Summary
This research showed important new cyclical causal connections derived from prior knoweldge and extending it. The cyclical causal connections appeared between a paricular kind of training, negotiation skills (psychological), influence (social), self-esteem (psychological), and risk taking (social), and back to negotiaion skills (psychological) in a particular community action group, andperhaps in most community action groups in similar conditions. The theory explicates a theory of community empowerment, a cyclical series of pyschological and social forces that move in revolution and respond to shock with both change and restabilization. The findings provide an explication of the paradox of social change and stability in a community: Both the change (developmental or decremental) and the stability (sustaining or stifling) lie in the relationships between social and psychological variables, the very relationships that both propel and limit change in the levels of the variables, once the change is initiated.
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This an extensive revision of a paper read at the annual meetings of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, 1982. Grateful acknowledgment is made to Steve W. Banspatch and John Wallace for their assistance in analyzing these data. I also acknowledge the cooperative efforts of the citizens of this community, their school board members, and school administrators, who very firmly wished to remain anonymous.
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Glidewell, J.C. Induced change and stability in psychological and social systems. Am J Commun Psychol 15, 741–772 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00919801
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00919801