Community Development and Empowerment: A Clinical Sociology Perspective

Abstract

How can clinical sociologists contribute, through research, training or intervention, to the development of community action? That is the question that is addressed in this presentation of selected case studies in community development, using a specific clinical approach—collective life history. These clinical sociology experiences took place in an urban community, Montreal, Quebec in Canada. The collective life history produced a multilevel description of the development, over 20 years, of two community organizations, one working with street people, producing a street newspaper and other services, and the other working with underprivileged people and offering food assistance. Community development is defined and situated in the context of an empowerment strategy that commands a close partnership in an action-research process, from entry to closure, involving researchers, professional practitioners and community members. The exchange of different types of knowledge, from sociologist’s expertise to practitioners’ and community participants’ knowledge, is a core experience in the process. Collective life history is shown as a complex and very effective clinical sociology approach that links personal and individual reality and social and institutional dynamics.