Power-mapping—I. Background and basic methodology

Clinical and community psychology have yet to work out the full implications of taking seriously the structuring by power of the individual's social environment. Even the factor of social class has received little more than superficial attention. Some suggestions are offered as to why this might be so, and a theoretical framework for understanding psychological distress strictly as the result of the operation of social power is developed. A simple technique of ‘mapping’ power is outlined as a means for furthering such an understanding. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.