Community,liberty and the practice of teaching

Does the cultivation of liberty undermine communities of practice? The answer depends significantly on what is meant by the cultivation of liberty and on what is meant by a community of practice. On the question of community, the work of Rawls and Sandel serves as a starting point. I examine three conceptions — the instrumental, the sentimental and the constitutive — and attempt to illustrate them with examples of communities of practice. I argue that Sandel's criterion for distinguishing between the sentimental and constitutive conceptions of community does not do the work required of it.On the question of liberty undermining community, I argue that if liberty is taken as license then it is a threat both to communities and to practices, whereas if it is taken as independence then it threatens neither. Two conceptions of independence can be distinguished. One, which is central to liberal political theory, does not presuppose an account of the good; the other, which I argue is central to the flourishing of a community of practice, does. It presupposes that account of the good which is implicit in the end or telos of the practice concerned.     

Parallel lives: Community psychology in Latin America and the United States

Comparing the history of community psychology as it developed in the U.S. during the 1960s with the community psychology that developed 10 years later in Latin America, one is reminded of the title of Plutarch’s masterpice,Parallel Lives. Although there was very little contact or communication between the first community psychologists in these regions, very similar principles and orientations evolved. These similarities are particularly striking given the many ways in which the U.S. and Latin American contexts and histories differ. Since most readers are expected to be familiar with the history of community psychology as it developed in the U.S., this paper focuses primarily on the development of community psychology in Latin America in order to highlight areas of convergence as well as divergence from the U.S. experience. This paper is based on an address presented at the Fourth Biennial Conference, Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association, William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1993. The author acknowledges the valuable help received from J. R. Newbrough and from the referees in the revision of this paper.     

Community Counselling in African Contexts

This article explores community counselling as a form of professional practice for psychologists, with a particular focus on practices that are relevant in African contexts. The discussion identifies and discusses various models of practice identified in community psychology, including an ecological perspective, a public health and community mental health framework, interventions that focus on promoting a sense of community, indigenous approaches to community counselling and a critical or social action framework. Examples relating to each of these models of practice are drawn from various African settings, providing practitioners with some insights into how theory can be operationalised into practices that are relevant to African contexts. The article concludes with a discussion on community research, with a particular focus on ethical considerations relevant to a community approach in African contexts. The latter discussion emphasises the importance of working with the community as partners, and suggests the possibility of developing a Code of Ethics aimed specifically at guiding community counselling practice in African contexts.     

Community science: bridging the gap between science and practice with community-centered models

A major goal of community science is to improve the quality of life in our communities by improving the quality of the practice of treatment, prevention, health promotion, and education. Community science is an interdisciplinary field, which develops and researches community-centered models that enable communities to use evidence-based interventions more effectively and efficiently. In this article, the gap between science and practice and the need to bridge the gap with new models serve as an entry point and guide to the development of a community science. Therefore, the article describes (1) the prevention science model of bringing science to practice, (2) why this model is necessary but not sufficient for influencing the quality of interventions in our everyday world, (3) the gap between science and practice and the need to integrate prevention science models with community-centered models in order to bridge the gap, and (4) features of community science.     

Ecology, Community, and AIDS Prevention

I explore the role that may be played by an ecological view of AIDS prevention and AIDS-related social concerns. The study of AIDS risk behavior and interventions designed to prevent AIDS have challenged Health Psychology's typically individualistic perspective. Issues of empowerment, psychological sense of community, interpersonal ties, resources, and culture are central to an understanding of risky sexual behavior and helping people to guard themselves from the threat of AIDS. However, despite Community Psychology's historical expertise in these areas, the field has only recently become involved in AIDS prevention efforts. I outline how resource-based, ecological theories may prove more helpful in addressing the AIDS pandemic than the individual, cognitive theories that have typically been adopted. Sexual behavior and associated risk are tied not simply to people's personal behavior and thoughts but to the likelihood of disease exposure in their ethnic group, the power and choices associated with power in that group, and the alternative means available of meeting their overall sexual, romantic, economic, and social goals. As such, AIDS research and intervention must simultaneously address the individual, social, and cultural spheres if insights that can translate to meaningful change can be expected to occur.     

Consumption,Contrition, and Community

Abstract : This theological reflection on consumption suggests that the affluent are complicit in the suffering of those whose labor puts food on our tables and brings us the good life. The culture of consumption tends to enthrone distortive and destructive desires that interfere with our spiritual well‐being. In the midst of that we find the working of God's grace in the most unlikely Christian practice: that of contrition. Recovering the practice of contrition can be a first step toward joy, compassion, and community.     

Artificial Intelligence, Religion, and Community Concern

Future developments in artificial intelligence (AI) will likely allow for a greater degree of human-machine convergence, with machines becoming more humanlike and intelligent machinery becoming more integrated into human brain function. This will pose many ethical challenges, and the necessity for a moral framework for evaluating these challenges will grow. This paper argues that community concern constitutes a central factor in both the evolution of religion and the human brain, and as such it should be used as the organizing principle for moral evaluations of AI technologies.     

Social Epistemology,scientific practice and the elusive social

Social Epistemology, as formulated by Steve Fuller, is based on the suggestion that rational knowledge policy must be held accountable to brute facts about the nature of our human cognitive pursuits, whatever these may be. One difficulty for Fuller concerns the conception of the social which underwrites social epistemology. I argue that social epistemology conflates the social with human psychological properties that are available for public scrutiny and, accordingly, that social epistemology is best viewed as a brand of psychologism. Though Fuller's proposal signifies an important step in the ongoing attempt by scholars to eradicate the last traces of Descartes' epistemological device of a disembodiedres cogitans, I conclude that his conception of the social is too weak to serve as the basis for a socially-embedded discipline in anything but name only.     

Gliding across the liminal space between counsellor and counselling researcher: Using collective biography practices in the teaching of counselling research methodologies

Aims: Drawing on their engagement in a specific collective biography research project, the co-authors aim to demonstrate how the weaving together of creative story-telling and the theory underlining collective biography practices resulted in an understanding of rhizomatic research methodologies from within the process. This paper aims to demonstrate one way in which research methodologies training can become more firmly embedded within counsellor training courses. Method: A collective of counselling students and a session tutor colleague used collective biography practices to research their memories of traversing the liminal space between ‘counsellor’ and ‘counselling researcher’. Alongside the resulting collective stories, a collaborative review of the research process examined our chosen ways of working within the project. Outcomes: Engaging in collective biography practices resulted in an experiential shift from ‘learning to do counselling research’ to ‘becoming counselling researchers’. Weaving together research processes and researcher reflexivity generated personal and professional learning. Ways in which these research methodologies complement core components of counselling training, within and beyond the teaching of research, were identified. Conclusions: Collective biography practices offer a way of introducing non-arboreal creative research methodologies into counsellor training. Careful consideration of potential challenges surrounding the introduction of these practices is required.     

Community as practice: social representations of community and their implications for health promotion

Health promotion researchers and practitioners have increasingly turned to community-based approaches. Although there has been much work around the diverse understandings of the term in areas such as community psychology and sociology, I am concerned with how such understandings relate directly to community health research and practice. From a discursive perspective ‘community’ is seen as a socially constructed representation that is used variously and pragmatically. However, from a wider view, community can be seen as a matter of embodied practice. This paper draws on social representations theory to examine the shifting constructions of ‘community’, the functional use of those understandings in social life, and the practices that suggest that it is important to attend to their use in particular contexts. Accordingly, the paper argues that meanings of community in the health promotion or public health context must be seen as representations used for specific purposes in particular situations. Furthermore, the broader notion of embodied practice in social life has implications for community participation in health promotion. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Readiness, Functioning, and Perceived Effectiveness in Community Prevention Coalitions: A Study of Communities That Care

This paper examined whether community readiness, prevention knowledge, coalition functioning, and barriers are linked to perceived effectiveness of community prevention coalitions. Interviews were conducted with 203 key leaders in Communities That Care (CTC) prevention boards in 21 Pennsylvania communities. Community-level means for the reliable self-report measures were utilized separately and in combination with research staff ratings, state technical assistant staff ratings, and other data. The results indicated that the strong link between readiness and perceived effectiveness was mediated by internal coalition functioning. The extent of CTC linkage with outside community entities was not linked to perceived effectiveness. The study concludes that community readiness is an important condition for success of a prevention coalition, and exerts effects mainly through the quality of the coalition's internal functioning. Member turnover and infighting appear to be important factors related to internal functioning. Linkage with outside entities may be more important for coalition models where the coalition is more dependent on local institutions for resources.     

The Teacher Belief Q-Sort: A measure of teachers' priorities in relation to disciplinary practices, teaching practices, and beliefs about children

The present study advances a new method for assessing teacher beliefs and priorities. This paper describes the development and psychometric properties of the Teacher Belief Q-Sort (TBQ), an assessment technique that examines teachers' priorities and beliefs about discipline practices, classroom practices, and beliefs about children (see www.socialdevelopmentlab.org. Further, this paper describes the usefulness of this tool by examining differences in beliefs and priorities among four groups of teachers (experienced teachers trained in the Responsive Classroom (RC) Approach, experienced teachers with no such training, pre-service teachers planning on teaching elementary school, and pre-service teachers planning on teaching middle/high school) with the goal of demonstrating the way priorities are sensitive to specialized training and teaching experience. The study establishes the TBQ as a reliable, valid, and useful method. Findings showed that RC teachers hold discipline and teaching practice priorities consistent with training in the RC Approach and that pre-service teachers placed greater priority on spontaneity and collaboration and held more negative views about children's likeability and motivation than in-service teachers. Findings are discussed in terms of the ways in which teacher priorities are sensitive to specialized training and teaching experience and offer an early indicator of integrity of implementation.     

Community Counselling: Values and Practices

This article focuses on community counselling, specifically in African contexts. A community psychology approach is used as a framework for this discussion. This approach, linked to a critical perspective, highlights the importance of going beyond individualist assessments and interventions towards comprehensive approaches that locate the person in context, and that listen carefully to and engage openly with all voices in a way that highlights dynamics that oppress ourselves and others, for the purposes of building a supportive and health promoting environment for all. Perspectives and values relevant to this approach, and their implications for psychological practice, are discussed. In particular, the implications for psychological assessment and intervention are explored in some detail.     

Procreative liberty, biological connections, and motherhood.

Given the complex and dramatic array of issues currently facing us in reproductive ethics, bioethicists working on the topic might be forgiven feelings of trepidation when they cast their minds toward the next century. Currently, technologies such as artificial insemination by donor (AID), once the source of intense controversy, are used on a routine basis; mainstream newspapers carry advertisements offering "excellent compensation" to ova "donors;" courts are arguing whether women who serve as gestational or "surrogate" mothers have any parental rights; and proposals resurface to jail pregnant women who take street drugs. Sorting out which developments are to be welcomed and which are to be resisted -- and why -- will require us not only to clarify some of our most basic value commitments, but also to reflect on our understanding of concepts, such as motherhood, that we previously had the luxury of thinking obvious. Let me highlight two issues I think we will be forced to confront as we try to navigate the ethics of reproduction into the twenty-first century -- namely, the value of biological connection and the meaning of motherhood.     

Crime, Social Capital, and Community Participation

Social disorganization at the neighborhood and community levels has been consistently linked to various forms of criminal activity. However, a very much smaller body of literature addresses the effects of crime on community organizations. In some studies, crime appears to energize communities while in others, crime leads to withdrawal from community life. Using department of health crime victimization data and interviews with 2,985 low-income inner city residents living in 487 multi-family dwellings, a multi-level model examined the relationships among crime victimization, social organization, and participation in neighborhood organizations. Social organization at the individual and building levels was measured using recent formulations of social capital theory. Findings regarding crime suggested more signs of a chilling effect on participation than of an energizing effect, especially at the building level. Social capital at the building level was more strongly and consistently related to participation in community organizations than was crime.     

Community applications of instructional technology: teaching writers of instructional packages

A community education program, to develop a variety of performance competencies in large numbers of neighborhood residents, requires a technology for preparing learning units administerable by community members themselves. The effects of a writing manual, designed to teach nonprofessionals to prepare such instructional packages, were analyzed in two experiments. Experiment I employed a multiple-baseline design across three university student trainees. The results showed that appropriate program writing increased by 75% after completion of the manual. The results of Experiment II, with two low-income neighborhood residents serving as trainees, showed that packages produced by trained writers resulted in a greater increase in skill activities than sets of training stimuli produced by untrained writers.