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Articles

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2023)

Definition Revisited: Human Dignity and Co-creation, the Heart of Community Psychology Practice

Submitted
April 7, 2023
Published
2023-01-31

Abstract

As a multidisciplinary applied field, community psychology is remarkably situated to bring respect for the inherent dignity of all people. The soul-searing events of the summer of 2020, the Capitol insurrection of January 2021, increasing violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Islamaphobia, ongoing murders of Black people and the (dis)abled, and attacks on the Jewish community demonstrate that in the United States, wellbeing is far from uniform. Many organizations, neighborhoods, systems, policies, and places have not consistently enabled wellbeing. Manifestation of the power of human dignity, the value of civil society, civic discourse, the salience of collective efficacy, and community wellbeing are at the heart of community psychology. Collective efficacy is "a group's shared belief in its conjoint capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given levels of attainments." This moment in time prompts a reexamination of paradigms, theories, and definitions alongside aligned practices and values that transcend the field.