning always with the criminal, the diseased, and the insane and extending gradually to types which may be called weaklings rather than defectives and perhaps ultimately to worthless race types.@ (Grant [New York Zoological Society], 1919)

Grant=s quote foreshadowed the Nazi holocaust against Jewish people, gypsies, homosexuals, and other supposedly Ainferior,@ non-Aryan ethnoracial groups.

Based on their historical review, Levine and Levine (1992) advanced the following thesis:

ASocial and economic conditions and the intellectual and political spirit of the times greatly influence the mental health problems that concern us and forms of help that flourish. . . More specifically our thesis states that there are essentially two modes of help, the situational and the intrapsychic. . . We believe that the situational modes of help, which demand that we question the social environment - and change the social environment - flourish during periods of political or social reform. . . Intrapsychic modes of help . . . are prominent during periods of political or social conservatism.@ (p. 8)

This thesis advanced by Levine and Levine (1992) provides an interesting perspective on the emergence of activities and settings at the turn of the century that bear a striking resemblance to contemporary community psychology in terms of the values and strategies employed by people working within this Zeitgeist. Psychology was still in its infancy during this time period, and thus the role for psychology in community action was not yet evident. However, by the 1960s much had changed.

The Roots of Community Psychology in the United States

There are three important aspects of the social context to be aware of in understanding the beginning journey of community psychology in the U. S.: (a) the growth of mental health services, (b) the rapid expansion of clinical psychology and (c) the social-political context of the 1960s.

The mental health connection. In the aftermath of World War II, the U. S. government devoted considerable attention to mental health issues. Many veterans of the war returned home with mental health problems, variously labeled as Ashell shock@ or Acombat neurosis.@ Veteran=s Administration (VA) hospitals were established to attend to these problems, as well as other problems of health and disability. A Joint Commission on Mental Health and Illness was formed, and this Commission released its final report, Action for Mental Health, in 1961, along with several other reports. Two years later in 1963, the federal government enacted legislation establishing a nation-wide program of Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs). While proclaimed as a Abold, new approach@ to mental health, the CMHCs retained a strong medical model and clinical approach to mental health problems. The intrapsychic approach elaborated by Levine and Levine (1992) in the previous section continued to dominate mental health services.

The shift away from clinical psychology. Clinical psychology grew rapidly during this time period. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) was established at the end of World War II, and it provided funding for training in the mental health professions and for research in mental health. Clinical psychology emerged as a major sub-discipline of psychology during this time, and the Boulder Ascientist-practitioner@ model of training in clinical psychology (named after a training conference held in Boulder, Colorado in 1949) became the dominant approach to training in clinical psychology. Clinical psychologists were to have a Ph.D. degree, with emphasis on both research and practice. While clinical psychology was expanding, psychiatry continued to be the most powerful player in mental health. Clinical psychology and social work clearly played secondary roles in many hospital and clinic settings, functioning as Ahandmaidens@ to psychiatry (Rappaport, 1977). Clinical psychologists were often relegated to diagnostic testing and did not play much of a role in treatment, in spite of their training in psychotherapy.

The sixties and social reform. Community psychology was born in the 1960s, a time of social and political change in the U. S. Bob Dylan, an American folk musician who emerged during this time, sang Awe=ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls, for the times they are a changin=.@ The 1960s was much like the turn of the century; it was an era of social reform which saw the emergence of several different social movements in the U. S., including the civil rights movement, the women=s movement, the peace movement in the context of the Vietnam war, and later the disability rights movement and gay, lesbian, and bisexual movement. Clinical psychologists who began to create the field of community psychology were aware of how socio-political conditions impact on the competence and well-being of individuals. Many became active in the so-called AGreat Society@ programs of the 1960s, including preschool education programs (e. g., Head Start), community mental health centres, and community action centres. The 60s was certainly not a radical or revolutionary time period in the U. S., but it was a progressive era, much like the period at the turn of the century that Levine and Levine (1992) have written about. It was a time of change, hope, and acknowledgment of the important role of the state in addressing social issues.

Summary. Community psychology in the U. S. grew out of this context and has roots in mental health, clinical psychology, and the time of change in the 1960s. Originally, community psychology was quite strongly tied to the mental health field. In its developing discourse, community psychology and community mental health were often mentioned in the same breath. A pivotal moment in the journey of community psychology was the Swampscott conference, named after the Boston suburb in which it was held in 1965. The focus of this conference was on the training of psychologists in community mental health, but those present were dissatisfied with the individually-centred approaches of clinical psychology that emphasized the roles of testing and psychotherapy. Conference participants were searching for conceptual and practical alternatives. They were interested in applying public health concepts of prevention and promotion to mental health, in the creation of innovative program approaches, and in social action regarding broader issues of social injustice. The notion of a Aparticipant-conceptualizer@ role was advanced as an alternative to the scientist-practitioner role (Bennett, Anderson, Cooper, Hassol, Klein, & Rosenblum (1966).

In 1967, following the Swampscott conference, community psychology became a Division (27) of the American Psychological Association (it is now called the Society for Community Research and Action), and in 1973, Division 27 started its own journal, the American Journal of Community Psychology. Another U. S.-based journal, the Journal of Community Psychology was also developed at this time to provide another outlet for the research of community psychologists. Until the 1990s, these journals have published mostly quantitative research based on the traditional scientific method, with few examples of qualitative and participatory studies. Thus, in its early history, community psychology in the U. S. tended to adopt traditional research methods, such as those used in clinical research. Since 1987, the Society for Community Research and Action has held a popular and well-attended biennial conference.

Factors Leading to the Emergence of Community Psychology in the U. S.

In this section, we consider the question of why community psychology emerged in the U. S. during the 1960s.

The gap between the scope of mental health problems and available resources. First, there was and remains today a large gap between the scope of human problems and professional psychological resources to deal with such problems. For example, epidemiological studies of the prevalence of mental health problems have revealed very high rates for both adults and children. The Ontario Health Supplement conducted in 1991 found that in a representative sample of adults in Ontario (close to 10,000 respondents), the one-year prevalence rate for any disorder was 19%, and the life-time prevalence rate for any mental disorder was 48% (Offord, Boyle, Campbell, Cochrane, Goering, Lin, Rhodes, & Wong, 1994). In an earlier study of a representative sample of children and youth (3,000 children) in Ontario, Offord, Boyle, Szatmari, Rae-Grant, Links, Cadman, Byles, Crawford, Munroe Blum, Byrne, Thomas, and Woodward (1987) found a one-year prevalence rate of 18% for any disorder.

What is most disturbing about these epidemiological findings is that the majority of adults and children with mental disorders were not receiving any mental health intervention for their problems (Offord et al., 1987; Offord et al., 1994). Based on his report on human resources in mental health, George Albee (1959) concluded that there were not and never could be enough trained mental health professionals to provide treatment services to everyone with a mental health problem. Even if therapy were 100% effective, mental health problems could not be eliminated, because the need for services far outstrips their supply. As Albee (1996) has reminded us, A. . . no mass disease (disorder) in human history has ever been eliminated or significantly controlled by attempts at treating the affected individual, nor by training large number of individual treatment personnel@ (pp. 4-5).

Dissatisfaction with the medical model of mental health. A second reason for the development of community psychology in the U. S. is a dissatisfaction with traditional modes of service delivery in mental health. As we just noted, most people who need help do not receive it. In fact, there appears to be a middle-class bias in the provision of psychotherapy. Schofield (1964) argued that psychotherapy tends to be geared to clients who are young, attractive, verbal, intelligent, and successful. To this list, we can add that psychotherapy clients are those who have health insurance or can afford this treatment. In their famous study of social class and mental illness, Hollingshead and Redlich (1958) found a two-tiered system of treatment, one for the affluent and one for the poor. Affluent people with less serious mental health problems tended to receive psychotherapy, while poor people with more serious mental health problems tended to be Atreated@ in mental hospitals with drug therapy and custodial care.

As Offord et al. (1994) reported, nearly half (42%) of those respondents who do not have a diagnosable mental disorder receive some form of mental health intervention. Beiser, Gill, and Edwards (1993) reviewed factors that influence people=s utilization of mental health services and they argued that treatment approaches typically reflect Euro-North American values, which may contradict the beliefs of people from different cultures. Language is another barrier for some cultural and ethnic groups to receiving mental health intervention. Moreover, while there is a growing trend for people who experience personal problems to use the services of non-medical mental health professionals (Gurin, Veroff, & Feld, 1960; Kulka, Veroff, & Douvan, 1979; Swindle, Heller, Pescosolido, & Kikuzawa, 2000), a large number of people tend to seek more informal sources of support, including family, friends, clergy, hairdressers, lawyers, job supervisors, bartenders, and self-help groups (Cowen, 1982; Gurin et al., 1960; Kulka et al., 1979; Swindle et al., 2000). These findings call into question the way treatment services in mental health are organized (Swindle et al., 2000).

Recognition of the importance of the social environment. A third reason for the shift to community psychology was the recognition of the importance of social environment for the development of competence and well-being. Epidemiological research on mental health had shown that the prevalence of many mental health problems was inversely related to one=s social class position (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1969; Hollingshead & Redlich, 1958; Srole, Langner, Michael, Opler, & Rennie, 1962). Moreover, an early study in rural Nova Scotia, Canada showed that community disintegration (characterized by an absence of community leaders, community associations, few sanctions against antisocial behavior, violent interactions) was related to the prevalence of mental health problems (Leighton, Harding, Macklin, MacMillan, & Leighton, (1963). In a 10-year follow-up of this study, the researchers found that as employment opportunities expanded and community integration improved, the prevalence of mental health problems declined (Leighton, 1979). As well, research from several different strands of psychology (e.g., behaviorism, group and organizational dynamics, family systems) was beginning to indicate the powerful role that social environments play in human welfare. For this reason, community psychology recognized the need to consider social and community-level interventions over individually-focused approaches to change.

The Emergence of Community Psychology Around the World

While community psychology became a distinct sub-discipline of psychology in the U. S. context, it was also developing in many other countries as well. The stories of how community psychology developed in other parts of the world bear many similarities to that of community psychology in the U. S. However, the particular contexts of other countries also shaped the form that community psychology has taken in those countries in unique ways.

Community Psychology in English-speaking Countries

Overall, community psychology as a sub-discipline of psychology has been more organized in English-speaking countries in the so-called Adeveloped@ world.

Canada. In Canada, the roots of community psychology can be traced back to the University of Toronto. Professor Edward A. Bott was the first chair of the Psychology Department at Toronto and served from 1926 to 1956 (Pols, 2000). Bott and his colleagues were concerned with human development and had strong ties to the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene (now the Canadian Mental Health Association). There is a story that Yale University tried to hire the entire Psychology Department from the University of Toronto, offering to double their pay (Babarik, 1979), but Clarence Hincks, the founder of the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene, was able to come up with money from this new organization for these faculty members that kept them in Canada. This is quite an interesting element in the journey of community psychology, because when Seymour Sarason was later hired as a psychology professor at Yale University, he established the Psychoeducational Clinic, which became a major training ground for community psychology in the U. S.

While psychology at the University of Toronto was definitely applied in nature prior to World War II, it was not until after the war that a community psychology orientation became clearly evident through the leadership of William Line. It was Line who first coined the term Acommunity psychology@ (Babarik, 1979), and as President of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) in 1945, Line exhorted his colleagues to resist the status quo and work for social responsibility (Pols, 2000). Line had an international influence through his involvement as President of the World Federation for Mental Health from 1951-1952.

In spite of these early roots, the Community Psychology Section of CPA was not formed until 1982. There was an influx of U. S.-trained community psychologists during the 1970s that began to mobilize community psychology in Canada (Davidson, 1981; Walsh, 1988). Also, in 1982, the first issues of a bilingual (French and English) Canadian community psychology journal with an inter-disciplinary emphasis, the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health (CJCMH), were published, with the second issue devoted to community psychology in Canada (Tefft, 1982). Both francophone and anglophone community psychologists have been strongly influenced by U. S. community psychology. While community psychology is practised today in both French-speaking and English-speaking Canada, there are relatively few graduate-level training programs and the sub-discipline is marginalized in the broader field of psychology in Canada (Walsh-Bowers, 1998). The programs at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Wilfrid Laurier University are the only free-standing training programs in community psychology.

While community psychology in Canada has been influenced by U. S.-trained community psychologists and, like the U. S., has deep roots in the mental health field, there are some interesting differences as well. First, the particular faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University espouse a critical, value-based approach to community psychology with a strong emphasis on social intervention and social justice (Bennett, 1987). Second, Canadian community psychology has a long-standing tradition of participatory, action-oriented, and qualitative approaches to research, as is evident in the research published in the CJCMH.

Australia and New Zealand. In Australia and New Zealand, community psychology has roots in mental health, but it has also been influenced by other applied areas of psychology (Bishop, Sonn, Fisher, & Drew, 2001; Wingenfield & Newbrough, 2000). As in Canada, community psychology formally emerged in these two countries in the early 1980s. The National Board of Community Psychologists was founded in Australia in 1981, and now the College of Community Psychologists of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) plays an important role in enhancing the profile of the profession. In recent years, most of the Chairs of the Social Issues Directorate of the APS have been community psychologists. A current Vice-President of the APS, Heather Gridley, is one of the main community psychology figures in the country. Recently, community psychology has developed a more prominent profile in Australia, particularly in Victoria and western Australia (Bishop et al., 2001).

New Zealand community psychologists have played an active role in the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation and contributed to the journal Community Mental Health in New Zealand. There is a graduate training program at the University of Waikato, in which there is a major focus on feminist issues, diversity, and social justice (Thomas, Neill, & Robertson, 1997). New Zealand and Australian community psychologists have close ties and hold joint community psychology conferences. Within New Zealand and Australian community psychology, there is an emphasis on issues of social justice, with a particular focus on colonization of aboriginal people and the need for reconciliation through healing and depowerment of the dominant white majority (e.g., Huygens & Sonn, 2000).

Another influence on community psychology in New Zealand and Australia is that of critical psychology. Critical psychology is not so much a sub-discipline of psychology as it is a perspective or alternative view of all of psychology, or at least applied psychology. Moreover, critical psychology is not a single unified perspective, but rather a focal point for a number of diverse critiques of psychology and society from feminist, anti-racist, and other radical psychologists (Prilleltensky & Fox, 1997). The University of Western Sydney has become a focal point for critical psychology with the development of a program in critical psychology, the birth of a journal, the International Journal of Critical Psychology, and an international conference on critical psychology, under the leadership of Valerie Walkerdine. While critical psychology has thus far been more of a critique than an action-oriented approach, this is changing. There has been a mutual influence between critical psychology and community psychology with critical psychologists becoming more action-oriented and community psychologists becoming more critical (Prilleltensky & Nelson, in press), with Isaac Prilleltensky from Victoria University playing an important role in bridging these two fields.

The United Kingdom. In the U. K., community psychology has been growing for more than a decade. Community psychology also has roots in both clinical psychology and mental health and in applied social psychology. Jim Orford of the University of Birmingham has written a community psychology textbook (Orford, 1992) and co-edits the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology which began in 1991. Critical psychology is another influence on U. K. community psychology. Ian Parker and Erica Burman of Manchester Metropolitan University have developed a program in critical psychology, a new journal, the Annual Review of Critical Psychology, and a network called APsychology Politics Resistance.@ Moreover, programs at the the University of Stirling in Scotland (David Fryer and Steve McKenna) and Manchester Metropolitan University (Carolyn Kagan and Mark Burton) strive to integrate critical and community psychology. Several community psychology conferences have been organized in the U. K. beginning in the 1990s. Interest groups also hold several meetings during the year. Many of the people who identify with community psychology in the U.K. work in traditional clinical settings but have an affiliation with the field. Another emerging trend in the U.K. is the association between health psychologists and community psychology. In the City University of London, for instance, David Marks and Carla Willig engage in health psychology research and action that is very much in line with the vision and values of community psychology.

South Africa. The legacy of colonization, oppression, and segregation of black people under the system of Aapartheid@ is the backdrop against which community psychology has developed in South Africa (Pretorius-Heuchert & Ahmed, 2001). Community psychology emerged as part of a critique of the individual-centered approach of mainstream psychology in South Africa, which did not challenge the status quo of racism in the state. Thus, it is not surprising that community psychology in South Africa has a more radical and political edge than community psychology in other English-speaking countries. In fact, one of the chapters in a recent South African community psychology text is entitled ATowards a Marxist Community Psychology: Radical Tools to Community Psychological Analysis and Practice@ (Seedat, 2001). The journal, Psychology in Society, has provided an outlet for the work of critical and community psychologists in South Africa. In addition to focusing on social change, South African community psychology has also been concerned with mental health issues (Pretorius-Heuchert & Ahmed, 2001). Training in community and critical psychology is offered at several South African universities.

Community Psychology in Continental Europe

Community psychology has also developed in some countries on the European continent, including Italy, Germany, and Poland (Wingenfeld & Newbrough, 2000). In Italy, the Division of Community Psychology of the Italian Psychological Association was created in 1980. As was the case in the U. S., community psychology grew out of social protest movements and government legislation in human services and mental health (Francescato & Ghirelli, 1992). There have been major reforms in the mental health system in Italy, and there has been training in community psychology for over 20 years. Community psychology in Germany has been influenced by European critical theory perspectives, which have been used to analyze and critique the mental health system in particular (Keupp & Stark, 1992). A European Network of Community Psychology, including U. K., was formed in 1996, and meetings and conferences have been held. While there are pockets of community psychology in continental Europe, the field is very much in its developmental stages.

Francescato and Tomai (2001) assert that European community psychology differs from U. S. community psychology in at least three ways. First, there is less emphasis on the individual and more emphasis on the collective. Moreover, the individual and the collective are considered within the broader trends of globalization and free trade. Second, following from the first point, western and northern European countries have stronger social policies than those in the U. S., particularly those that emphasize income redistribution. AMost European community psychologists have underlined the importance of not importing acritically values from the U. S. and of preserving as a precious resource the European tradition of valuing social capital and welfare policies that mitigate economic inequalities@ (Francescato & Tomai, 2001, p. 374). Third, they argue that European community psychology emphasizes theory (theory that strives to integrate traditional, post-modern, and critical approaches) more than U. S. community psychology, which tends to be more pragmatic.

Latin American Community Psychology

Through their publications in U. S. community psychology journals, some of the work of Latin American community psychologists has come to the attention of English-speaking community psychologists (e.g., Bernal & Enchautegui-de-Jesús, 1994; Bernal & Marín, 1985; Montero, 1998; Serrano-García, 1984). According to Montero (1996), the origins of Latin American community psychology are more diverse than for those in other countries, because Latin America constitutes a large area, composed of many different countries. Community psychology is practiced in many different Latin American countries (Wiesenfeld, 1998; Wingenfeld & Newbrough, 2000). There are training programs in community and social psychology in several countries, and there is a Community Psychology Task Force of the Interamerican Society of Psychology (Wingenfeld & Newbrough, 2000). While there are parallels with U. S. community psychology, Latin American community psychology has had many unique influences and emphases (Montero, 1996).

Within the Latin American academic community, community psychology is closely related to Latin American sociology, social psychology, critical theory, and other social science disciplines (Montero, 1996). Columbian sociologist Fals Borda emphasized the need for social scientists to be engaged in social and community intervention with disadvantaged people. Community and social psychology are much more strongly linked in Latin America than in North America and have a strong social activist and community development orientation (Wiesenfeld, 1998). The social and political engagement of El Salvadoran social psychologist Ignacio Martín-Baró is an example of this emphasis. For Latin American community and social psychologists who live under repressive dictatorships, their political engagement is very risky. Martín-Baró, who argued for a psychology of liberation, was assassinated by death squads for his beliefs and actions in 1989. Montero (1996) has asserted that while the development of community psychology was impeded in Latin American countries in which there were or are repressive dictatorships, that such conditions also A. . . forged a powerful and lasting link between community psychology and political causes related to the development of social consciousness@ (p. 593). Latin American community and social psychologists have been practicing research that is participatory and action-oriented for many years, and they have been influenced by critical, alternative philosophies of science (Montero, 1996).

Community psychology in Latin America is distinctly political. Unlike North America, where there is more of a pull towards mainstream psychology, in Latin America the political and the professional are closely intertwined. This is why there is a close affinity between community and political psychologists in that continent. The political overtures of community psychology in Latin America have much to offer to the practice of the field in other areas of the world.

Insert Box 2.1 about here

Community Psychology in Other Developing Nations

While there is not a formal Acommunity psychology@ in many developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, we believe that the defining characteristics of community psychology are compatible with the values and needs of collectivist societies. The emphasis on extended family, community, and collective well-being that is more characteristic of Africa and Asia than English-speaking countries and continental Europe is a natural fit with community psychology. Moreover, there is a clear need for prevention and health promotion interventions in Africa and Asia. Consider the widespread poverty and alarmingly high rates of malnutrition and various diseases, such as the AIDS epidemic, found in many developing countries (Prilleltensky, in press; UNICEF, 2001). Community approaches to the prevention of disease and death and the development of individual, family, community, and economic well-being are sorely needed.

There is currently a trend to Ainternationalize@ psychology in such developing countries (see the American Psychological Association=s Office of International Affairs and their newsletter Psychology International). However, community psychologists who are interested in working with developing countries or preparing students to work in such countries need to be careful not to engage in paternalistic Ahelping@ responses. Just as trade agreements between the industrial powers of the world and developing nations have led to exploitation of people in developing nations, a growing division between Ahave@ and Ahave not@ nations (the north-south divide), and Athird world debt@ (Korten, 1995), Aexporting@ western community psychology to developing nations might unintentionally serve to colonize psychology in developing nations.

A better stance for community psychologists would be to work with psychologists and disadvantaged people in developing nations to help them construct their own indigenous forms of community psychology, as community social psychologists have done in Latin America (Montero, 1996). Working in equal partnerships with disadvantaged people in developing countries requires a mind set of humility, a desire to hear people=s stories and learn about their strengths, and a willingness to share power. Consider the following quote from a Canadian psychologist who speaks of her experiences in preparing students to work in developing countries.

A. . . There is nothing like hands-on applications to alert one to the relevant elements of one=s knowledge and skills. I learned this humbling lesson when a former student spoke to my current class about her summer experience with a Ghanaian local NGO (non-government organization). She spent two months solving daily survival issues and learning from her Ghanaian colleagues, before even thinking to unpack her text and lecture notes on delivering health promotion messages and constructing latrines and safe water sites.@ Aboud, 2001, p. 4)

The work of community psychologist Brinton Lykes with Mayan women in Guatemala stands out as an example of how to work in solidarity disadvantaged people in developing countries (see Lykes, 2001).

THE JOURNEYS OF THE AUTHORS/EDITORS

In this section, we discuss our journeys, those of the two authors/editors, Geoff and Isaac. In the spirit of reflexivity and subjectivity (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2000), we think that it is important that you know something about who we are and where we are coming from. This will help the reader to understand our construction of this book and the field about which it is written. As feminist writers have argued, it is important for researchers and writers to own their location and position in their field and the larger social order. In the social sciences, it is the norm for researchers and writers to be objective and dispassionate. We do not believe it is possible to be completely objective, because all of us have values and biases. Objectivity is important, but so is subjectivity. Moreover, we think that it is sad if people are not passionate about their field of work. For us, community psychology theory, research, and practice is passionate and engaging; it is a major part of our personal and professional lives, and it is often impossible to draw a boundary between the personal and professional. In fact, we have learned that it is important for our identities to connect the personal, professional, and political parts of ourselves, as feminists have argued. In what follows, we provide a brief biographical sketch of ourselves and our involvement in the field of community psychology.

Geoff

I grew up on the south side of Chicago in the 1950s. My family moved Adownstate@ to central Illinois where I lived in the 1960s. My concern with social issues came at an early age from my mother and father, and I became active in social issues when I attended the University of Illinois as an undergraduate from 1968 to 1972. This was the era of the Vietnam War and my friends and I were involved in anti-war protests. I was in the first class of students to take a new course in community psychology that was introduced by Julian Rappaport. There wasn=t even a text book in community psychology yet (and if someone were to tell me at the time that I would someday be the author of a community psychology text, I am sure I would have seen this as ludicrous). Sometimes people take a course in university that makes a life long impression and serves as a turning point in one=s life journey. That=s what happened to me. I resonated to the readings, the lectures, and my practicum experience working in a Head Start program for disadvantaged preschool children. This course brought together my interest in psychology, mental health, and working with people and my views about politics and the need for social change.

In 1972, I moved to Canada to attend graduate school in psychology at the University of Manitoba. I pursued my interest in community psychology through course work, pushing my program to offer more community-oriented courses, through employment and practicum placements, including conducting research and doing front-line work with a storefront community health clinic and crisis intervention centre, consulting with resident advisory groups to promote citizen participation in city government, and helping to create community mental health programs in rural areas in southern Manitoba, and through a one-year internship at the Mendota Mental Health Institute, which was a very progressive, community-oriented setting in Madison, Wisconsin.

I moved to Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario in 1979 to take a faculty position in a community psychology program at Wilfrid Laurier University. This position has been a very good Afit@ for me. I have had the good fortune to work with colleagues and graduate students in community psychology and community members, with whom I share many values, experiences, and interests. I have been able to pursue my research and action interests in community mental health, community development, and prevention, some of the main themes of community psychology. Over the past decade, I have become increasingly scared and angry about the growing power of transnational corporations and the impacts that this trend is having on global economic inequality, democracy, the environment, and the diminishing role of the state in providing social policies that promote human welfare. These larger global issues are having an enormous impact on the issues, people, and interventions that are the concern of community psychology. I believe that education about these issues, civic participation, and political action must become part of the mainstream of community psychology.

I am well aware that I lead a very privileged life. As a white, male, well-paid full professor, I am often in a position of power in relation to other people. I also enjoy a wonderful family, have cherished friends, and live in a relatively safe and prosperous community. I lead a comfortable life. I also spend much of my time working with people who have only dreamed of having all of the advantages that I have. These experiences, my values about social justice, and the vast gaps between what the world is like and what I believe it should be like are constant sources of discomfort which motivate me in my personal and professional life to work with disadvantaged people and like-minded individuals for social change.

Isaac

I was born in Argentina and grew up during turbulent times. There was constant and consistent persecution of social and political activists and there was marked anti-Semitism. As a young Jewish boy I remember going to school and reading graffiti on walls imploring fellow Argentinians Ato be a patriot, kill a jew.@ I joined a Zionist Socialist youth movement from a young age. We were taught how to decipher the news and the media and to become political actors in a highly charged environment. My sister was one of the people who were made to Adisappear@ by the dictatorial government. She was one of the very few people who ended up in exile and not killed or thrown from an airplane with chains to the freezing waters of the Atlantic.

I lost my parents at a young age and spent a lot of my time with friends in the youth movement, talking and discussing politics, injustice, and the fate of some of our friends who and relatives who were Adisappeared.@ I emigrated to Israel in 1976 with a group of friends. Paradoxically, I had a couple of very quiet years while I was finishing high school there. Compared to Argentina, Israel was a calm place. I met Ora, my wife, during my MA studies and we moved together to Canada. In Winnipeg, our port of landing, I completed a PhD at the University of Manitoba and worked for the Child Guidance Clinic of Winnipeg for 6 years. Upon completion of my PhD I joined the faculty of the community psychology program at Wilfrid Laurier University, where I worked for 9 years. I moved with my family to Melbourne, Australia, in 1999.

My affiliation to community psychology is no doubt connected to my early political experiences and family circumstances. In my present family we experience a physical disability which reminds me of how little attention societies pay to the needs of people with different abilities and disabilities. Ora and I talk a lot about social and psychological issues. Matan, our son, who is also a very good conversationalist, keeps me honest in terms of my espoused values and is quick to point to incongruence between espoused and lived principles. Thanks Matan.

Throughout my adult life I=ve been involved with various child advocacy and community groups trying to promote the well being of children and families. I struggle to contribute to community wellness in ways that are not just ameliorative but transformative as well. This is my biggest personal and professional challenge; a challenge that is only matched by my arduous attempts to live the values that I write about.

THE JOURNEY OF THE READER

We want to briefly consider the journey of you the reader. We invite you to join us in the journey of this book, which is your introduction to community psychology. You will learn about the story of community psychology, its mission, its founders, key ideas, and applications. This journey may be bumpy, jarring, and upsetting, both emotionally and intellectually, as we consider the gaps between our own privilege and the disenfranchisement and pain of those with whom we work. In this book, we challenge the field of community psychology to expand its boundaries and to consider new ways of thinking and acting. Many of you who read this book are students taking your first course in community psychology. You may have a field placement experience as part of your course, in which you will come face-to-face with the issues that we discuss and the disadvantaged people with whom we work.

We encourage you to go gently into these unchartered waters, listening respectfully to disadvantaged people, suspending judgement, and constantly reflecting on your thoughts, actions, and experiences. Don=t take everything that we or the other authors or commentators say as Agospel.@ The ability to think critically, challenge ideas, question assumptions, and develop alternative arguments based on experiences, values, and evidence is fundamental to community psychology. Remember that social change movements have often started with student activism. What follows in the book and in your journey may be very sobering, disturbing, or eye-opening for those of you who are new to the field of community psychology. At the same time, however, we want to convey a message of hope and inspiration that change is possible and encourage ways that you can contribute to personal and collective change. Sometimes with our students we use what we call personal reflection exercises to stimulate students= thinking and feeling about different issues. At the end of this chapter, we have included a personal reflection exercise in which we ask you to reflect upon your journey as it relates to community psychology.

SUMMARY

In this chapter, we used the metaphor of a journey to introduce the field of community psychology. We began by outlining the contours of community psychology and differentiating it from mainstream applied psychology. We then traced the origins of the journey of community psychology in the U. S. and other parts of the world to put community psychology in its global context. Next we considered the journeys of disadvantaged people. It is important to understand the journeys of the people with whom we work in community psychology. We then introduced you to ourselves, the authors/editors, and told you a bit about our journeys. We ended the chapter by asking you the reader to reflect on your journey and how you came to community psychology.

Personal Reflection Exercise

Please reflect on the following questions as you begin your journey in community psychology.

1. What drew you to the course that you are taking in community psychology? Describe some of your motivations for pursuing community psychology.

2. What is your initial impression of community psychology? What particular issues or topics would you like to learn more about in community psychology?

3. Where do you see yourself headed in the future in terms of work, further education, and participation in the community?

Resources in Community Psychology

Journals

American Journal of Community Psychology, http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/0091-0562

Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwpress/jrls/cjcmh.html

Journal of Community Psychology, http://www.wiley.com/Corporate/Website/Objects/Products/0,9049,40285,00.html

Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, http://www.interscience.wiley.com/ipages/1052-9284/

Community Psychology Net: Campus Library - a website with links to community psychology-oriented journals

http://www.communitypsychology.net/library/journals.shtml

Websites

Community Psychology Network, http://www.cmmtypsych.net

Community Psychology UK, http://homepages.poptel.org.uk/mark.burton/index.htm

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Table 1.1

Assumptions and Practices of Traditional Applied Psychology and Community Psychology*

Assumptions and Practices

Traditional Applied Psychology

Community Psychology

Levels of analysis

Intrapersonal or micro-systems

Ecological (micro, meso, macro)

Problem definition

Based on individualist philosophies that blame the victim

Problems are reframed in terms of social context and cultural diversity

Focus of intervention

Deficits/problems

Competence/strengths

Timing of intervention

Remedial (late)

Prevention (early)

Goals of intervention

Reduction of Amaladaptive@ behaviours

Promotion of competence and wellness

Type of intervention

Treatment-rehabilitation

Self-help/community development/social action

Role of Aclient@

Compliance with professional treatment regimes

Active participant who exercises choice and self-direction

Role of professional

Expert (scientist-practitioner)

Resource collaborator (scholar-activist)

Type of research

Applied research based on positivistic assumptions

Participatory action research based on alternative assumptions

Ethics

Emphasis on individual ethics, value neutrality, and tacit acceptance of status quo

Emphasis on social ethics, emancipatory values, and social change

Inter-disciplinary ties

Psychiatry, clinical social work

Critical sociology, health sciences, philosophy, law, social work (community development and social policy), political science, planning and geography

* Adapted from Prilleltensky, I., & Nelson, G. (1997). Community psychology: Reclaiming social justice. In D. Fox & I. Prilleltensky (Eds.), Critical psychology: An introduction (pp. 166-184). London: Sage.

Box 1.1

Jane Addams and Hull House

One important setting during the time period between 1890 and 1914 was the settlement house, which provided support to immigrants to the U. S. who were living in large cities. But settlement houses dealt with much more than immigration issues; they served as a base for community organization, social action, education, the labor movement, and the peace movement. In her book, Twenty Years at Hull-House, community developer and social activist Jane Addams (1910) describes Hull-House, a settlement house on the west side of Chicago which consisted of several different ethnic enclaves (Italians, Polish and Russian Jews, Irish). All of these groups lived in slum conditions. The description of Hull-House is strikingly similar to contemporary community-driven prevention projects or neighbourhood organizations with a community development, prevention, and social change focus. Hull-House operated a coffee house, a gymnasium, a coal cooperative, cooperative housing, a day nursery and much more. When workers at Hull-House learned that women and children were working from dawn until late in the evening in sweatshops, they advocated successfully for labor legislation that included an eight-hour day and an age limit of 14 for youth to work. For people like Jane Addams, social issues of women, children, poverty, education, health and social justice were interrelated and thus action was called for on several fronts and at several different levels. Addams went on to found the Women=s International League for Peace and Freedom and she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Box 1.2

Community Psychology in Cuba

Of particular interest is community psychology in Cuba, which, as a communist country, has a strong ideological commitment to economic equality and collective well-being (see Bernal & Marín, 1985). Cuba=s social policies emphasize full employment, universal health care and education, and housing with the goal of promoting quality of life and preventing social problems (Nikelly, 1987). In spite of material deprivation resulting from the embargo by the U. S. and the loss of support of the former Soviet Union, Cuba boasts high rates of literacy and few problems related to malnutrition, homelessness, anti-social behaviour or alcoholism. What role has psychology played in Cuba? It is interesting to note that some more traditional clinical practices have been retained in Cuban psychology, such as the emphasis on psychological testing (Bernal, 1985). At the same time, however, that Cuban psychology is guided by a A. . . pragmatic, action-oriented model focused on resolving social and community needs in areas such as health and education@ (p. 234). When psychologists graduate they find work immediately and are incorporated in practically all sectors of society: industry, education, health, human services, and corrections among others (Ardila, 1986). Presently the work of psychologists is focused on helping citizens face the difficult economic situation. Research is directed at the effects of the Aspecial period@ on the Cuban family, formation and strengthening of values, and the impact of tourism on society (Torre & Calviño, 1996). Psychologists are aware of the impact of the Aspecial period@ on their own subjectivity and professional behaviour, as they are not immune to the adverse effects of the social and economic crisis (Sanchez Valdes, Prilleltensky, Walsh Bowers, & Rossiter, 2002).