The organization of social action.

Abstract

AbstractThis review provides a comprehensive and integrated framework for the processes of social action and empowerment at the level of the individual, the group, and the community. Concepts from personality, social, community and organizational psychology are used as the basis for understanding the complex processes involved in empowerment and social action. These two concepts are organized and integrated in meaningful and useful ways that open up new ways of looking at social action and social organization.The development of a framework for empowerment as it relates to social action is vital to understanding these concepts (Perkins & Zimmerman, 1995; Speer & Hughey, 1995; Zimmerman, 1995). In this paper, I provide a framework for the structural and functional properties of empowerment and social action at the level of the individual, group, and community by integrating research from peace, community, political, and organizational psychology. Community psychology has described some of the interrelations of these processes at the three social levels (Fawcett et al., 1994, 1995; McMillan, Florin, Stevenson, Kerman, & Mitchell, 1995; Rich, Edelstein, Hallman, & Wandersman, 1995) as has organizational psychology (Ragins & Sundstrom, 1989). My intent is not so much to describe different types of activism in detail but to relate the structural and functional properties of various types of empowerment and social action at these social levels and to integrate them in a unifying framework which, hopefully, will broaden our understanding of empowerment and social action.Concepts of EmpowermentEmpowerment, psychological empowerment, and social action need to be distinguished from one another. Empowerment refers to the process by which people, organizations, and communities gain mastery over their lives (Wolff, 1987). It becomes evident through social power at the individual, organizational, and community levels (Speer & Hughey, 1995). At the level of the individual, empowerment is the person's freedom to decide what goals to pursue and the capacity to pursue them without excessive frustration (Prilleltensky, 1994). Empowerment is associated with feelings of competence to change a situation and with expectations of positive outcomes for one's efforts (Florin & Wandersman, 1990; Prilleltensky, 1994; Zimmerman & Rappaport, 1988). Psychological empowerment is the connection between a sense of personal competence, a desire for, and a willingness to take social action (Zimmerman & Rappaport, 1988). It is a more limited concept than empowerment in that an effect or impact need not occur. Psychological empowerment can lead to actual empowerment when environmental support is available. Social action is participation in social issues to influence their outcome for the benefit of people and the community. Social action can, under favourable circumstances, produce actual empowerment, impact, or social change.Zimmerman (1995) viewed psychological empowerment as including not only intrapersonal components, such as self-perceptions of abilities, but also interactional ones, such as the individual's skills in dealing with the sociopolitical environment. The intrapersonal component includes the individual's perceived control, competence, and efficacy to influence a social or political system (Zimmerman, Israel, Schulz, & Checkoway, 1992). The interactional component includes the skills, awareness, and understanding that people have about their community and sociopolitical issues, including social norms, values, and supports which enable them to master a social or political system. Behavioural components include actions taken to influence the social and political environment including participation in community organizations and activities. Intrapersonal and interactional components of empowerment are important determinants of community participation (Zimmerman et al., 1992; Zimmerman & Rappaport, 1988), disarmament activism (Horvath, 1996b; Nemiroff & McKenzie-Mohr, 1992), and effectiveness in the workplace (Spreitzer, 1995). …