PRACTICE
5.1. COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY - VALUES, GOALS AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS
neither desirable nor possible. By maintaining a position of silence and distancing themselves from the political conflicts of the apartheid era, for example, South African psychologists had
shown implicit support for the status quo (Dawes, 1986 and Lazarus, 1988). Community
psychology therefore adopted the position that all science is value laden and sought to make the values on which its research and practice were based, explicit.
Community psychology was also influenced by developments in psychology, including
disenchantment with the mainstream disease model of illness and the restriction of mental health services to young, white, wealthy populations, treated almost exclusively through
individual therapy. Calls for a representative approach, acknowledging the role of economic and socio-political forces in the development of illness, led to new interests in community mental health and the training of psychologists in community based therapeutic techniques.
The emerging discipline of community psychology turned to several fields of psychology for theoretical inspiration, including Environmental and Organisational Psychology and Systems
Theory, with particular emphasis on the relations between the component of a system, the system as a whole, and other surrounding systems (Rappaport, 1977). Systems Theory also
contributed the notion of equifinality, or assumption of multiple causality of phenomena, and the importance of feedback in influencing the future direction of a system (Rappaport, 1977).
Although Systems Theory impacted heavily on community psychology's theoretical
foundation, it lacked the specificity necessary for designing community interventions. The theory of Social Ecology with its emphasis on the interaction between individuals and their
physical, social and psychological environment thus played a crucial role in applying the principles of Systems The~ry directly to social interventions. The ecological principles
guiding community-based interventions will be outlined-in more detail in section 5.2.5.
5.1.2. Values and ethical principles of Community Psycholol:Yi
In line with community psychology's commitment to explicate the values on which its ,
,
research and practice is based, five core values of community psychology are articulated j
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(Rappaport, 1977 and Thomas, 1984). Firstly the value of prevention seeks to develop social,
'i
and welfare institutions so they are better able to develop the well-being of communities hnd prevent social problems before they occur. Secondly is the value of empowerment, which'
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represents both the core theory of the discipline and the goal of its practice (Rappaport, 1987).
The third value is the adoption of an ecological view, emphasising the interdependence of people and their environments. Fourthly community psychology advocates cultural relativity and the promotion of cultural diversity. Implicit in this value is a rejection of the dominant American position of liberalism which advocates the superiority of white, middle class values and seeks to distribute resources according to a single standard of normality and competence.
5.1.3. A world viewadvocatin~competence not deficit:
While all of the above values informed the current intervention, the fifth value is perhaps most relevant to this study, namely the promotion of competence rather than the correction of deficit. Itdemands in-depth analysis as it highlights the difference between an academic development approach to student development, compared to an empowerment philosophy.
The labels applied to people are highly communicative and evaluative, indicating to the subject acceptance of hislher behaviour as compatible with prevailing norms, or rejection thereof as deviating from normality (Rappaport and Cleary, 1980). Labels often evoke a self- fulfilling prophecy, eliciting behaviours consistent with the label, as illustrated by well-known studies such as Zimbardo' s Stanford Prison Study (1973 in Zimbardo, McDermott,Jansz and Metaal, 1995), and Rosenthal and Jacobson's (1968) Pygmalion Effect study.
Itis thus clear that labels like 'under-prepared' or 'disadvantaged' have long lasting effects, both on the person labelled, and influencing others' behaviour towards him/her. The tendency
•• - •• 0-~••••_~".
to label minority groups as having deficits dominates traditional helper-helpee relationships (Albee, 1980; Rappaport and Cleary, 1980 and Ryan, 1971).This view rests on the assumption that a poor community is a disorganised one, with this disorganisation manifesting itself as various forms of deficit (Cole and Bruner, 1971).Itis the goal of the helping professions to adjust deprived groups to a previously determined standard of normality. Applied to this thesis, black students are labelled as disadvantaged and lacking the skills seen as crucial to
university success. The goal of academic development has therefore been to provide these skills, bringing students to the level of the pre-determined standard and thus fixing the deficit.
The deficit position is clearly a political one, entrenching differences between social groups (Cole and Bruner, 1971). Minority groups are labelled as deprived, and then blamed for their own deficits. Instead of targeting power imbalances or socio-economic inequities, deviation is seen as resulting from such factors as character traits, socialisation, or cultural deprivation, and corrected through such efforts as education, skills training or cultural upliftment (Ryan, 1971).
According to Cole and Bruner (1971), however, displays of apparent deficit are often merely the result of being made to perform in a foreign setting, inconsistent with past experiences.In experimental situations, for example, minority groups are disadvantaged by a situation that favours middle-class behaviour and experiences and thus asserts the power of the dominant social class: "the great power of the middle class has rendered differences into deficits because middle-class behaviour is the yardstick of success" (Cole and Bruner, 1971, p. 874).
Community psychology therefore rejects a deficit view and instead, identifies ways of
addressing differences in society without labelling these as deficits. Community resources are strengthened and members are assisted to transfer skills from existing areas of competence to new contexts. By empowering communities to take control of their lives and thus correcting power imbalances, this approach meets the criteria for second order change discussed in the previous chapter (Wazlawicket al.,1974). Anintervention that seeks to remedy deficits, however, focusses on helping disadvantaged groups adapt to an unchanged system, and thus brings about only first order, surface change, in one aspect of the system.
Applying this view to student development, an empowering education is one that shifts from a focus solely on correcting academic deficits to place equal importance on boosting existing competencies relevant to the task at hand. In the needs assessment of the current intervention, therefore, not only were areas of need identified, but also areas of existing strength, such as motivation and enthusiasm for the discipline, which could boost students' performance.
5.2. EMPOWERMENT THEORY AS COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY'S WORLD