432 Community Psychology
more competently with many social-psychological problems
facing America.
We contend that specific moments and movements in
American history leading up to the Swampscott Conference
suggest bases for the interests of citizens, including psy-
chologists, to create such a distinct enterprise as community
psychology. At this point in the short history of the field, it is
not certain how directly these events influenced the field.
However, we expect that that external societal issues, along
with internal issues within the profession of psychology,
have contributed to the challenging and robust nature of the
field of community psychology. We hope that by highlighting
some of these social events and movements, future scholars
can build from this framework and continue to illuminate
and further specify the confluence of historical events and
processes that have contributed to the evolution of commu-
nity psychology—a field that has worked to contextually
ground our understanding of psychological processes.
Following a review of some of these sociocultural events,
particularly those of the 1950s and 1960s that preceded the
emergence of the field, we will describe the founding of the
field and articulate the historical and empirical evolution of
three defining domains of the field. These domains include
focusing on the Strengths of Persons and Communities,
which has served as a guiding value of the field; Ecological
Theory, which has developed as the major theoretical frame-
work of the field; andPreventive Interventions, which have
grown as the action arm of the field. Though these three
domains are closely identified with the evolution of the field
in a number of community psychology textbooks (e.g.,
Dalton, Elias, & Wandersman, 2000; Heller, Price, Reinherz,
Riger, & Wandersman, 1984; Levine & Perkins, 1997), we
seek to expand on the field’s conceptualization of these con-
cepts in terms of these relationships throughout the chapter.
The 1950s: Social Ferment and the Incubation of
Community Psychology
The conventional view among psychologists is that the found-
ing of the field of community psychology was a “’60s phe-
nomenon.” Accordingly, the turbulence of this decade roused
citizens and professionals to believe that communities were
important sources of well-being and that mental health ser-
vices should be directed at the level of the community rather
than at the level of the individual (Reiff, 1971). In contrast,
the 1950s are often perceived as peaceful times, relatively
free from turmoil. Against this myth, we contend that cultural
and historical events in the 1950s created a sensitivity and
consciousness about injustices that provided the basis for
more direct attacks on social issues 10 years later. To this end,
Halberstam (1993) identified the 1950s as a source of change.
“Social ferment...wasbeginning just beneath the placid sur-
face” (p. ix). Events of the 1950s foreshadowed future issues
of social dislocation, discontent, and unrest (Gitlin, 1987).
Moreover, according to Kennedy (1999), “The social and eco-
nomic upheavals of wartime laid the groundwork for the civil
rights movement as well as for an eventual revolution in
women’s status” (p. 857). These assertions testify to the sig-
nificance of the post-World War II 1950s as a major era of
incubation for the future of community psychology.The Economic Boon and the GI BillBuoyed by a positive mood stimulated by the Allied victory
in World War II, the postwar economic boon and the GI
bill brought affordable housing, jobs, and educational oppor-
tunities to war veterans that were unprecedented in U.S.
history (Chamberlain & Robinson, 1997; Glidewell, 1995;
Greenberg, 1997; Kiester, 1994; Tuttle, 1993). The establish-
ment of the GI bill in part reflected a national priority to
increase educational opportunities for all citizens. This prior-
itization and valuing of higher education was markedly in-
creased in 1957 when the Russians defeated the United States
in the race to launch an orbiting satellite into space. To help
keep the United States competitive with the Soviet Union,
policy makers supported education, science, and technology
more then ever (Chomsky, 1997).
With the benefits provided by the GI bill, a generation of
over seven million returning war veterans, some of whom
were aspiring social scientists, were able to enter their chosen
profession as a result of tuition-free education, stipends, and
home loans provided by the GI bill (Greenberg, 1997). These
opportunities for a college education contributed to the major
growth of the professions, including the social sciences.
Many war veterans pursued graduate education, and for those
who obtained their PhD degrees, faculty positions were often
available because of the postwar economic boon and popular
demand for higher education. However, along with these
very positive national emphases on education and scientific
discovery, the nation was struggling with significant social
turmoil.Race RelationsThe educational opportunities and supportive atmosphere
that resulted from the economic boon and the GI bill were
mostly available for white males. As Ellison (1947) revealed,
racial minorities were “invisible” in spite of the break-
throughs that included the heroics of Jackie Robinson and
Willie Mays in baseball, Althea Gibson in tennis, and the
presence of Ralph Bunche at the United Nations. Based on a
history of prejudice and discrimination, the dominant social