Social Scaffolding: Supporting the Development of Positive Social Identities and Agency in Communities

doi:10.1017/9781911623069.025

Chapter 25 - Social Scaffolding: Supporting the Development of Positive Social Identities and Agency in Communities

from Section 4 - Scaffolding

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 June 2019

Catherine Haslam ,

S. Alexander Haslam and

Tegan Cruwys

Edited by

Richard Williams ,

Verity Kemp ,

S. Alexander Haslam ,

Catherine Haslam ,

Kamaldeep S. Bhui and

Susan Bailey

Edited in association with

Daniel Maughan

Show author details

Richard Williams: Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp: Affiliation:
Healthplanning Ltd.
S. Alexander Haslam: Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Catherine Haslam: Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Kamaldeep S. Bhui: Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London
Susan Bailey: Affiliation:
Centre for Mental Health
Daniel Maughan: Affiliation:
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust

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Summary

This poem, by the Irish poet and Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney, is as applicable to sustaining healthy communities as it is to sustaining marital harmony, which is the purpose for which it was originally written. As the scaffolding provided the foundational structure from which Heaney and his wife built the walls of their marriage, so too we can develop communities through our own collective efforts, drawing on support from health and social care practitioners of various persuasions where and when required. Once it is established, we can gain confidence from the fact that we can use what we have built together to help our communities to endure and thrive when they, too, are threatened by adversity.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Social Scaffolding
Applying the Lessons of Contemporary Social Science to Health and Healthcare
, pp. 244 - 256

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781911623069.025 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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