Meg A. Bond

Women’s Empowerment

Equal opportunity and equal rights have long been important parts of this country’s ideological heritage. Support for these ideals, however, was not widespread until the latter part of this century. The modern civil rights and women’s movements emerged in the 1960s, along with the widespread resistance to the Vietnam war. During this same turbulent period community psychology was “officially born.” The Division of Community Psychology was formally organized in 1965 at a conference in Swampscott, Massachusetts. According to Walsh (1987), “the clamor of oppressed U.S. citizens demanding full societal participation” was “a key aspect of the social context for the subdiscipline’s founding” (p. 524)

Gender, Race, and Class in Organizational Contexts

Creating settings that support diversity has been a long-standing concern of community psychology. In this paper, I propose two qualities as important aspects of organizational contexts that support the meaningful participation of diverse groups:(a) a culture of connection and (b) recognition of multiple “realities.” For each theme, I first examine countervailing values that can undermine meaningful participation of nondominant groups. I suggest that organizational values for independence and a press for sameness can contribute to settings where members of traditionally oppressed groups will be prevented from meaningful participation. I also suggest that fostering a culture of connectedness that actively legitimizes multiple realities is a constructive alternative. To illustrate these points, I share observations based on experiences in manufacturing, educational, and community-based settings. Then, I explore two dynamics that are important when confronting the countervailing values and building more inclusive contexts: (a) accountability for impact and (b) privilege dynamics. Last, I turn to some possibilities for change through a stance of connected disruption.

Empowering the silent ranks: Introduction

ConclusionIn conclusion, with this Special Issue we have tried to point out the complexities of diversity and the challenges it poses for community psychology. The groups we present are only an example of the many that suffer similar plights and enjoy similar strengths. The richness of their cultural backgrounds, the learnings that stem from their struggles, their sameness and uniqueness should challenge us to collaborate with them and to unearth other groups which did not have an opportunity to present their histories in this issue.Silence, as previously stated, can be a clear “voice” of resistance. However, it is our contention that in the long run, it is not the best strategy to achieve change in oppressive power relationships. Our reading of the articles in this issue, strengthens this belief. Thus, this publication provides a vehicle so that the distant humming of some groups starts resonating in our halls, while the voice of others that has already been heard is amplified. Eventually we hope that the thunderous and deafening sound of all these previously unheard voices, can move community psychology, and those of us within it, into a harmonious world of sound.

Stories of relative privilege: power and social change in feminist community psychology.

Stories about community work in New Zealand and Scotland are presented to describe and reflect on issues central to feminist community psychology. Organizing a lesbian festival, Ingrid Huygens describes feminist processes used to equalize resources across Maori (indigenous) and Pakeha (white) groups. Heather Hamerton presents her experiences as a researcher using collective memory work to reflect on adolescent experiences related to gender, ethnicity, and class. Sharon Cahill chronicles dilemmas and insights from focus groups about anger with women living in public housing in Scotland. Each story chronicles experiences related to oppression and privilege, and describes the authors emotions and reflections. Individually and collectively, the stories illustrate the potential offered by narrative methods and participatory processes for challenging inequalities and encouraging social justice.

Occupation-differential construct validity of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) psychological job demands scale with physical job demands items: a mixed methods research.

The construct validity of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) psychological demands scale in relationship to physical demands has been inconsistent. This study aims to test quantitatively and qualitatively whether the scale validity differs by occupation. Hierarchical clustering analyses of 10 JCQ psychological and physical demands items were conducted in 61 occupations from two datasets: one of non-faculty workers at a university in the United States (6 occupations with 208 total workers) and the other of a Belgian working population (55 occupations with 13,039 total workers). The psychological and physical demands items overlapped in 13 of 61 occupation-stratified clustering analyses. Most of the overlaps occurred in physically-demanding occupations and involved the two psychological demands items, ‘work fast’ and ‘work hard’. Generally, the scale reliability was low in such occupations. Additionally, interviews with eight university workers revealed that workers interpreted the two psychological demands items differently by the nature of their tasks. The scale validity was occupation-differential. Practitioner Summary: The JCQ psychological job demands scale as a job demand measure has been used worldwide in many studies. This study indicates that the wordings of the ‘work fast’ and ‘work hard’ items of the scale need to be reworded enough to differentiate mental and physical job demands as intended, ‘psychological.’

The multitextured lives of women of color.

In this commentary, I suggest that our work with women of color should be held together by three primary threads: (a) appreciation for history as we decipher and interpret the adaptive strategies of women of color; (b) recognition of the intersections of race, gender, and class as central to our work; and (c) self-critical examination of the meanings we attach to “difference.” The papers in the current special issue provide good examples regarding the importance of each thread. I argue that attention to these three themes should help us to keep our focus on contextually driven questions and to move forward our appreciation for the lives of women of color.

The Treatment of Gender in Community Psychology Research

The order of authorship does not reflect authors’ relative contributions, which are inseparable.

Strengthening parent-community member relations on agency boards: comparative case study.

Relations between parents of children with developmental disabilities and other community members on agency boards can be difficult to negotiate. In this comparative study of the boards of three community agencies, we examined the forces that influence the quality of parent-community member relations. The results suggest that when differences between groups are acknowledged and respected at the same time that similarities are recognized and valued, board operations are more likely to be successful and focused on providing effective services. The case descriptions included here suggest that an organizations ability to manage the tension between intergroup differences and similarities is influenced by (a) organizational history of intergroup relations, (b) group identification, and (c) organizational practices that bridge group differences. Action implications are discussed.

Beyond Difference: Gender as a Quality of Social Settings

The particular question we take up in this chapter is how can we help move psychological science beyond a “difference” paradigm to incorporate more nuanced understandings of gender. Grounded in social ecological concepts, we emphasize how gender can get embedded in and expressed by the various social settings we inhabit over the course of our lives. We build upon a framework proposed by Bond and Wasco (Gender as context: A framework for understanding and addressing gendered qualities of settings. In: Handbook of community psychology. American Psychological Association, in press) that suggests that gender inequality can become embedded in social settings to the extent that (1) there is an emphasis on discrete gender categories, (2) system dynamics establish different universes of alternatives by gender, (3) one gender group is privileged over the others by considering it normative, and (4) inequity is legitimized and obscured by ignoring the ways that differential access to power and resources—historical and current—is affected by gender. These four dynamics are referred to as setting qualities. Further, specific setting practices that both result from and contribute to the four setting qualities further embed gendered meanings into the ongoing functioning of settings. These practices include the ways in which settings (1) are structured, (2) shape transactional patterns, and (3) communicate values. We illustrate the framework by describing how it can be applied to the issue of sexual assault on college campuses, and we conclude with thoughts on how to disrupt problematic practices. While we address this challenge from the vantage point of community psychology research and action, we hope that the framework can also be useful to other sub-fields of psychology.

Healthy Diversity: Challenges of Staffing for Diversity in Community Health Centers

Racial and ethnic health disparities remain a pandemic social issue in the United States, posing a significant challenge to health care organizations. Culturally responsive and competent care is key to addressing health disparities, and the lack of diversification in the health care workforce is a contributor. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers and best practices surrounding the development of diverse staffing in a sample of community health centers (CHCs) in Massachusetts. Survey responses and follow up interviews with CHCs were analyzed. Lessons and recommendations for CHCs and other human service organizations are discussed.