Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-11T23:08:05.255Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The client as citizen: Self-determination and empowerment through the group experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Victor Coull
Victor Coull*
Affiliation:
Glastonbury Child & Family Services, 222 Malop Street, Geelong, Vic 3220. Email: vcoull@glastonbury.org.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper describes the process and outcome of a self-help group involving six parents, and then proceeds to analyse the self-help group as a polity.

This analysis of the self-help group incorporates the notion of the parents as citizens who act and make decisions as a group or social polity. Concepts of generalised exchange and justice which have integral roles in social action within a polity are applied within the analysis.

These concepts are used to explain the personal growth of parents as citizens demonstrated through their participation in the self-help group as a social polity and in their social functioning within the community.

The paper argues that by promoting the clients’ citizenship development, the process facilitates their participation within the community and contributes to improved social functioning and self-determination.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , 2000 , pp. 32 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bate, P (1992) ‘The Impact of Organisational Culture on Approaches to Organisational Problem Solving’, in Salaman, O. Human Resource Strategies, Sage, London, pp.228–9.Google Scholar
Brunner, E. (1997) ‘Stress and the Biology of Inequality’, British Medical Journal, Vol 314, pp.1472–1476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Janowski, T. (1998) Citizenship and Civil Society, Cambridge University Press, pp.8–11.Google Scholar
McDermott, F.E. (1975) ‘Against the Persuasive Definition of Self-Determination’, in McDermott, F.E. (Ed), Self Determination in Social Work, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London & Boston.Google Scholar
Marmot, M. (1998) ‘Mastering the Control Factor, Part Two’, The Health Report, Radio National, Nov. 16.Google Scholar
Rothstein, B. (1998) Just Institutions Matter, Cambridge University Press, p. 127.Google Scholar
Seligman, M.E.P. (1975) Helplessness, San Francisco, Freeman.Google Scholar
Shera, W. & Page, J. (1995) ‘Creating More Effective Human Service Organisations Through Strategies of Empowerment’, Administration in Social Work, Vol. 19(4), pp.1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D.M. (1994) Geography and Social Justice, Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Smith, M. & Nursten, J. (1998) ‘Social Workers Experience of Distress - Moving Towards Change’, Br. J. Social Work, 28, pp.551–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swann, N. (1998a) ‘Mastering the Control Factor, Part 1’, The Health Report, Radio National, Nov. 9.Google Scholar
Swann, N. (1998b) ‘Mastering the Control Factor, Part 2’, The Health Report, Radio National, Nov. 16.Google Scholar
Syme, L. (1998) ‘Mastering the Control Factor, Part One’, The Health Report, Radio National, Nov. 9.Google Scholar
Thompson, N., Stradling, S., Murphy, M. & O’Neill, P. (1996) ‘Stress and Organisational Culture’, Br. J. Social Work, 26(5), pp.647–665.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, R. (1998) Unhealthy Societies, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Wilson, W.J. (1987) The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass and Public Policy, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 183.Google Scholar
Wolfensberger, W. (1972) The Principle of Normalization in Human Services, National Institute on Mental Retardation.Google Scholar