Anti-Poverty Psychology

ISBN-13: 9781461463023 / Angielski / Twarda / 2013 / 218 str.

Stuart C. Carr

Opis

Psychology has focused more on personalities in poverty -- pathologizing -- than on contexts for poverty reduction (Pick & Sirkin, 2010). As a result, the discipline has inadvertently sequestered and isolated itself, and its potential contribution, from poverty reduction initiatives - globally and locally. In recent years, there have been major developments in both the scope and depth of psychological research on global development issues. Some of the key developments include significant advances in understanding of what motivates teachers in schools, on designing community interventions to promote health, and on managing the development of human "capacity" in aid and development projects. The Psychology of Poverty Reduction is poised to capture such advances in the understanding of 'what works' - and what does not.

Recenzje

"When one considers wealth, one must take into account how global connections related to international trading, exchanges, and currency affect the affluence of any individual on a local level. Although poverty is found globally, it is sometimes difficult to imagine how the economic decisions on one side of the world may affect the lives of an impoverished family on another side. Yet the global mechanisms that facilitate wealth and affluence also affect the lives and policy decisions around poverty. Such is the scope and focus of Stuart Carr's book, Anti-Poverty Psychology. The book is divided into three major sections: Levels, Places, and Nexus...Among the strengths in Carr's book are his historical analyses of psychology's role in understanding, and sometimes perpetuating, poverty. It is difficult to imagine for somereaders, but the discipline's role in understanding people in poverty, impoverishment, and global connections to poverty has been limited and at times denigrating to those in poverty. The book is likely written for psychologists who are engaged in antipoverty work and who are familiar with concepts related to economic inequality and poverty. Carr's writing is dense at times, and the reader is expected to work hard to digest his arguments and propositions. This is good because he does not have the space to explain and rationalize his approach to antipoverty psychology. He writes forcefully to engage psychologists. In sum, the book is an excellent compendium of current antipoverty actions, and psychologists will find useful resources to conceptualize their own place in antipoverty work." (William Ming Liu, PsycCRITIQUES, August 28, 2013, Vol. 58, Release 35, Article 4)

Spis treści

Part I: Levels.- Personality.- Organizations.- Part II: Community.- Markets.- Media.- Part III: Nexus.- Aid.- Mobility.- Systems.

O autorze

Stuart Carr is known for applying organisational psychology, with inter-related disciplines, to poverty reduction. His research ‘breaks through’ into world-class applied journals, the OECD’s “Policy Insights” and UNESCO’s “Higher Education Policy.” His books include Psychology of aid, Psychology and the developing world, Globalization and culture at work, Poverty and psychology, The Aid triangle, and The Psychology of Global Mobility. He contributed the chapter on Psychology applied to poverty in the International Association of Applied Psychology’s “Handbook of Applied Psychology.” His recent international grant awards include leading Project ADDUP, which researched dual salary systems in aid and was funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (now UK Aid) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Stuart convenes a Global Task Force on Humanitarian Work Psychology, a White Papers Policy series for his profession globally, and the first Global Special Issue on Psychology and Poverty Reduction, involving twelve major international journals. He also co-edits the Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, which focuses on development issues, and is Associate Editor for the Journal of Managerial Psychology, which has a focus on social innovation and change.

Blurb

Reducing poverty, whether globally or locally, has always comprised a set of complex critical tasks. But just as essential as the tasks is their underlying worldview: where formerly the emphasis was on changing institutions and thus changing people, the movement now is away from paternalistic remedies and toward culturally aware organizations and efforts to develop the untapped resources of people and their communities.

Anti-Poverty Psychology traces the evolution of conceptualizations of poverty and its solutions, forcefully arguing for a higher level of current and future efforts. This visionary volume provides readers with a clear roadmap from goals (e.g., the Millennium Development Goals) to implementation that neither shames nor objectifies those being served. The author demonstrates how, in both research and the real world, progress is best achieved through systematic, cross-disciplinary, multi-perspective collaboration, alignment with local values, and greater accountability on the part of all involved. Coverage balances macro, meso and micro levels of analysis in such areas as: 

• Constructs of personality: beyond mythmaking and pathologizing.
• Building the socially responsible organization.
• The role of community in self-empowerment.
• Harnessing the potential of markets in poverty reduction.
• Minting media social capital
• The hidden psychology of international aid.
• Mobilizing human talent locally
• Developing research advocacy and its component skills.

The perspective-widening stance and depth of insight found in Anti-Poverty Psychology gives it significance to audiences across disciplines, as in psychologists researching global development issues, academics interested in learning what motivates educators, community psychologists, and health professionals.