Papers on Community Psychology and related topics

mostly by Mark Burton and Carolyn Kagan - but also by others
We are interested in posting other related work here. 
Contact us: 

Working at the 'edge'  Carolyn Kagan on community practice  
link to The Psychologist  20 (4) April 2007, 224-227

Community Psychological Perspectives and Work with People with Learning Difficulties  .pdf   Carolyn Kagan and Mark Burton  
In press:  Clinical Psychology

Exclusión, discapacidad, y cambio social .  Word 97 file. (Exclusion, disability and social change)
Carolyn Kagan y Mark Burton   Paper presented at the Universidad Nacional Pedagógica de México, Cuernavaca, and the Universidad Autónoma de México, Iztapalapa, March, 2004.

(not available in English)

Living Poverty in the UK: Community psychology as accompaniment  .pdf  Irene Edge , Carolyn Kagan  and Angela Stewart  2003  Published - Clinical Psychology 2004

also:  Irene and Angela tell professionals about real poverty  from the Middleton and North Manchester Guardian.

But some are more equal than others: the reciprocal relevance of community psychology and interdisciplinary research on health and income inequalities. .pdf David Fryer (University of Stirling) Paper presented at European Network of Community Psychology, Leuven,Belgium 2003.

Papers on Liberation Psychology 

Viva Nacho!  Liberating Psychology in Latin America by Mark Burton - The Psychologist ,17, (10), 584-587, October 2004-  .pdf

Liberation Social Psychology:  Learning From Latin America .pdf by Mark Burton and Carolyn Kagan  in 
Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology   (2005) 15, (1), 63-78.    read the prepublicationdraft   .pdf

A related paper in Spanish:  La Psicología de la Liberación: Aprendiendo de América Latina (Word  97 file) translated with the help of Joel Vázquez (Universidad Autónoma de México, Unidad de Iztapalapa)  in the Mexican journal POLIS, 1, 101-124.

Some of this material  was previously presented at:-  Community and Critical Psychology conference – Birmingham Sept. 2003,  British Psychological Society – History and Philosophy section conference, March 2002, Community and Organisational Psychology Research group, Manchester Metropolitan University, January 2002.

The Liberia Manifesto:  Declaration of the 7th International Congress of Liberation Social Psychology, Liberia, Costa Rica, November, 2005

Final Report  of an Evaluation of the Community Development Exchange (formerly Standing Conference for Community Development) Web-site  .pdf Carolyn Kagan, and Asiya Siddiquee   Word version

Participative Learning for Evaluation: A systems approach to the development of evaluation capability in community health projects  .pdf
Carolyn Kagan, Alan Boyd, Ted Geerling, Wendy Gregory, Gerald Midgley, Peter Murray and Mike Walsh
An earlier version of a  paper delivered to  ALARPM 6th and PAR 10th World Congress, Pretoria, South Africa, September 2003

The context of mental health difficulties and well being.   .pdf  
Talk given to BEHAF (British Ethnic Health Awareness Foundation) 
Carolyn Kagan and Raheela Ali              

Community Psychology:  Why this gap in Britain? 
(PDF Document)  Mark Burton and Carolyn Kagan  - Pre-publication draft of   Burton, M and Kagan, C  (2003)  Community psychology:  why this gap in Britain?  History and Philosophy of Psychology  4, (2),  10-23.

Making the Road by Walking It... some possibilities for a community social psychology   Carolyn Kagan's inaugural professorial lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University :  30 January 2002  read the text on line!!

Marginalization pre-editorial chapter draft.  Looks at the nature of social marginalization, its causes and dimensions, and some ways of working with and for those who have been marginalised.   .pdf  file  (needs Acrobat Reader)   In Isaac Prilleltensky and Geoff Nelson:  Community Psychology: in pursuit of wellness and liberation.  publication Nov 2004 -> link to publisher's page for this book (Palgrave MacMillan).

Working with People who are marginalized by the social system: challenges for community psychological work  .pdf Carolyn Kagan, Diane Burns, Mark Burton, Isabel Crespo, Rob Evans, Kath Knowles, José Luis Lalueza and Judith Sixsmith.  Paper presented at the European Community Psychology Conference:  Barcelona, November 2002.. - now published in In A Sánchez Vidal, A Zambrano Constanzo and M Palacín Lois (Eds.) (2004) Psicología Comunitaria Europea: Comunidad, Poder Ética y Valores / European Community Psychology: Community, Power, Ethics and Values. Barcelona: Publicacions Universitat de Barcelona. Pp. 400-412. (Papers from the European Community Psychology Congress, Barcelona, November, 2002).

Radical psychology networks: a review and guide.  Mark Burton
Paper presented at V Congreso Internacional de la Psicología Social de la Liberación, (Mesa Redonda:  Organizaciones y Practicas Alternativas de Psicología fuera de América Latina)  Universidad de Guadalajara, México, November 2002
English version (con resumén en castellano).  pdf file.  Presents a friendly critical analysis of the the various networks of critical / radical psychology, setting them in the context of the situation of professionals and intellectuals in these core capitalist societies.  Does not deal with the situation in North America (which was the topic covered by Tod Sloan in the same round table).  Includes appendix with links to such networks worldwide.
(Updated version posted April 2004, published in Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology 2004 14, 119- 130 . 

Proposal for Evaluation of the Information and Experience Exchange Project, Standing Conference for Community Development   Carolyn Kagan   June 2002

Ethical Praxis: new theoretical insights and everyday  practice. Mark Burton   .pdf  file  (needs Acrobat Reader)  Paper presented at the first European IASSID conference: Dublin June 2002  - here is a shorter,  tighter version that with the passing of time we actually prefer!

Applies ideas from Dussel's Ethics of Liberation and from Critical Systems Theory to the problem of everyday ethical practice in supporting people disabled through intellectual difficulty.   Corrected version posted 30/6/02.    Never got around to  publishing this one!

Review of Gerald Midgley's Systemic Intervention    Mark Burton
Journal of Community and Applied Psychology 2003 13 (4) 330-333.   pdf file 

Report of the development of understanding of the Family Based Intervention for Children with Cerebral Palsy and their Inclusion in the Community  project from the perspectives of occupational therapy and community psychology Carolyn Kagan, Manchester Metropolitan University  and Sally Scott-Roberts, University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff    COP Occasional Papers: Number 1/02   Based on work with the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy:  Kolkata. 
choose either:  Word 97 file  or .PDF format file.

The need for witness support:  Report of Feasibility Study of a Community Witness Support Scheme for Heartlands, North Town  Carolyn Kagan , Sue Caton, and Amisha Amin,  January 2001
Word 97 File to downloa

Intellectually disabled people as participant citizens  (con résumen en español)  Mark Burton , Melanie Chapman, Anna Fedeczko, Richard Hughes, Jackie Kilbane, Tom McLean and Pat Ashworth
Manchester UK
Paper Given at the Fourth International Conference on Liberation Social Psychology / psicología social de la liberación,  Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala,  Guatemala City,  November 2001.
Draws on work done in MLDP to make connections with ideas from social psychology of/for liberation.

Community Psychology Praxis for the 21st Century  (PDF file) Carolyn Kagan and Mark Burton
Paper presented at British Psychology Conference Community Psychology Symposium
Glasgow, March 2001
This major position statement is now available:

- also see our paper on prefigurative action research - Kagan and Burton 2000

Community Activism, Participation and Social Capital on a Peripheral Housing Estate  
Carolyn Kagan, Rebecca Lawthom, Kath Knowles and Mark Burton
Paper given at the European Community Psychology Conference: Bergen, Norway, September, 2000.

Prefigurative Action Research: an alternative basis for critical psychology?
Carolyn Kagan and Mark Burton
Paper given at International Conference on Critical Psychology and Action Research, July 1999
A revised version was published in Annual Review of Critical Psychology 2000.
Provides a framework for socially progressive action research - we regard this as a key paper in the approach represented by most of the other work on this page.

Edge effects, resource utilisation and community psychology html version 
Mark Burton and Carolyn Kagan
Paper given at the European Community Psychology Conference: Bergen, Norway, September, 2000.  Applies an ecological phenomenon, as metaphor, to community psychological work. .pdf version

The Creation of Settings as Social Change:  the Role of Social Movements
Mark Burton  and Carolyn Kagan (.pdf file) 
based on paper given at National Community Psychology Conference MMU, Jan 199

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES? COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AS PART OF THE UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM: (word6 file) 
Karen Dunne, Natalie Holloway, Carolyn Kagan, Kath Knowles, Rebecca Lawthom
Paper given at National Community Psychology Conference MMU, Jan 1999

INTER-GENERATIONAL UNDERSTANDING IN THE INNER CITY: 'EDGE EFFECTS' AND SUSTAINABLE CHANGE IN COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS (word6 file) 
Mal Choudhury and Carolyn Kagan
Paper given at National Community Psychology Conference MMU, Jan 1999

Social Skills for People with Learning Disabilities: A social capability approach.

Mark Burton and Carolyn Kagan
London: Chapman and Hall  1995. 

This text brings together a community psychology approach to combatting the marginalisation of intellectually disabled people with a broad based analysis of social competence and methods for increasing it.   We link the ideas of social integration and the responsibilitiesof the community to include all its members with social competence at an individual level through our concept of social capability.

Developing and Managing High Quality Learning Disability Services

Mark Burton and Mike Kellaway (Editors)
Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998.
This text, as the title suggests, is mostly about formal health and social services provision, and is written by staff from the Manchester Learning Disability Partnership. However, running through are the (Community Psychology)  themes of participation, inclusion and empowerment, and these get special treatment in chapters on public safety, quality, user involvement, and planning with people.

       'This is essentially a practical book, full of good ideas and examples of good practice. It speaks directly to
       readers, inviting them to think about their own service and how it might be improved.' Community Care 

Rethinking empowerment: shared action against powerlessness
Mark Burton and Carolyn Kagan. A version was published in I Parker and R Spears:  Psychology and Society:   Radical Theory and Practice.  London:  Pluto Press, 1996. (now out of print).
Applies ideas from Freire, Habermas, Gramsci and Marx to the idea and practice of empowerment, doing a certain amount of de-psychologising of the idea, situating it in collective social action.

The psychologist as developer of services  (Word 6 file)  Mark Burton 
Presentation to Conference: El Psicólogo ante los nuevos desafíos en ambientes educativos. Universidad Central de Venezuela 23 Nov 2000
Versión en español: El psicólogo como promotor de servicios.  (archivo en format Word 6  traducido por Manuel Aramayo y Mark Burton)

Mark  Burton  (1983) Understanding mental health services:  theory and practice.  Critical Social Policy , 3, (7), 54 – 74.   pdf file
A scanned version of the original paper, so the print quality is not great (and the file is large 1.6 Meg ).  The title is a little misleading – the article is relevant to all disadvantaged, marginalised, stigmatised, unvalued people.
The article, despite being 20 years old has interest for two reasons:
1)  It was the first to mention Prefigurative Action Research, later developed by Carolyn Kagan and myself:  (2000) in Prefigurative Action Research:  An alternative basis for critical psychology?   Annual Review of Critical Psychology  2. 
2)  It sets W. Wolfensberger's work within a wider societal context, a task that has been attempted at times, but perhaps less sympathetically than here.  It also was one of the first to make a link between at least his earlier work and labelling theory, that is to say the symbolic interactionist social psychological theory of deviance, a link that he denies.