Community psychology in Italy: Past developments and future perspectives

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review the history of community psychology in Italy.We begin by illustrating the early developments of community psychology in the 1970s, which was a period of strong social change. The main part of the chapter is focused on the contribution of Italian scholars to the development of European perspectives in the field and to the elaboration of theoretical principles that should guide community psychology interventions. Taking into account the construct of social representation, Italian community psychologists view the connections between psychological and social determinants of personal action and between individual and collective processes as the core features of the discipline. They have, therefore, given much attention to exploring the historical link between the process of valorisation of individual freedoms and collective struggle; to promoting sociopolitical empowerment and social capital; and to examining the multiple meanings of community and sense of community. In the last part of the chapter, we outline the theoretical principles that guide some community psychology interventions such as community profiling, multidimensional organisational analysis, affective education and empowerment training, which have been developed by Italian community psychologists.We conclude by focusing on future opportunities and challenges. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.