Synopses & Reviews
Community psychology emphasizes an ecological approach to mental health by focusing on the individual in the environment and the influences that shape and change behavior. Becoming Ecological brings together the work of James G. Kelly, one of the founders of community psychology and among the field's national leaders.
The volume unites thirteen of Kelly's publications from 1968 to 2002 as well as four new essays on current issues in the field: the theory, research, practice, and education of community psychologists. Kelly introduces the work by offering connections between his personal experiences and the topics he chose to focus on throughout his long career. He begins each of the thirteen essays with commentary that sets the article in its original context so that the reader has a historical perspective on why certain ideas were salient at a particular time and how they are still timely today. Kelly concludes with a "summing up" section integrating the previously published articles with the four new essays. Throughout, he presents examples of how to plan and carry out research and practice in the community. The principles underlying the examples both enhance the relevance of the research and practice and increase the potential of community residents to use the findings for their own purposes.
A compendium of classic statements of community psychology's philosophical and historical underpinnings, Becoming Ecological is a must-read for scholars and practitioners of community psychology and for those in the fields of public health, social work, community development, education, and applied anthropology.
Review
"A midwestern boy of modest circumstances who dreamed of being a baseball announcer instead became Professor Jim Kelly, one of the most influential community psychologists of his generation. Along the way he helped community psychology chart its own unpredictable and fascinating life course by contributing key insights at critical moments, each of which is captured and reflected upon in this engaging book. You will emerge from these pages with a better understanding of Jim Kelly as a man, scholar, and community activist, and a better appreciation of the intimate connection between his personal story and that of the field he has nurtured and shaped for over 40 years."--Keith Humphreys, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine
" From early encounters with class-based discrimination to the support he offered by his mentors in college and graduate school, Jim ties the power of place and setting to both his personal development and the development of a new field of psychology. The result is a richly nuanced blending of research and experience. The sum effect of Jim's approach is to remind psychologists and those committed to community the of interrelatedness of biography and career."--Wade Pickren, Ph.D., Historian and Director of Archives, American Psychological Association
"In Becoming Ecological, Jim Kelly takes the reader on a scholarly journey through the development of his most influential ideas. Along this journey, he shows readers that his personal experiences and his scholarship are closely linked, reflecting the principles he articulates in his ecological view of psychology. Kelly's ideas remain fresh, relevant, provocative, and compelling. I have no doubt that the pages of my copy of Becoming Ecological will rapidly become dog-eared." --Robin Lin Miller, Associate Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University
"This volume achieves several important goals by gathering key writings of James G. Kelly and framing them in narratives of personal experience. It reminds us of the importance of biography, that intellectual and personal lived experience provides a valuable context for understanding scholarly contribution. Because of these characteristics, the volume challenges conventional wisdom about what psychology is and what it might be." --Lonnie R. Snowden, Professor, School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley
"Kelly sets high standards for community psychologists. This book does not just have historical value: It is also a model of how one person can significantly shape a movement."--PsycCRITIQUES
About the Author
James G. Kelly is Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Chicago and Lecturer, University of California at Davis. As one of the founders of the field of community psychology, he has emphasized the development of ecological principles that can enhance the design of community-based research and practice. These principles are based on empirical research and Kelly's lifelong immersion in practical community problems and issues
Table of Contents
Preface Being Autobiographical: Roots and Varied Soils for Ecological Inquiry
Thirteen Classic Articles and Reflections
1. Toward an Ecological Conception of Preventive Interventions
2. Adolescent Boys in High School: A Psychological Study of Coping and Adaptation
3. Antidotes for Arrogance
4. Quest for Valid Preventive Interventions
5. Community as Teacher
6. Qualities for the Community Psychologist
7. Tain't What You Do, It's the Way That You Do It
8. Seven Criteria When Conducting Community-Based Prevention Research: A Research Agenda and Commentary
9. Generating Social Settings for a Public's Health
10. A Contextualist Epistemology for Ecological Research
11. Wellness as an Ecological Enterprise
12. Contexts and Community Leadership
13. The Spirit of Community Psychology
More Thoughts
Four Contemporary Essays
14. Thinking Ecologically
15. Inquiry as Situated Methods with Processes for Mutual Discovery
16. Practicing Ecology: Ideas for Community-Based Preventive Programs
17. Education and Training for an Ecological Perspective
18. A Summing Up: Some Facets of Interdependence
Afterword by Edison J. Trickett, University of Illinois at Chicago
Bibliography
Autobiographical Synopsis: Appendix A