Theoretical Developments and Applications of the Social Resource Theory: A Review of Törnblom & Kazemi (2012)

Abstract

The ‘‘Handbook of Social Resource Theory,’’ edited by Kjell Tornblom and Ali Kazemi (both Center for Social Justice Research at the University of Skovde, Sweden), carries a contemporary collection of theoretical extensions and applications of Social Resource Theory (SRT). Following the idea of a handbook closely, it addresses the needs of researchers who want to learn about the theory in focus and at the same time gives further insight into theoretical critique, modifications, and its social applications. So, this volume also speaks to scholars who already know and use the SRT approach. In this vein, the book shows how easily SRT is able to bridge between and play a lively background for very different research questions and applications. On the other hand, this potential of SRT to cover a wide spectrum of phenomena opens the door to the critique of topical randomness or at least points to the eventual conceptual weaknesses of its inherent construction. But, the editors and authors of the handbook do not fall prey the temptation to become a worship service for SRT. Indeed, the majority of chapters take much effort to be a critical exegesis. To stay with the same metaphor, Foa and Foa deliver the scripture of SRT, but almost all the authors convened by the editors in this handbook do not use it as their bible but rather as a starting point for various critiques, metamorphoses, further developments, and practical applications. In this best sense, this handbook is a collection of important, if not to say necessary, commentaries on SRT and should be known by every scholar who wants to rethink the questions of usefulness and influence of SRT, especially with respect to the field of justice research. After reading this publication, some might consider borrowing elements of the SRT approach for their own purposes, or even discover that they already do without being aware of it.