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Dope NotesPsychology 348
Psychological Interventions
Week 1
Reading: A history of ‘community’ and
community psychology in South Africa
These summaries are made directly from the readings.
For additional background and definitions, and to avoid over studying, please consult
the slides while studying from these notes.
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,INTRODUCTION
2 reasons to study a historical account of the development of community psychology:
o To shine light on the socially constructed nature of psychological terms and
concepts,
- Can shed light on how current connotations of the terms have come
about, and raise awareness of the ways language plays a part in our
practice of community psychology,
- How meanings and uses of concepts have changed over time
o Individuals & communities must be understood in relation to their social and
historical concepts,
- Can help us see how certain ideas and trends in the sub-discipline
have developed in response to social conditions,
- And thereby help us re-evaluate their appropriateness to current
problems
THE LANGUAGE OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
“Community”:
We use it to refer to social groups to which we feel we / others belong
Referred to when talking about targets of interventions (by politicians, researchers,
community psychologists)
Generally positive connotations: something that is good, should be pursued &
supported
“Sense of community” = a sense of togetherness
HOWEVER, not as inconspicuous as it seems
In Apartheid, ‘community’ was deliberately confused with legislated racial categories
to separate ‘racial communities’ from each other
o Apartheid government used ‘community’ interchangeably with race, nation,
peoples, etc. = implied these communities were natural (not socially
constructed) categories of people who differed from each other
o Central to the government’s justification of inequalities in resources and
power between these groups
The implications of this kind of language in community psychology:
Argued by Butchart and Seedart in 1990:
Central principles of the mental health model of community psychology
complimented the views of community employed in apartheid ideology
Mental health model defines community i.t.o geographical location and aims to
prevent mental illness within that catchment area
No consideration given to the effects of broader political & economic conditions
Because of this, it was sometimes implied within the mental health model the
community must be ‘assisted to heal itself’
o Thereby providing justification for the unequal distribution of mental health
resources
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, Argued that the effects of this history of the term community would be reproduced
even when it was used with good intentions
o Language of community also used in 1970s by Black Consciousness
Movement, to ignite sense of solidarity among African, coloureds, Indians –
referring to all 3 as the Black Community
o Term was used at other times to refer to apartheid-imposed communities
(townships created by forced removal)
o Butchart and Seedat argued:
The emphasis on community empowerment and pride in communities created
artificially through the Group Areas Act reproduced the racial categories that
they wanted to oppose
The term community is a potentially problematic one
o It has the potential to recall apartheid terminology and ideas of racial
differences
o Implies a romanticised notion of homogenous or unified communities
THE EMERGENCE OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICA
In SA, the sub-discipline of community psychology developed in response of
oppression and exclusion, but rather late (in comparison to USA)
SA psychology had been largely silent about, and even actively supportive of the
status quo i.t.o racism
o This stance was justified through psychology’s insistence on its status as a
neutral scientific discipline
o Psychologists who were serious about the socio-political context in SA were
accused of practicing politics rather than psychology
In the 1980s, academic psychologists began publicly opposing the racial disparities
in SA society, and psychology’s failure to acknowledge or respond to these social
conditions
o Focus on the individual as the object of psychological intervention was
criticised
BOURGEOIS COUNSELLING IN A SOUTH AFRICAN TOWNSHIP:
Counselling service in a Johannesburg Township in mid 70s which eventually failed:
Primary reason for failure:
the theoretical model guiding counsellor’s work didn’t take into account the
adverse social conditions leading to clients going for counselling
Counsellors had been trained in person-centred approach
o individualist bias encouraged clients to focus on self-actualisation /
adapting to unjust circumstances,
instead of taking action to change them
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, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT AND THE RESPONSE OF ORGANISED
PSYCHOLOGY
SA community psychology began as a loose and diverse collection of approaches
that emerged through an engagement with social psychological problems largely
associated with apartheid society
As more political activists became victims of state torture / detention, many NGOs
representing organised protest concerned themselves with providing mental health
care for the survivors
Groupings of anti-apartheid health-care professionals began to form, two that played
significant roles in the development of community psychology were:
o Psychology against Apartheid group (PA)
o Organisation for Appropriate Social Services in South Africa (OASSSA)
OASSSA provided mental health support services to ex-detainees, their families, and
also provided basic training in trauma counselling, and provided psychological
support for returning exiles
NGOs played (and still play) crucial role in development of community psych:
o formed by & consist of community members
o at the forefront of service provision
o it is often through NGOs that community psychologists interact with
community members
o However, the differences in needs, goals and access to power between
psychologists and community members draw attention to the need for
psychologists to reflect on their contradictory social positioning as privileged
professionals and their social distance from those they hope to assist
Some argued that the development of community psychology allowed mainstream
psychology to continue practising in the same way, for the same people.
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