Therapists as Agents of Social Change
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
- Maria Robinson
Questions of the Day
• “Objective good health is related to happiness”– Do you agree that health, education, climate, race
and gender do not matter much for happiness?– Are changing social conditions impractical?– Do citizens of the USA tend to say they are happy
even when they aren’t? Why or why not?
Knee-Jerk of Community Psych
• Reflexivity: – the subjectivity and social location of community
psychologists in their roles as social interventionists, including the privileges that they enjoy
• “One cannot be a community psychologist in one’s public life at work and then go home to one’s private life and ‘turn off’ the values that inform one’s work as a community psychologist” – (Nelson & Prelletensky (2005), p152)
Truth or Conscientization
• Conscientization: – The process of gaining awareness of the conditons
that oppress people
• Praxis: – Critical “‘reflection and action upon the world to
transform it’” (Freire, 1970)
What Does Praxis Look Like?
Cultural Context Vision
Actions
Needs
Constituencies
Actions
How Should Praxis Look?
Cultural Context Vision
Needs
Constituencies
Praxis makes perfectDimensions State of Affairs Subject of Study Outcome
Vision/values What is the ideal vision? What values guide the vision?
Social organizations that promote a balance among values for personal, relational, and collective well-being
Vision of justice, well-being and empowerment
Cultural/Social context What are the facts? The “true” state of affairs?
Psychology of individual and collective
Identification of prevailing norms and social conditions oppressing minorities
Needs How is the state of affairs perceived and experienced
Grounded theory and lived experiences
Identification of needs of oppressed groups
Action What can be done to change undesirable state of affairs
Theories of personal and social change
Personal and social change strategies
The Making of a Community Psychologist
• Experiences• Reflexes• Accountability• Outcomes• Social Norms and Abnorms• “Rocking the boat” Attitude• PRAXIS = FACILITATOR
Core IngredientsCompetencies Skills
Assumptions Understand the central roles of power in the social world; frame problems in terms of power inequities; challenge victim-blaming assumptions; focus on strengths
Values Clarify the vision and values on which interventions are based; advocate for values that promote liberation from oppression and personal, relational, and collective well-being
Principles and Theories Understand and apply CP concepts and theories (prevention, empowerment, sense of community); use ecological and system approaches to intervention focusing on group, organizational, community and social change, rather than individualist approaches
Professional IngredientsCompetencies Skills
Personal Effectiveness Personal reflection and conscientization; communication skills (basic attending and influencing, assertiveness, leadership, setting boundaries)
Partnership and Collaboration Consultation; group process facilitation; organization development; community development; partnering with diverse stakeholders, including disadvantaged people; team-building
Technical Competencies Project management; grant-writing; oral and written communication skills
Focus• Ameliorate vs Transform
– Band-aid vs. Major Surgery– First Order Change vs. Second Order Change
• Ameliorative: – an approach to intervention that focuses on improvement rather than
fundamental change of underlying assumptions, values and power structures, also known as first-order change
• Transformative: – an approach to intervention that focuses on fundamental change of
underlying assumptions, values and power structures; also known as second order change
The Characters of ChangeCharacteristics Ameliorative Transformative
Framing of Issues/Problems
Technical and rational problem solving
Terms of oppression and inequities of power
Values Holistic, health, caring and compassion
Self-determination, participation, social justice, respect for diversity, accountability
Levels of Analysis Ecological perspective; improving personal well-being
Terms of power dynamics; improving collective well-being
Prevention Focus Enhancing personal skills, self-esteem and support systems
Reduction of systemic risk factors (racism, sexism, poverty)
Desired Outcomes Personal enhanced well-being (health, choice)
Group enhanced well-being (power and justice)
Invention Process May be ‘expert-driven’ but includes stakeholders
Partnership with community and stakeholders; local ownership of change process
Roles for Community Psychologists
Professional expertise to solve problems
Work with oppressed groups to challenge the status quo and create social change
Promoting Healthful Change
• Whose interests will be served?• Is there value congruence between the
change agent and those with whom he/she will be consulting?
• What form will the intervention take (eg action research, consultation, skills training)?
• What previous interventions have been tried and with what success?
What’s the Alternative?
• Alternative Settings: – Voluntary associations created and controlled by
the stakeholders who share a problem or oppressive condition
– Eg – Self-help, mutual aid organizations
• If a social condition is not deemed oppressive does it need changing?
Tips and Tricks for Facilitating Social Change
1. Who’s in the room? What kinds? Types? Shapes? Colors? Class?
2. How often do YOU speak?3. Are you ACTIVELY listening?4. Support others by soliciting their thoughts and ideas5. Whose work and contribution gets recognized?6. Work against creating a structure that alienates some of
the stakeholders7. Ask what needs to be done vs. asking others to do
something8. Social change is a process – a complex, laborious process
Social Interventions
• Is social service the same as social change?• The belly of the beast: outsiders or insiders?• Challenging the status quo: linking the immediate
concerns of citizens with larger structures of inequality– Promotion of personal, relational, and collective well-
being– Balancing self-determination, caring, compassion and
respect for diversity with principles of social justice and sense of community
Examples of Ameliorative vs Transformative Social Interventions
Setting / Role Ameliorative Transformative
Government / Insider Contribute to population healthPrevent epidemicsSocial supportsPublic educationProvide basic necessities
Support full employmentEquity legislationProgressive taxation systemEliminate povertyUniversal health insuranceUniversal family support
SMOs and NGOs / Outsider Demand more servicesPressure to improve communityIncreased participation in local politicsFunds for charity, research and demonstration projects
Oppose economic colonialismResist globalizationFight exploitationSupport networks of resistanceDepowerment of the powerfulCreate links of solidaritySustainable communitiesPromote culture of equalityTeach psychopolitical awareness
Import Trivia
• 1% reduction in GDP eliminates gains in reducing urban poverty experienced during a 3.7% growth in GDP
• Recession has a particularly strong effect on inequality
• Growth by itself, without appropriate social policies to ensure fairness in the way its benefits are distributed, brings little benefit to health equity
Strengths and Limitations
Characteristic Government SMOs and NGOs
Strengths BreathDepthLengthSustainability
TransformativeParticipatoryIntegrative
Weaknesses AmeliorativeConservativeRegressive
UnaccountableContradictoryTransitoryInsular and internecineIndifferent to diversity
Roots of Social Movements
• Suffering / Deprivation• Consciousness Raising• Congealing Events• Political Opportunities
Community Psychologists Working in Government Organizations
• Bureaucracy• Paperwork• Limited, Defined Scope• Measureable (Ameliorative)• Less an agent of change than an agent of
policies
Community Psychologists in SMOs and NGOs
• Limits on personal income• Inefficient ways of working• Diverse educational levels of coworkers and
staff members• Diverse cultural experiences may create
misunderstandings and tension • Compromising one’s own personal values?• Fractured goals
Role of Community Psychologist in Social Organizations
• Facilitate:– Social change– People power / empowerment– Collective action
How to Prepare as a Facilitator for Social Change
• Multiple sources of support• Congruence and confluence of interests• Communications network• Organizational effectiveness• Resource mobilization
Collective Action Strategies
• Build Recruitment because Size Matters• Media and Marketing Campaigns• Create Coalitions of Intersecting Interests• Create Lobbying and Political Influence Efforts• Protest the Status Quo
Changing Vocabulary• Alternative Setting: settings that are designed to, and are often in opposition to,
mainstream or traditional settings• Ameliorative: an approach to intervention that focuses on improvement rather
than fundamental change of underlying assumptions, values and power structures, also known as first-order change
• Framing: reframing how social issues are conceptualized or understood; transformative interventions involve reframing the way issues are typically understood
• Praxis: the integration of theory and practice in social intervention; it includes attention to cultural context, vision, action and needs
• Reflexivity: the subjectivity and social location of community psychologists in their roles as social interventionists, including the privileges that they enjoy
• Social Intervention: one who engages in transformative social change, as contrasted with social technician and social reformer roles
• Social Movement Organization: an organization that is specifically dedicated to transformative social change
• Transformative: an approach to intervention that focuses on fundamental change of underlying assumptions, values and power structures; also known as second order change
Intervention Vocabulary• Ameliorative: interventions purposeful activities designed to alleviate the resutls of living in
unjust and prejudicial societies• Coalition: a group of groups dedicated to achieving social, economic, or health goals for a
particular sector of the population• Health Promoter: person assigned the role of improving an aspect of the population’s
health• Human Development: refers to comprehensive improvement in the education, health,
housing, social and economic conditions of a population• Internecine: struggles within social movements or political parties• NGOs: non-government organizations dedicated to a particular cause• Program Developer: person collaborating with others in developing a governmental or non-
governmental project• Resource Mobilization: infusion of material intellectual and human resources into social
change efforts• Social Interventions: are intentional processes designed to affect the well-being of the
population through changes in values, policies, programs, distribution of resources, power differentials and cultural norms
• SMOs: social movement organizations dedicated to a particular cause• Transformative Interventions: intentional processes designed to alter the conditions that
lead to suffering