Developing Prosocial Communities Across Cultures

by Tyler, Forrest B.

• ISBN13: 9780387714844
• ISBN10: 0387714847
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

Communities are basic vital social units that provide the contexts in which people learn to live together to their mutual benefit. They are crucial to providing a richer and more fulfilling framework than we currently have for understanding and improving the quality of life for individuals and groups alike. The author defines what exactly prosocial communities are, identifying its elements and relevant interrelationships, and providing 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 its related fields, as well as how to create such communities.

Table of Contents

Definitions and Background Issues	p. 1
Background	p. 1
Defining a Prosocial Community	p. 4
Characteristics of a Prosocial Community	p. 7
Studying and Intervening in Communities	p. 15
Psychosocial Integration: The Theoretical Framework	p. 17
Transcultural Ethnic Validity Model	p. 17
Prosocial Community Model	p. 29
Integration of the Ethnic Validity and Prosocial Community Perspectives	p. 36
The Current Situation: Psychologists' Approaches to Community Change	p. 39
Background	p. 39
Community Mental Health/Psychology Approaches	p. 41
Reconceptualizing Community Approaches	p. 55
The Prosocial Effect of Changing One Aspect of a Community	p. 57
Changing Individuals to Solve Community Problems	p. 57
Organized Assaults on System Injustices and Inequities	p. 60
The Creation of Alternative Settings	p. 70
Comments	p. 72
The Prosocial Effect of Coordinating Change in Two Aspects of a Community	p. 77
Prosocial Community Projects Managed by External Consultants	p. 78
The Prosocial Effect when Consultants Become Involved	p. 85
Relevant Efforts	p. 94
Comments	p. 95
A Guide for Establishing Prosocial Communities	p. 97
Three Levels of Action	p. 98
Creating Prosocial Communities	p. 106
Questscope: A Comprehensive Prosocial Community Program (This chapter was Written in collaboration with Dr. Curtis N. Rhodes, Jr. President and International Director, Questscope, Amman, Jordan)	p. 115
History and Evolution of Questscope as a Prosocial Community	p. 115
Program Development Process	p. 118
Questscope's Program Elements	p. 120
Facilitating Prosocial Transformations	p. 132
The Broader Prosocial Community: Prosocially Oriented Programs and Institutions	p. 141
Biographical Sketch of Curtis N. Rhodes, Jr.	p. 145
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.