Trends and Redress in Community Psychology during 10 Years of Democracy (1994–2003): A Journal-Based Perspective

Abstract

Drawing on a content analysis of selected articles from the South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP) and Psychology in Society (PINS), the authors reflect on the extent to which South African community psychology's early vision resonates in publications in post-1994 South African psychology. Concerned about the Euro-American, patriarchal, classist, and individualised orientation in clinical, counselling, and social psychology, community psychology's vision arose as a response to this crisis of ‘relevance’ in the 1980s in South Africa. It placed the accent on accessible psychosocial services, re-defining the roles of psychologists, democratising psychological practice, prevention, competencies, empowerment of under-represented groups, collaboration, and inclusive modes of knowledge production. Our content analysis suggests that South African community psychology tends to operate within a porous disciplinary boundary, sharing academic concerns with a larger group of critical psychologists. Authorship characteristics show that for the 1994 to 2003 period male and females were more or less equally represented as authors, the majority of whom were affiliated to academic institutions. In contrast, co-authorship as an expression of collaboration did not feature strongly and the community voice was unrepresented at authorship level. Most of the articles tended to assume an empirical or theoretical slant and examined themes consistent with community psychology's early vision and focus. Similarly, research in community psychology seemed to have attended to selected priority psychosocial issues and drawn on historically neglected groups, including black adolescents and adults, to serve as participants. By way of conclusion, we surmise that community psychology, albeit an under-represented branch of psychology, may be one of many areas of engagement for those aligned to the quest for emancipatory psychological practice and theory in South Africa.