A Community Psychology View of Environmental Organization Processes

Abstract

Environmental organizations have a key role in addressing environmental degradation and promoting ecologically and socially sustainable societies. Psychosocial processes underpin their work, however, empirical studies of these processes remain underdeveloped. This paper presents the first stage of a community psychology study involving in-depth interviews with leaders in environmental organizations. Qualitative analysis revealed a framework of five types of psychosocial processes that assist environmental organizations to achieve a range of outcomes, namely: problem analysis; influencing decision-making; inter-organizational relationships; community participation and knowledge transfer. These psychosocial processes were used in substantially different ways depending on the organizations' orientation. Three key orientations towards outcomes were evident: on-ground conservation, developing innovation in specialist areas and transforming wider social institutions. The findings provide a model of the psychosocial processes involved in fostering sustainable futures and exemplify the contribution of community psychology to this critical global issue.

Psycho‐Social Processes in Dealing with Legal Innovation in the Community: Insights from Biodiversity Conservation

“…This is in line with what is known from other areas of community studies, where it was shown how joint action achieves better results than transfer of knowledge (Dewulf et al 2004;Bowen and Taillieu 2004). This holds even when the transfer of knowledge takes place early in the project (Dean and Bush 2007), as this top-down approach is a way of pre-setting the issues for discussion (Culley and Hughey 2008).…”

“…Indeed, the field of ecological conservation now offers some examples of how to integrate knowledge from several sources (Barbanente and Monno 2005;Dean and Bush 2007). These examples attest to the fact that it is possible to create hybrid discourses which draw simultaneously from local knowledge and policy making, in a process creating different types of resources for coping with adversities and risks (Barbanente and Monno 2005).…”

“…Currently, there are a number of projects designed to include more significant input from the community (Dean and Bush 2007) and based on partnerships with social researchers (Bowen and Taillieu 2004;Mouro and Castro 2010). These researchers are, in turn, now more attuned to the need to understand the social and psychological aspects involved in the reception of legal innovation accompanying multilevel governance.…”

ocial Well-Being and Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Cross-Lagged Panel Design

“…We speculate that social well-being could be one of the key processes that explains this impact. In addition, a role in the promotion of ecologically and socially sustainable societies is played by citizen involvement in the wider community and its social institutions, as it is implied in the concept of community participation (e.g., Bott et al, 2003;Dean & Bush, 2007;Prati et al, 2016). As such, interventions aimed at promoting pro-environmental choices should not only strengthen the added value and psychological gains of becoming part of a righteous community, but also offer concrete opportunities to experience community participation.…”

Turning the Ship: Moving From Clinical Treatment to Environmental Prevention: A Health Disparities Policy Advocacy Initiative

“…This willingness to venture into new, potentially beneficial, arenas enabled them to seize opportunities that less-enterprising coalitions may have missed. Dean and Bush (2007) noted that coalitions that are more open and inclusive in their approach are more likely to progress in systems change and paradigm-shifting activities. A common condition of coalitions that gained less traction with their work was an absence of strong community involvement, which is also an important component of sustainability.…”