Lecture 3 Flashcards
What is social justice?
Equitable distribution of resources (not necessarily equal). Fairness and access.
How is social justice addressed?
By attending to and dealing with social processes. Also by stopping marginalization and exclusion.
What are other central concepts in community psychology?
- Social Justice
2. Strengths
What is the strengths approach?
Competence and assets. Competence is a sense of mastery and assets is discovering each individual’s strength.
What is victim blaming? (4 steps)
- Identify a social problem
- Study those affected by the problem and discover the ways in which they are different from the rest of us
- Define the difference as the cause of the social problem itself
- Change the victim
What is the pathology approach? (put in a table)
Person is defined as a “case”; symptoms add up to a diagnosis. Says therapy is problem-focused. Personal accounts aid in bringing together a diagnosis through reinterpretation by an expert. Practitioner is skeptical of personal stories, rationalizations. Childhood trauma is the precursor or predictor of adult pathology. Centrepiece of therapeutic work is the treatment plan devised by the practitioner. Practitioner is the expert on clients’ lives.Possibilities for choice, control, commitment, and personal development are limited by pathology. Resources for work are the knowledge and skills of the professional. Help is centered on reducing the effects of symptoms and the negative personal and social consequences of actions, emotions, thoughts or relationships.
What is the strengths approach? (put in a table)
Person is defined as unique; traits, talents, resources add up to strengths. Therapy is possibility focused. Personal accounts are the essential route to knowing and appreciating the person. Knows the person from the inside out. Childhood trauma is not predictive; it may weaken or strengthen the individual. Centrepiece of work is the aspirations of family, individual or community. Individuals, family or community are the experts.Possibilities for choice, control, commitment, and personal development are open. Resources for work are the strengths, capacities, and adaptive skills of the individual, family or community. Help is entered on getting on with one’s life, affirming and developing values and commitments, and making and finding membership in or as a community.
What is positive psychology?
Focus on strengths of the individual. Consideration of the impact of the environment missing in this approach. Strong well-being and productivity. Strong social ties. Emphasis on personal growth. Clear structure.
What is social change?
Efforts to shift community values, attitudes and expectations. Can include targeting pathogenic systems and may challenge the status quo.
What is action research?
Designed to resolve social problems. Should be grounded in theory and should involve an active partnership between the researcher and community members.
What are four themes arising from the science/practice issue?
- Effective strategies to bridge science and practice, so as to strengthen the capacity to do both within the community.
- Changing who determines what is important, i.e., giving the community power in determining what is important and useful.
- A broadening of the definition of good science beyond the “narrow” laboratory-based experimental designs.
- Dealing with the difficulty of implementing the values and ideals given the contingencies under which many psychologists work.
An interdisciplinary perspective is best, why?
Complex problems require complex answers. Collaboration allows alternative perspectives.
What are three factors necessary for strong multidisciplinary research?
- A sense of common goals and good leadership
- Proactive arrangement of contextual supports
- Preparation, practice and refinement of the collaborative effort.
