5 Theories
Tiffeny R. Jimenez; August Hoffman; and Julia Grant
Chapter Five Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Explain the role of theory in Community Psychology
- Describe the main foundational theories of Community Psychology
- Illustrate how community psychologists use theory in their work
Theories are important for anyone who is trying to bring about social change. They help point us to what is really important to change, versus what might be more trivial and lead to ineffective action. But first, let’s look closely at what theories enable us to do. Most simply, theories allow us to describe, predict, and better understand something. Here is an example: Newton observed that an apple fell from a tree. In that famous story, he was able to first describe the apple falling. It is the first part of the scientific journey to describe something that you might see. The second step is to predict something based on what you just saw. For example, when Newton dropped a ball or other object, he predicted it would also fall, and that allowed him to be able to make predictions, which is the second part of a theory. Finally, a theory provides an “explanation” of what you just saw, in this case, the explanation being that gravity was causing the objects to fall to the earth.
Why are theories important?
That brief example reviews all the basic parts of a theory and can help us understand the role of theories in the field of Community Psychology. Theories have provided us with useful ways of thinking about the importance of the individual in relationship to the environment or community. The individual is influenced by the environment, which means that we must look beyond just individual factors when we try to analyze social problems or develop community interventions. Case Study 5.1 illustrates why theory matters, as it can provide us a lens to see the individual closely connected and influenced by the context.
Case Study 5.1
Ecological Theory
Partners in Policymaking™ is a national model of leadership training for people with developmental disabilities, and parents or family members of those with those disabilities. Partners in Policymaking™ is designed to provide knowledge about issues related to disability and to develop competencies of the participants to become effective advocates in influencing public policy in their local settings and at all levels of government. Partners in Policymaking™ uses ecological theory (see ahead in this chapter) in the design of the training for participants so they understand how ecological principles influence their advocacy. Partners in Policymaking™ uses an ecological model of disability advocacy that takes into consideration the perspectives of people at multiple levels of community, including 1) the experiences of the individual person with the disability, 2) others in the local area affected by the same challenges, 3) the local policies that need to change to make things better for the whole c