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Showing papers on "Empowerment published in 1984"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A view of empowerment as a necessarily long-term process of adult learning and development is proposed, further described as the continuing construction of a multi-dimensional participatory competence.
Abstract: Since the late 1970s, the notion of empowerment has appeared with increasing frequency in discussion of preventive social and community intervention. While the idea of empowerment is intuitively appealing both for theory and practice, its applicability has been limited by continuing conceptual ambiguity. Based on a small ?G study of emerging citizen leaders in grassroots organizations, this article proposes a view of empowerment as a necessarily long-term process of adult learning and development. In this framework, empowerment is further described as the continuing construction of a multi-dimensional participatory competence. This conception encompasses both cognitive and behavioral change. Implications for practice are also addressed.

804 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: As it turns out, my sense of this need seems to have been felt by others as well as discussed by the authors, and recent papers by Chavis, Stucky, and Wandersman (1983), Gottlieb (1983) and by Tyler, Pargament, and Gatz have addressed similar themes.
Abstract: As it turns out, my sense of this need seems to have been felt by others as well. Recent papers by Chavis, Stucky, and Wandersman (1983), Gottlieb (1983) and by Tyler, Pargament, and Gatz (1983) have addressed similar themes.

634 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper suggests an alternative to the commonly-held "scarcity paradigm" of thinking about valued human resources, which assumes individuals must compete because resources are scarce, which is empitomized in "synergistic community," wherevalued human resources are renewable and expanding, and distributed equitably to members.
Abstract: This paper suggests an alternative to the commonly-held "scarcity paradigm" of thinking about valued human resources, which assumes individuals must compete because resources are scarce. The alternative--the "synergy paradigm"--is empitomized in "synergistic community," where valued human resources are renewable and expanding, and distributed equitably to members, so that what is good for one is good for all and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Three field studies present cross-cultural evidence for the functioning of empowerment within a synergistic paradigm. Empowerment is considered as access to and control of valued resources; the specific valued resource focused upon is community healing. The studies suggest that community healing resources can become renewable and expanding, as can the process of empowerment which accesses them. Community members share these resources, combining conflicting resources into unexpectedly effective treatment packages. Given present inequities in resource distribution, transformative education is offered as one means to support a shift in thinking toward synergy.

131 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the correlates and contexts of empowerment among members of a Christian, nondenominational religious setting and found that empowerment is progress toward a salient goal of members-interpersonal behavior change in the direction of group ideals (i.e. becoming more like Jesus).
Abstract: This study examines the correlates and contexts of empowerment among members of a Christian, nondenominational religious setting. The research approach combines participant-observation and measurement development methodology to capture the empowering aspects of religious experience in a form which lends itself to quantitative analysis, without excessive loss of the phenomenological meaning ofthat experience. The criterion of empowerment is progress toward a salient goal of members-interpersonal behavior change in the direction of group ideals (i.e., in the direction of becoming more like Jesus). Present and retrospective past measurement of perceived interpersonal behavior yielded eight predictor variables from member peer, self-report, and interviewer sources. These variables include religious orientation, locus of control. spiritual experience, group involvement, and religious history. The relationship of the predictors to interpersonal behavior change was assessed in canonical correlation anal...

108 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presented a community development experience in Puerto Rico which was guided by the goal of empowerment, and described the socio-historical context in which the effort was embedded, and its val...
Abstract: This paper presents a community development experience in Puerto Rico which was guided by the goal of empowerment. It describes the socio-historical context in which the effort is embedded. its val...

79 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A role for human service professionals in creating and using social technologies to facilitate empowerment is illustrated and seven case studies are presented that represent seven frequently cited goals of empowerment efforts.
Abstract: Powerlessness appears to be associated consistently with widespread problems of living. Recently, enhancing community empowerment has been suggested as an important emphasis for human service profe...

65 citations


Book
01 Jan 1984
TL;DR: In this paper, a value chain approach and stressing management accounting as an employee and management empowerment tool is presented for students whose primary concerns are something other than financial reporting, which can be easily covered in one semester.
Abstract: Specially designed for your managerial accounting course if you place emphasis on relating management accounting to other subject areas. The text thoroughly integrates issues that have emerged during the past ten years. By taking a value chain approach and stressing management accounting as an employee and management empowerment tool, this text is relevant, interesting, and usable for students whose primary concerns are something other than financial reporting. Easily covered in one semester.

62 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined factors that affect the structure and goals of feminist movement organizations in order to develop a theoretically-based understanding of why some organizations thrive while others disintegrate.
Abstract: This paper considers organizations that empower by examining feminist movement groups. The contemporary feminist movement has generated a wide variety of organizations which provide social services to women and act as vehicles for social change. Yet many of these organizations are short-lived. Factors that affect the structure and goals of feminist movement organizations are examined in order to develop a theoretically-based understanding of why some organizations thrive while others disintegrate. The contingencies under which feminist movement organizations maintain themselves, transform into other sorts of organizations, or decline and dissolve are described, and strategies for managing conflict are discussed. In particular, the paper emphasizes the organizational consequences of ideology, and concludes with a consideration of the role of organizations within a social movement.

49 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define empowerment of the worker as a "move project" which is defined broadly as "encomtending empowerment of worker" and describe a set of move projects that are designed to free workers to focus on their personal goals.

41 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
W. John Smyth1
TL;DR: This paper argued that the educational community has been too reliant in the past on hierarchical and sanction-ridden modes of "instructional supervision" of teachers (and teaching) as the path to quality learning experiences for children.
Abstract: The thesis of this article is that the educational community has been too reliant in the past on hierarchical and sanction-ridden modes of "instructional supervision" of teachers (and teaching) as the path to quality learning experiences for children. The integrating argument here is that if teachers are to improve their pedagogy then there should be less not more technical control of teaching. Rather than seeking to guarantee "effective" teaching by recourse to the business management canons of accountability, inspection, and quality control, the line pursued here is that teachers might benefit instead from processes that enable them to gain insights acquire understandings, and exercise a measure of empowerment over their own teaching. What this article attempts at the outset, from a largely historical perspective, is to question the values of business management as enshrined in the practices of instructional supervision and to question whether these are necessarily the most desirable for pedagogical enlightenment. By way of example, past practices in instructional supervision are considered in terms of the attempt to envelop teachers in forms of bureaucratic and psychological control. As Blumberg (1980) has noted, teachers have been involved in a long, private cold war with supervisors, with much of the action effectively occurring behind the classroom door.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss empowerment in the context of prevention in human services, and propose a framework for empowerment for women in the health care system, which is based on Empowerment.
Abstract: (1984). Thoughts on Empowerment. Prevention in Human Services: Vol. 3, No. 2-3, pp. 227-230.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A growing proportion of children and adolescents experience traditional child protective services as intrusive, oppressive, and even exploitive as mentioned in this paper, and they tend to deny the reality that youngsters experience, project their own perceptions and vulnerabilities onto youngsters, and refuse to recognize the ability and right of youngsters to control their own lives.


Journal Article
TL;DR: The concept of "community development" for increased citizen participation in service delivery takes on new meanings when looked at for its contribution to public recreation/leisure services as mentioned in this paper, and stresses the importance of training park and recreation professionals to serve as the catalyst for involving interested and concerned citizens as more fully equal partners in providing services.
Abstract: The process of "community development" for increased citizen participation in service delivery takes on new meanings when looked at for its contribution to public recreation/leisure services. This article briefly reviews the origins of this movement, and stresses the importance of training park and recreation professionals to serve as the catalyst for involving interested and concerned citizens as more fully equal partners in providing services. Public tax revolts and "Reaganomics" have created public fiscal resource shortages, limiting the abilities of many public agencies to continue to provide direct service in the future. Involving citizens as equal partners in the provision of leisure opportunities is increasingly a financial necessity. Using the techniques of "community development" can provide a public park and recreation agency with expanded monetary and human resource support to assist with ongoing program and facility operations. In addition to operational support, the recruitment, training, and supervision of citizen involvement makes a valuable contribution to the concept of "building community." People gain specific skills and work together to accomplish their community's collective goals. This process of "people empowerment" is an important vehicle for the personal development of responsible and concerned citizens actively involved in controlling their own lives and directly changing the environment in which thctY live to a more positive one. The city of San Jose, California is presented as a case study, illustrating ways collective goals are being accomplished through unique cooperative ventures, involving community residents, local officials, and human service professionals.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors surveyed the remarkable transformation of law and legal education in China in the past few decades, which led to widespread codification, an extension of courts, restoration and expansion of the legal profession, an ambitious and popular legal education program, and substantial growth in formal legal education.
Abstract: This article surveys the remarkable transformation of law and legal education in China in the past few years. Not long after the Gang of Four was toppled in 1976, a long-term legal development plan was adopted. Its steady implementation has led to widespread codification, an extension of courts, a restoration and expansion of the legal profession, an ambitious and popular legal education program, and substantial growth in formal legal education. Previously an authoritarian political tradition and a preference for mediation over litigation had retarded the development of a formal and autonomous legal system in China. Today, however, the popular demand for stability and justice, the need for legal rules and procedures to improve economic efficiency, and the desire to attract foreign technology and investment serve as powerful motivations for strengthening the legal system. The resulting need for more legal specialists has spawned more than 30 new law schools, along with a growing program of legal education ...


Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, a rationale for viewing service delivery and social change as dimensions of a single process, empowerment, is developed, and a case study of this use of needs assessment is presented and analyzed.
Abstract: One of the most persistent issues in social welfare planning has been the relative roles of service provision and social change. They have often been conceived as dichotomous: the assumption is that one precludes the other, on both ideological and methodological grounds. However, this division may be more the product of turf wars and fuzzy thinking than any necessary dichotomy. In this article a rationale for viewing service delivery and social change as dimensions of a single process --empowerment -is developed. Next the needs assessment is examined as a vehicle for implementing the process of empowerment. Finally, a case study of this use of needs assessment is presented and analyzed. John S. Wodarski stated the matter directly: "the salient issue is whether (social welfare) should be based upon data or upon a philosophy of life" (1981: viii). On one side of this issue are those who see the field as a social movement, dedicated to strengthening the position of

01 Jan 1984
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an analysis of community legal education in the legal services CORPORATION (CSCorporation of the United States of America), including the following:
Abstract: AN ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS OF COMMUNITY LEGAL EDUCATION IN THE LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION

Book
01 Oct 1984
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an overview of the internal process of problem-solving in social work, focusing on the importance of values and the social control issue in the context of social work.
Abstract: Each chapter includes â Exercises,â â Portfolio Building,â â Summary,â and â Notes.â Preface. I.INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL WORKING. 1.Problem Solving and Generalist Practice. Purpose and Objectives. The Guided Problem Solving Method: Demystifying the Jargon. Problem Identification. Guided Problem Solving. 2.Theoretical Perspectives for Generalist Practice. The Strengths/Empowerment/Social Justice Perspective. The Ecological/Systems Perspective. 3.The Internal Process of Problem Solving: Values and Ethics. The Importance of Values. Societal Values and Latent Functions. Values Awareness. Values Conflict in Social Work. The Social Control Issue. NASW's Code of Ethics and Empowerment Practice. 4.Levels of Generalist Practice. Simultaneous Practice across Levels. Problem Solving and Practice Levels. Looking at the Levels. II.MICRO-PRACTICE WITH INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS, AND FAMILIES. 5.Working with the Individual Client. Relational Skills. Cognitive Skills. Social Diagnosis: The Art of Social Assessment. 6.Social Work with Small Groups. What Is Small Group Practice? Dynamics of the Treatment Group. Phases of the Group. Leadership Processes. Dynamics of the Task Group. Leadership in the Task Group. III.MEZZO AND MACRO PRACTICE LEVELS. 7.Working in Organizations. The Social Work Organization. Organizational Structure, Processes, and Culture. The Worker in the Organization. The Power of Communication. 8.Mobilizing Resources: The Community. Community Practice. What Is Community? Needs Assessment. Fund Raising. Mobilizing Community Resources. Grass Roots Organizing. 9.Exercises in Social Policy. Concepts and Definitions. Identifying Problems for Policy Practice. Identifying Policies for Policy Practice. Policies and Politics. Why Social Welfare Policy? Policy as Practice. Social Working Synthesis. Glossary.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored the failure of psychology to effectively address the inhibiting impact of racism on human development, and suggested a corrective agenda for the training of socially responsive and responsible psychologists, an agenda derived from the literacy education model of Paulo Freire.
Abstract: Psychological services, as a part of the health-care system, have been “embedded in specific configurations of cultural meanings and social relationships,” and the role of patients and healers cannot be understood apart from that context. This article explores the failure of psychology to effectively address the inhibiting impact of racism on human development, and it suggests a corrective agenda for the training of socially responsive and responsible psychologists, an agenda derived from the literacy education model of Paulo Freire.