Community psychology: should there be a European perspective?

Abstract

In this era of globalisation community psychologists have to examine how globalisation patterns interact with local cultural norms, to ®nd tools to promote a sense of community that ®ts a particular context. We cannot therefore acritically adopt for many European contexts, community psychology concepts and intervention strategies geared to USA values. The paper argues for the need to develop a European perspective in Community Psychology, built more on the European tradition of political concern for promoting social capital, besides an individual's freedom and autonomy. The paper attempts to identity some of the main differences that have emerged in the last decades between USA and European approaches to community psychology. It also describes two empowering tools, which integrate traditional and post modern views of science: community pro®ling and multidimensional organisational analysis, that have been used by European community psychologists to rebuild social capital in organisations and local communities.

International Community Psychology

“…The exchange among community psychologists, coming from several different European countries, favoured the integration of key ideas and intervention strategies into what Francescato and Tomai (2001) have called "A European Approach to Community Psychology" (p. 371).…”

Community Psychology principles and recent innovations in social policies for children in Italy

“…These methodologies are geared not only towards diagnosing problems, but also towards solving them by actively involving citizens through action-research methods. An example of this approach is the local community analysis model proposed in Italy by Martini and Sequi (1988), and revised by Francescato and Tomai (2001), and in Austria by Ehmayer, Reinfeldt, and Gtotter (2000). It promotes the multi-dimensional knowledge of a community (by integrating, among others, territorial, demographic, occupational, service, anthropological and psychological profiles), and highlights not only the problems but also the resources that can be invested in order to solve them.…”

Increasing students' perceived sociopolitical empowerment through online and face‐to‐face community psychology seminars

“…They have to pick a genre of movie (e.g., historical, science fiction, comedy, and detective) and come up with a title, a plot, main characters, and dramatization; if they wish, they may include particular relevant scenes. Most groups 1 For a more detailed description of the movie script technique (see : Francescato & Tomai, 2001;Francescato, Tomai, & Mebane, 2004;Mannarini, 2004). choose to dramatize their ''movie'' in front of the other groups; they are then encouraged to say what emotions they felt watching the performance. It seems that emotional sharing in a protected environment promotes bonding and bridging, building a climate of trust in which even conflicts can be openly expressed and accepted.…”