What does Theory & Psychology have to offer community-orientated psychologists?

Abstract

Psychology is awash with different understandings and enactments of relations between theory and action. This article explores coverage in Theory & Psychology of such relations from the perspective of four community psychologists who are seeking insights into how to further integrate our theory, research, practice, and teaching activities. We first consider a dedicated special issue on Theory in Action that exemplifies some of the mental gymnastics evident in efforts to work participatively to address practical problems in theoretically informed ways. Our focus then shifts to what we see as a form of disciplinary reflexivity that we detected regarding issues surrounding theory and action across the broader content of Theory & Psychology. We conclude with further reflections on how insights from the scholarly papers cited resonate with our own critical praxis and efforts to engage with and address complex social problems, and the importance of cultural considerations in such community scholar activism.

Fitting Social Enterprise for Sustainable Development in Vietnam

“…Correspondingly, the focus of our analysis was expanded beyond the set of issues that underpinned the interview prompts. This is in keeping with the abductive approach taken to the analysis [36,47].…”

“…At this point, theoretical concepts and literature about Vietnamese culture were also used as an interpretative resource to provide a conceptual context in unpacking and working through the broader cultural significance of what participants were talking about [49]. All authors then worked together through a process of writing as analysis, to drafting and redrafting the analysis as presented in the following section [36,43,50]. This iterative and cross-cultural strategy of analysis was necessary in order to preserve and unpack important cultural nuances and concepts pertaining to the core focus of the study, and to relate emerging findings to existing theory and research [49].…”

“…Despite the hardships collectively remembered, harmony has emerged as the key principle within the country's culture [30], and a valuing and enacting of harmonious connections of "Individual-Family-Village-Nation" underpins the sense of collectivism and mutual responsibilities and obligations [29,34]. Therefore, it is likely that the self-reflections of social entrepreneurs interviewed for the present research will entangle culturally laden understandings of leadership, enterprises and their missions [36,37].…”