Applying Ecological Model to Tackle Social Issue
Community psychology is the field that thoroughly studies human interactions and their influence on the functioning of the whole community. Furthermore, it is also based on social issues, organizations, and circumstances that might considerably impact people, groups, and society on the whole (Kagan et al., 2019). Still, community psychology shares numerous theories central to the initial subject (Kagan et al., 2019). For instance, Kelly’s ecological approach is based on human interactions and adjusting to social settings that are utterly unusual for them (Jason et al., 2016).
As a result, James G. Kelly proposed four principles that are principal to analyzing human behavior in social environments, such as “independence, cycling of sources, adaptation, and succession” (Jason et al., 2016, p. 10). To be more exact, interdependence seems the essential principle of Kelly’s theory which “implies that change in one component of an ecosystem can change relationships among other components of the system” (Jason et al., 2016, p. 10). In other words, even a tiny alteration might lead to a considerable enhancement or, on the contrary, diminution of a social situation. It can be concluded that the notion is presented as a process that occurs in the community and intervention leading to further change in settings.
Consequently, this theory might be employed in school settings to reach the interdependence of the whole class. For instance, it is clear that sometimes children are not engaged in the lessons of handwork. Thus, they opt for using their smartphones rather than creating crafts with their hands since it seems tedious to them. However, it can easily be changed by setting the assignments that involve using discarded materials like fabric or plastic.
Teachers should encourage children to create useful handwork that they might further use in their home or for their comfort. Namely, children can make a handbag from fabric pieces or build a storage box from plastic. It is obvious that children will be seen as a group during such lessons since their interactions will be increased. Remarkably, they will seek the needed materials from their classmates or simply opt for combining their effort to create an excellent handcraft. Overall, it might be concluded that the enhanced plan of handcrafts lessons at school clearly displays environmental support, including social activities and selfless attitudes.
Community Psychology’s Potential to Tackle Social Injustice
To begin with, community psychologists’ main aim is to increase the quality of individuals’ lives along with battling injustice and power distance in communities and society on the whole. To be more particular, the field’s emergence is mainly based on a concern for social injustice (Kagan et al., 2019). In addition, researchers from this field mostly focus on filling the gap between the current state of affairs and an idealized version of society.
Community psychology has the potential for tackling social issues in almost any setting, including school. Therefore, psychologists can enhance the condition of early-developed children and provide them with appropriate learning methods.
For instance, they should focus on enabling their full access to the literature and textbooks designed for early childhood development. Community psychology can also contribute to reaching social equality and provide children with proper protection and education in establishments. Overall, since genius children are always perceived as something unusual and are not supported by their peers, community psychology can enhance and eliminate the discrimination towards them. In other words, researchers can create specific conditions in learning settings to provide early-developed children with comfort and high-quality education.
References
Jason, L. A., Stevens, E., Ram, D., Miller, S. A., Beasley, C. R., & Gleason, K. (2016). Theories in the field of community psychology. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 7(2), 1–27.
Kagan, C., Burton, M., Duckett, P., Lawthom, R., & Siddiquee, A. (2019). Critical community psychology: Critical action and social change. Routledge.