Globalization, Neo‐Liberalism and Community Psychology

Abstract

A longitudinal analysis (1984-2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how the current globalized capitalist market ideology is now permeating this long-established Scandinavian welfare state. This ideological shift carries powerful implications for community psychology, as traditional welfare state values of equal services based on a universalistic principle are set aside, and social and material inequalities are increasingly accepted. The methodology developed in the present study may serve as a "barometer of community changes", to borrow a metaphor used by Sarason (2000).

Ideology and power: the influence of current neo‐liberalism in society

“…(p. 55). How one acts and thinks is governed by the predominant ideologies and by the specific politico-economic organisation of society (Billig, 1991;Montero, 1997;Nafstad, Carlquist, & Blakar, in press;Nafstad, Carlquist, Rand-Hendriksen, & Blakar, 2006;Nelson & Prilleltensky, 2005;Prilleltensky, Nelson, & Peirson, 2001). Thus, the ideological situation within society is a constitutive condition for how individuals or groups experience, act and exert power, for example, to the best merely for themselves, their own group, community as a whole or possibly for humankind more generally.…”

Communal Values and Individualism in Our Era of Globalization: A Comparative Longitudinal Study of Three Different Societies

“…This collectivistic worldview is captured in the statement: "I am because we are, and because we are, therefore I am" (Akotia and Olowu 2000 , p. 4). This attitude may explain why we found communal values to be increasing in Ghana (Nafstad et al 2009a ) .…”

“…However, mixtures of collectivism and individualism will develop as societies continually create amalgamations of individual and collective goals and thereby standards for the optimal functioning a person is expected to achieve (Ryan et al 1999 ) . In a former study (Nafstad et al 2009a ) , it was demonstrated how West African Ghana and North European Norway responded systematically different to the strong individualism imbued in currently globalizing ideologies. As expected, in both societies, individualist values were markedly strengthened under the in fl uence of globalization during the past decades.…”

“…Thus, there has traditionally been a strong emphasis to value collective arrangements and equal distribution of public services and common goods ) . We have, in previous studies, analyzed ideological changes which have taken place in the Norwegian society over the past 25 years, from 1984 2 on, and have demonstrated how Norway increasingly has been imbued by the globalizing ideology of neoliberalism with its excessive individualism, in marked contrast to and exerting pressure on the collective arrangements valued by the traditional welfare state (Nafstad et al 2006(Nafstad et al , 2009a .…”

“…Thus, conceptions of what makes a good life have, in essential and fundamental ways, to consider both individual autonomy and personal growth and the individual's partaking in developing, upholding, and maintaining his or her community (Nafstad et al 2009a ) . Based on its own local historical and cultural traditions, every society has, therefore, to negotiate its own balance between individual and communal values.…”