Charisma, power and altruism: a discussion of research in a child development centre

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports on a study of a multidisciplinary assessment centre for pre‐school handicapped children. The centre provides an opportunity for different categories of health professionals to explore the needs of a handicapped child over a ten‐day period and to offer help and advice. The research design was an unusual one in including an assessment of staff attitudes by the doctor involved in setting up the centre, an assessment of the parents’views by a sociologist, an exchange of reports and an assessment of subsequent staff reactions. The present paper offers a commentary on the whole of this process. Differences between lay and professional models of handicap are explored and data on the changes staff were prepared to make are taken into account. The paper stresses that perceptions of problems are affected by the social position of the actors involved and their different notions of normality. A power model can aid in explaining some of the actions of the staff, but it is argued that both charisma and altruism are relevant concepts, particularly perhaps in sectors of the health service where the dominant values of competitive industrial society do not apply. Copyright © 1980, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved