Developing Prosocial Communities Across Cultures
By Forrest B. Tyler
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Communities are basic social units that provide contexts in which people live together to their mutual benefit. This book defines exactly what prosocial communities are, identifying their elements and relevant interrelationships, and reviewing the available evidence in support of those conclusions. This work shows why a prosocial community is essential to the accomplishment of the goals of community psychology and related fields, and offers advice on how to create such communities.
Skillfully combining psychological knowledge and humanitarian wisdom, Developing Prosocial Communities across Cultures shows how nurturing environments can be rooted in the common concerns of people and institutions, while giving readers the steps toward achieving this goal. Psychologist/activist Forrest Tyler emphasizes individuals’ collective responsibilities—to themselves, each other, and society—and describes a coordinated balance of discrete social changes brought about by civic action, policy changes initiated by officials, and collaboration between professionals and the community. Instructive examples from locales as varied as Colombia, Jordan, and the United States offer models from which readers can form unique, innovative solutions. And the author’s multicultural/ multiethnic approach clearly maps out the road from theoretical concepts to real-world action:
Defining the prosocial community—core characteristics and elemental relationships.
Observing communities: assessing their potential for intervention, determining change objectives.
Thinking beyond traditional psychological/mental health approaches to community change.
Prosocial effects of community projects involving multiple levels of action.
Questscope: an extended example of community change in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Tyler’s decades of experience, and the lucid perspective of Developing Prosocial Communities across Cultures, brings social and community psychologists new assurance that social programs can have greater relevance to the people and groups they serve.
Preface.- Backgrounds and Background Issues.- Psychosocial Integration: The Theoretical Framework.- The Current Situation: Psychologists' Approaches to Community Change.- The Prosocial Effect of Changing One Aspect of a Community.- The Prosocial Effect of Coordinating Change in Two Aspects of a Community.- A Guide for Establishing Prosocial Communities.- Questscope: A Comprehensive Prosocial Community Program.- References.- Index.
"Dr. Tyler's book fills the void between theory and policy/action, a much needed treatise. It also provides the guidelines for taking the steps to make psychology more socially responsible and accountable to society.
Tyler uses a multicultural, multiethnic approach to problems, and stresses the importance of an ‘involved’ stance in working cooperatively with the members of the community, indeed nourishing and empowering individuals and communities to take on the responsibility to solve their problems and to be in charge. Three levels of action are delineated: social action, social planning, and locality development "that need to function in concert … to construct and sustain prosocial communities." The book is rich with many good examples from diverse settings, which are discussed at length to provide the reader with a better understanding of the basic conceptual and practical issues at hand.
The best description of this work is given by the author, himself, 'People’s problems are basically humanitarian, not psychological (what is done here) is basing our psychological understandings on that humanitarian perspective.' It is an exemplar of good community psychology with the right interweaving of theory and action toward contributing to human and community well-being. The construct of Prosocial Communities aptly describes this goal which, as this book shows, can be a reality rather than a utopia. This is a must read for all psychologists, policy planners, social workers and other social scientists and professionals who are genuinely interested in creating social change toward prosocial communities."
-Cigdem Kagitcibasi, Ph.D., Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey
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Publication Details:
Binding: Hardback, 164 pages
ISBN: 9780387714844
Format: 235mm x 155mm
BIC Code: MMJ, RNA
Imprint: Springer
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