PYC2614 Study Notes
Community Psychology: Building Foundations
SECTION A: THE FOUNDATION OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
The Aim of the Module:
Explore what this field is about, where it originated from, how it Is practiced today and how you can use the
community psychology principles in whichever career you are developing yourself towards.
The module will introduce you to how you fit in the community in which you live
Provide ways and means of understanding the current contextual issues in our communities and how these
can be attended to through community psychology understandings toward possible interventions
Theme 1: Histories and Schools of Community Psychology
Epistemological Differences in Understanding the Concept “Community”
There are Western and non-Western epistemologies (worldviews/ways of viewing reality) on understanding
psychological phenomena, including the concept “community”. These epistemologies signify the European
knowledge and values, as well as the knowledge and values derived from other continents, including Africa,
respectively.
Mainstream modern psychology
Assumes that psychology is an objective and universal science. (scientific and fact-based way of
understanding an individual).
It does not consider contextual particularities such as sex, race, culture, and the values and meanings of
others in understanding an individual.
Knowledge should be produced through methods of science - Objective truth can be discovered if methods
of research are refined.
Claim that objective knowledge can be created without considering the role of the observer or researcher in
the process of research.
Claims to function as a value-free science without any political undertones.
The psychologist is the expert. (The expert can claim to be an individual of a high order due to the
knowledge that has been gained through scientific research. This claim is used to empower individuals)
In a particular situation, the so-called “expert” can claim to pose more knowledge regarding a group of
individuals in a community. This power dynamic can have immense consequences when the expert
approaches the community in need, as they would govern or have an influence on how the community lives.
Individualism: The wellbeing and progress of individual people are put above that of groups or communities.
The self is seen as a self-contained or independent individual.
It disregards other cultural perspectives, knowledge, ideas, values, practices, as well as the role of discourses
and languages.
Exclusively based on the worldview of members of white middle classes.
,The bio-medical model
This model is closely aligned with Western medicine and came to prominence in the 19 th century.
It places focus on the individual as the unit of analysis and emphasises the role of biological factors
(particularly the brain) in influencing and affecting human behaviour.
Psychological challenges tend to be viewed as brain diseases.
The model also relies on the assumptions of cause and effect, and focuses on the cure of individuals who are
already ill. (e.g. an individual’s mental or psychological illness is customarily interpreted as having an
underlying biological cause.)
It is assumed that treating the biological cause, usually by pharmacological treatment, will produce the
desired effects.
African psychology
Organises the world in a hierarchy of beings. (The ancestors play an important role in this hierarchy).
Make no or little distinction between nature and culture.
Causality is understood to be linked to the interaction of life forces.
A holistic view of life as a cosmic unity.
Knowledge is gained through participation and connecting. (The observer/researcher or psychology
practitioner is part of the system that is observed and influences it profoundly.
Life is viewed as communal and personhood (who a person is) is defined in relation to the community, not
the self.
Parental responsibilities also reside not just with the father and mother, but also the extended family and
the community.
Personhood is relationally defined (in terms of Ubuntu that is humanity).
Individuals and communities are seen as interdependent.
Due to multiple influences and cultural cross-pollination, the perspectives of an African psychology are continuously
changing.
A critical approach to psychology
The critical approach to psychology is interested in values and meanings, and how these influence
knowledge.
It locates human values, motivations and behaviours in their cultural and class contexts.
Its focus is on the “lived experiences” of people. This includes the lived experiences and reflections of
marginalised people.
Its focus drives it to addressing problems such as illiteracy, disintegration of extended family systems,
poverty, alienation and other social issues.
Can be viewed as a sub-division of psychology that falls outside of the more traditional/mainstream
psychology perspective.
The idea behind critical psychology is to challenge the view that communities have no influence or effect on
the “realities” regarding traditional psychology
Developed in response to mainstream psychology.
Critical psychology tends to question the basic foundations of mainstream psychology. The argument here is
that the Western approach is not value free, it tends to cater for the values that have been formulated
particularly by middle and upper class white males that are essential to the ideology of capitalism
Critical psychology does not ignore the importance of the inclusion of the observer or researcher for the
purpose of knowledge production
This approach questions current circumstances that communities may face, while opposing the values and
principles that the mainstream psychological stance presents. The idea here is not to become the
mainstream within the field of psychology, but rather to provide a form of critique of the mainstream in
order to make psychology less oppressive and more available to the community and its people.
The critical African perspective on psychology
Focuses on the indigenisation of psychology, taking into account differences in people’s languages,
philosophies and worldviews through which Africans experience the world.
, It assumes that existence is concrete and particular (not universal).
It looks into how cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express and transform the human psyche.
It sees the self as a collectivistic or interdependent self. Therefore, the self is defined in terms of
relationships with the other.
It criticises acculturation and the marginalisation of African and other knowledge systems, and has an
emancipatory aim, which is to address the needs of society such as HIV/Aids, illiteracy and poverty, among
others.
It sees culture and worldview as a meaning system and accommodates different worldviews.
Components of a worldview include orientations to time, nature, human activity and relational connections,
and psychologies are seen to be connected to underlying metaphysical ontologies that order things into
“good” and “bad”, as well as “right” and “wrong” about conditions of life.
The Concept of Community
The term “community psychology” is a combination of two seemingly contradictory and diversely defined concepts,
namely, community and psychology.
Different understandings of the term “community”:
We should consider that the majority of the population in South Africa, who are indigenous people, still practice
their cultural ways of living, and make sense of reality through the African outlook of life. Whilst there is value in
understanding the Western epistemological way of viewing and doing things, it is equally important to understand
other perspectives of knowledge.
- In the South African context, community is often interpreted in terms of race differences, due to the
systematic discrimination by the apartheid state that privileged the designated “white race” and
disadvantaged all “other races”
- Students often use the term “community” when referring to poor, disadvantaged, black townships or rural
areas that are in need of assistance. However, these ways of thinking further perpetuate the notion held by
mainstream psychology that psychological services, including therapy, are meant for the elite few and the
middle class who can afford individual services; and that community psychology is only for the
disadvantaged who cannot afford or access individual therapy.
- The definition that embraces individualism reflects the over-individualistic bio-medical model’s view that
psychological health, illness and disorder are predominantly located within individuals while societal,
political, historic, and environmental influences are ignored or minimised.
Implicit in Yen’s discussion is that the concept “community” may change over time and that it is multifaceted.
The way communities are conceptualised may vary from context to context because of different cultures and
worldviews.
Western understanding
“Community” often describes a group of people that may or may not be spatially connected, but who share common
interests, concerns, or identities. These communities could be local, national, or international, with specific or broad
interests.
, African world sense
A community is understood as being three dimensional (what is sometimes referred to as the “onto-triadic structure
of being”).
1. The first dimension consists of the visible community of the living here and now.
2. The second being the departed who are believed to be members of the community known among the bantu
speaking of South Africa as ancestors.
3. The Third Dimension: The yet-to-be-born make
These three dimensions are considered interrelated. This African three dimensional conception of community is also
important in understanding matters related to mental illness and its treatment according to the African worldview.
Defining Community Psychology
Community psychology is a heterogeneous concept, and a single definition would not be sufficient and accurate in
capturing the complexities also inherent in its theory and practical application. What is generally agreed upon is that
there can be different approaches in community psychology, and that these approaches should aim at improving
communities’ conditions and psychological wellbeing.
For us to properly understand community psychology, it can be described as “the critical study of people in contexts
directed towards the common aim of improving community conditions and promoting psychological wellbeing”.
Community psychology places an emphasis on the importance of the local rather than the universal.
A critical review of the politics of knowledge production reveals that knowledge is not neutral.
The Global Histories of Community Psychology
General Overview of the development of communities and psychology
Communities are generally considered to have emerged as small travelling (nomadic) groups or larger agricultural
(pastoral) groups. Eventually, a centralised powerbase emerged in the form of kingdoms and empires. Groups with
superior infrastructure, transport and weaponry founded large empires by occupying neighbouring lands and
peoples. These great civilisations and empires go way back in history, and include the following: Sumer,
Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Yuan dynasty, the Aztec and the Inca civilisations,
Mongolia, Abbasid Caliphate, Umayyad Caliphate, Ottoman, the Kingdom of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Ethiopia, the
Mossi Kingdoms, Benin, and Axum.
Recent empires of the past two centuries include the British, Spanish, Russian, French, Portuguese, Italian, German,
and the Qing empires.
During the past 500 years, a typical form of globalisation emerged through the establishment of oceanic trade
routes. This was marked by the colonisation of various peoples in Africa, America, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania
(Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Papa New Guinea, etc.) by Western, Asian, and other empires that were
expanding their commercial and political power base
The rise of modernity and industrialisation in 1970 led to huge increases in production and consumption. This
impacted on the ways in which power was deployed and arranged. The transition from sail ships that use wind
energy to steam engines, followed by fossil-fuel based engines and electricity, dramatically changed the face of
human civilisations and their communities. This also ushered in dramatic changes in the natural ecology through
large-scale farming, road and rail infrastructure, electricity grids, and the concomitant denaturing of natural
environments and a massive increase in toxic pollutants. Humans have experienced unprecedented changes during
this epoch that led to huge scientific and economic advances, but at the same time increased manifold personal,
social, and environmental stressors
