Interest in religion within the field of community psychology has steadily emerged within the last three decades. This interest has focused almost exclusively on the social benefits of religion, glossing over the often-contentious nature of religious life and the ways in which religious individuals and institutions can disrupt healthy human and community development. Considering the recent surge of interfaith conflicts and discriminatory practices targeting religious minorities in communities across the United States, it is imperative that community psychologists begin to examine relevant trends in interfaith relations and potential directions for action research and intervention. This paper serves as the beginning point of just such an examination, proposing a multilevel model for addressing the microsystemic, mesosystemic, and macrosystemic levels of interfaith phenomena. More specifically, I present interfaith contact, congregation-based community partnerships, and theological belief systems as particularly relevant to interfaith community research and intervention. Finally, I detail an interfaith organization that embodies these dimensions of interfaith relations and provides a concrete example of how a multilevel action research model may be effectively employed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In Latin America, political clientelism is one of the main obstacles to the process of sustaining truly democratic practices. Thus, this article proposes to study peasants from the Province of Formosa, Argentina's social representation of politicians, in hopes of shedding light on the relationship between said representations and clientelist practices, with the objective of making a contribution to the development of alternative means towards democratization in the area.

The results of this case study show that, at the center of the peasants' social representation of politicians, there lies a tendency to place their expectations for receiving assistance within a context of a personalized and hierarchical relationship framework. Nevertheless, the majority of these farmers consider the assistance received to be insufficient and inadequate, stating that politicians actually look to satisfy their own interests and not those of the general public. In conclusion, the peasants' social representation of politicians favors clientelist practices, even though these small farmers do not identify, via their culture or their expectations, with these practices. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Stress has been shown to deplete the self-regulation resources hypothesized to facilitate effective role functioning. However, recent research suggests that positive affect may help to replenish these vital self-regulation resources. Based on the revised Stress and Coping theory and the Broaden-and-Build theory of positive emotion, three studies provide evidence of the potential adaptive function of positive affect in the performance of roles for participants experiencing stress. Participants were students (Study 1), caregivers of children with illness (Study 2), and individuals recently diagnosed with HIV (Study 3). In cross-sectional analyses, using role functioning as an indicator of self-regulation performance, we found that positive affect was significantly correlated with better self-regulation performance, independent of the effects of negative affect. The effects were not as strong longitudinally, however, and there was little evidence of a reciprocal association between increases in positive affect and improvements in role functioning over time. The results provide some modest support for hypotheses stemming from the Broaden-and-Build model of positive emotion and revised Stress and Coping theory, both of which argue for unique adaptive functions of positive affect under stressful conditions. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The value of community-based research as a useful mechanism for social change is gaining recognition in the psychological literature. While this kind of work has the potential to impact upon the lives of individuals and communities we engage with, it can also leave researchers facilitating the process with a lasting impression on both their academic and personal lives. This article is a case-based reflection on the dilemmas surrounding community-based research and how it can impact upon the experiences of both the community and the researchers facilitating the project. This case study is based upon the author's experiences of facilitating a participatory action research (PAR) project with a small indigenous community in the Philippines. Written more than five years since the project commenced, some of the challenges encountered are presented and reflected upon. This includes the dynamic nature of PAR, inter-organisational conflicts, and lack of personal distance in action research. Sensitive issues specific to this case study are also discussed, i.e. land grabbing and violence against indigenous communities. Reflections are contextualized within discussions from various academic orientations within the psychological and social science literature, including community and critical psychology, Sikolohiyang Pilipino, and human rights. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

National surveillance data indicate marked differences between Indigenous and other Australians in the prevalence of many sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Young Indigenous people bear a particularly high burden of these infections. A collaboration of university researchers, Indigenous health workers and young Indigenous people conducted 45 field interviews to examine how young Indigenous Australians keep themselves healthy and protected against STIs. Our findings emphasise the complexity of health behaviours, where individuals are rarely always ‘risky’ or always ‘safe’, as well as subtle gender differences in health practices. Preventive strategies employed by the young people were contingent on beliefs and knowledge about sexual partners, the type of relationship, the context of the sexual encounter and access to condoms. Tangible strengths such as young Indigenous people's commitments to condoms and STI screening should be celebrated and bolstered to enhance their ability to protect themselves against adverse health outcomes and enhance their resilience against STIs. Focusing on strengths helps to counter the deficit model of health commonly deployed in Indigenous health research and draws attention to health issues facing young Indigenous people and their communities, without reinforcing negative stereotypes or focusing solely on individual risk behaviour. We provide concrete recommendations for health promotion and education. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Informed by a community psychology perspective, which takes an integrated and systemic, or holistic view of health and health promotion, this study presents quali-quantitative analysis of health documents, produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) over the last 30 years. Textual analysis facilitated the identification of the typical specificities of international WHO health promotion documents, highlighting the lexical contexts of health promotion, particularly in relation to responsibilities for health and the concept of community health. Further, this textual analysis demonstrated how these understandings of health and health promotion have evolved over the last 30 years. Drawing on theory from within the field of community psychology, the changes proposed throughout international WHO documentation in conceptualizations of health and health promotion and in defining strategies to achieve the stated goals of health promotion are discussed critically. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article presents a detailed case study of a local group of citizens organizing to hold governmental and nongovernmental organizations accountable for improving housing and communities in Kansas City, MO. The case study draws on a review of organizational archival documents (i.e., organizational attendance records and internal reports); public documents from local, state, and federal agencies; media coverage; and a series of qualitative interviews with participants. The case provides an example of successful local community action. Yet, it also highlights many of the challenges that organizing groups face in making lasting community change. Change is constant and ongoing. Citizens' groups must therefore not only mobilize but also achieve a sustainable and politically viable presence to continually exert pressure. This is particularly true because citizen actions on behalf of community interests often provoke reactions from special interests and other defenders of the status quo. Case study methods represent a critical tool for documenting and understanding important community phenomena in a more holistic way. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cross-case study methodology is a more appropriate and still rigorous methodology for community and systems change research and evaluation. It supports learning about effective implementation, community capacity building, and resident engagement—all core elements of community and systems change efforts. It also communicates more effectively to non-researchers and evaluators if, how, and why community and systems change occurred through the use of a narrative that combines qualitative and quantitative data to tell a story. The application of the cross-case study methodology, adapted from Yin's cross-case synthesis approach, requires five essential steps: developing a theory of change, establishing a measurement framework that reflects methodological and data source triangulation, developing a cross-case study protocol and building a database, analysing and interpreting the findings, and communicating the results. This methodology was applied to the evaluation of the Safe Start Demonstration Project, a national community and systems change effort funded by the US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. This methodology has all the attributes of scientific rigour. In this paper, we argue for a reconsideration of case study research by funders, policymakers, researchers, and evaluators and advance the cross-case methodology as the emerging standard for community and systems change research and evaluation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Older homeless people are likely to have additional support needs in relation to well-being and housing. This study focuses on the experiences of hostel living for older, long-term homeless men in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 10 participants. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. There were three main themes identified, which capture the men's concerns and the means by which they coped with the hostel environment: ‘contingent sense of well-being in the hostel’, ‘importance of connectedness to others’ and ‘balancing independence with reliance on others’. Running through all the themes was a sense that three fundamental processes were in play: threat to material safety, threat to self-identity and threat to autonomy. Psychosocial implications of this study, for those working with homeless people, might involve addressing inequities of power, maintaining continuity of self-identity and facilitating the development of a sense of connectedness. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Thirty years after the first diagnosis, people living with HIV (PLWH) around the world continue to report stigmatizing experiences. In this study, beliefs contributing to HIV-related stigma in African and Afro-Caribbean diaspora communities and their cultural context were explored through semi-structured interviews with HIV-positive (N = 42) and HIV-negative (N = 52) African, Antillean and Surinamese diaspora community members in the Netherlands. Beliefs that HIV is highly contagious, that HIV is a very severe disease, and that PLWH are personally responsible for acquiring their HIV infection were found to contribute to HIV-related stigma, as did the belief that PLWH are HIV-positive because they engaged in norm-violating behaviour such as promiscuity, commercial sex work, and, for Afro-Caribbean diaspora, also homosexuality. These beliefs were found to be exacerbated and perpetuated by cultural taboos on talking about HIV and sexuality. HIV-related stigma reduction interventions should focus on changing these beliefs and breaking cultural taboos on HIV and sexuality in a manner that is participatory and consistent with the current theory and empirical findings. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In the UK in recent years, there has been a considerable and sustained increase in both levels of personal debt and over-indebtedness. This commentary argues that recent UK policy formulation on personal debt management has sidelined problematic macroscopic political and economic changes by locating personal debt as a problem of individual financial incompetence. Through specific institutions, tools, techniques and practices, certain configurations of people in debt have been rendered knowable and changeable. In doing so, public policies that have brought about a greater need for a greater number of people to rely on personal debt remain largely beyond public view and have instead been reconstituted as problems of access to financial capability training. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Group boundaries between immigrant minority and majority members are currently undergoing considerable and complex changes in European multicultural societies due to migration. In this paper, we present a descriptive, longitudinal investigation of the usage of linguistic expressions in Norwegian media discourse that describe symbolic boundary developments between immigrant minority and majority members, and their multicultural context. Seventy-two expressions are analyzed, and three temporal usage patterns are described (increasing, decreasing, and ‘mountain’) as central to understanding current symbolic boundaries and how they may both frame and be shaped by ideologies. Expressions describing immigrant minorities have increasingly focused on their establishment in the Norwegian multicultural society and have also shifted from general boundaries of outsiderness to increasingly specified boundaries of origins, visibility, and immigrant otherness. Norwegian majority expressions have mostly shifted toward a focus on origins. Our analysis suggests that symbolic boundaries in the Norwegian multicultural society have been changing rapidly. They seem to be shaped by complex ideological patterns constructing both similarities and differences, and which simultaneously seem to promote both inclusion and exclusion for certain immigrant minorities. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Social actors operate under a basic imperative to construct explanations for the events that surround them. Many issues that dominate the societal agenda today are not available to direct perception, derive from traditionally expert domains and are relatively remote from immediate local experience. This presents a challenge for lay explanation of these issues. Social representations theory offers a useful framework through which the construction of lay explanation for such issues can be examined. The current study recruited this theoretical framework to investigate lay explanations of the recent economic recession in Ireland. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews with 14 members of the public and a web-based survey (N = 138). The data suggested that explanations for the recession could be organised into three major themes: Power, Ordinary People and Fatalism. Strictly economic explanations were eschewed; instead, people drew upon a wide range of ideas about society, politics, morality, public spheres and personhood. The implications of these findings for understanding lay explanation of contemporary social crises are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The excessive and public consumption of alcohol with other men has been a traditional indication of manliness in Western cultures for many years. However, over the last two decades, this association has been eroded, in part through increased consumption by women. Within the gender-relational context of this increase, we empirically explore ways in which particular (friendship) groups of young men and women (re)construct masculine identities. The male participants demonstrated greater discursive flexibility in enacting their gender identities through alcohol consumption compared with earlier NZ research although also greater constraints on change compared with more recent UK research. A minority of men constructed themselves as atypical in that they did not like rugby, beer or consuming vast quantities of alcohol. These men were all in professional occupations, and we speculate that their social class and financial status may enable them to negotiate alternative demonstrations of masculinity. We conclude that these findings could be explicated through an examination of national gendered identities that arose out of a pioneer culture, and the commodification of gender identities through alcohol consumption. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Climate change is a major current affair for which recent United Nations climate conferences aim to build consensus and develop international solutions. The objective of this article is to compare, through the theoretical lens of social representations, the way in which French and German media, specifically newspapers, represent the Bali climate conference. We use the triangulation of data analysis to take both the pragmatic and the semantic aspects of media discourse into account. Results show that German media adopt both a local and a global vision of climate change and of the conference. Religious metaphors highlight a moral dimension of the conference, suggesting anchoring in human and political categories. In contrast, in French media, we identify that conflicts between countries render the stakes of climate change concrete by war metaphors. The French discourses examined are shown to be organised through the anchoring of political and financial categories. Results are discussed in relation to the history of green movements in the two countries and in relation to practical implications. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The ‘social inclusion’ of young people, particularly those who are ‘not in education, employment or training’, is a contemporary concern in policy discourses. However, it has been argued that the term ‘social inclusion’ is defined by adults and imposed on young people, and there is little understanding of what ‘social inclusion’ means to young people themselves. Using a participatory methodology, this study investigated what ‘being included’ meant to young people. A qualitative approach with a thematic analysis was used to explore the accounts of 11 participants and yielded three main themes. ‘“Acceptance”—the building blocks of inclusion' reflected the power of interpersonal acceptance in determining young people's sense of inclusion. ‘“Learning why I don't matter”—when power and discourse shape inclusion’ illustrated how social discourses and power dynamics influenced young people's experience of inclusion. ‘“Keeping up or falling behind”—internalising the discourse of inclusion’ reflected how young people internalised some of these societal definitions of inclusion and responded to them. Those who felt ‘accepted’ or ‘included’ in a ‘mainstream’ sense articulated a sense of agency and hope. For those who did not, it appeared that agency dissolved as did a sense of hope for the future. Although the participants negotiated their ‘inclusion’ through close, trusting relationships with others, the application of the societal discourses of inclusion such as productivity, independence and career mindedness had the potential to leave them feeling excluded, isolated and distressed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spiritual and religious capital are forms of the broader construct of social capital. The present study, using probability-based sampling methods, surveyed a national sample of African American adults to examine the relative contributions of spiritual and religious capital to their physical and emotional functioning. Analyses were conducted to determine if these constructs made a unique contribution above and beyond general social capital. African American men and women (N = 803) were interviewed by telephone. Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that, across the full sample, although social capital was a positive predictor of physical and emotional functioning (p < .05 and p < .001), neither religious nor spiritual capital made an additional contribution to these outcomes. However, the relationships among these variables differed for men and women. Among men, social capital predicted positive emotional functioning (p < .001) but not physical functioning; spiritual and religious capital made no additional contribution to either outcome variable. Among women, social capital predicted positive emotional functioning (p < .01) but not physical functioning. However, religious capital did make a significant additional contribution to the prediction of emotional functioning (ΔR², p < .01). Dividing the sample into different age groups did not produce any different findings from those found with the sample as a whole. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for church- and faith-based health promotion interventions aimed at health disparities reduction. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The study explored the roles of commitment, emotional stress, and interpersonal relationships in sustaining individuals' engagement in collective action. Two collective action cases, differing in duration, issue, and territorial rootedness, were analyzed. The processes underlying sustained engagement were probed in 32 semistructured interviews conducted with antiglobalization activists (N = 13) and opponents to a high-speed railroad (N = 19). Our findings showed that collective action can be stressful, but that there are proximal and distal factors that can counterbalance the disruption and sustain engagement. The proximal factors are embedded in the circumstances of involvement, and these factors concern interpersonal relationships, organizational mechanisms, and the psychological interface between the individuals and the concrete collective action environment. The distal factors are related partly to the individual and partly to the broader community from which the individual absorbs general values and norms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Participatory action research with young people (yPAR) involves youth and adults in a collaborative process of research, reflection, analysis and action. An important part of the research cycle is the identification of a problem definition. Yet, there is relatively little research addressing the process of how young people develop a problem definition on which to focus their analysis and intervention and what methods might exist to facilitate this process. This article draws upon a yPAR project with fifth-grade working-class young people, primarily young people of colour, to demonstrate how the Five Whys method for reflecting on lived experiences facilitated the development of problem definitions in line with second-order change. The Five Whys method, when used within a participatory framework, offers both a context and a structure for young people to critically examine social problems they identify and to seek out root causes. The article highlights changes in the participant's formulation of problems in the context of using the Five Whys method, from a primarily individual level of analysis to a more structural level of analysis. It also outlines the subsequent changes in proposed actions to address the identified problems. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

With the aim of addressing environmental concerns from an applied social psychological perspective, this study explores how regulations aimed at reducing industrial pollution contribute to short-term and long-term changes in social representations. The local river in a Valley characterised by strong interactions between industries and communities was the focus of concern. Three features of the representations were examined: images, emotional experiences and practices. The research followed a multi-method approach, using reports completed by 11-to 14-year-old school pupils and collected in three periods: 1974–1977; 1978–1980; 2007–2009. In the third time period, interviews and surveys were also collected. Textual data underwent lexicometric analyses and qualitative content analyses; quantitative data underwent descriptive and inferential analyses. Results show that effective regulations contributed to positive change in social representations of the river. After 30 years, however, tensions between elements of the representation are present. Images and emotional experiences of the river considerably improved, so much so that the river almost disappears from the focus of attention. Practices however are consistent with old representations of the water as noxious, indicating persistent concerns about potential pollution. Results suggest the desirability of continuing participatory engagement between citizens and local/environmental authorities, not only as new regulations are introduced but also after they have been enacted. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Two studies investigated the relative social acceptability of certain prejudices within a society (Study 1) and between societies (Study 2), using (less) internal motivation to control prejudice as an indicator of social acceptability. In Study 1, White British participants reported less internal motivation to control prejudice against people with schizophrenia than against Black people. In Study 2, Jamaican participants reported less internal motivation to control anti-homosexual prejudice than did either British participants or American participants. Other differences in motivation to control prejudice were smaller, absent, or at odds with this difference, indicating that differences in motivation to control anti-homosexual prejudice were not solely due to cultural differences concerning motivation to control prejudice in general. Results are discussed in terms of novel findings, relevance to the literature and possible future research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Data from an Australian community survey (n = 189) examining the predictors of prejudice against Muslim Australians were analysed. Using thematic analysis, we investigated the specific values our participants reported regarding their perceptions of Muslim Australians and Islam. We then investigated the relationship between prejudice against Muslim Australians, the most important value priorities given by our participants, and other prejudice-related variables. After entry into a regression analysis, the participants high in prejudice were found to be significantly more likely to have lower educational levels and more right-wing views. They were also significantly more likely to report high levels of national attitudes (i.e. stronger identification with Australian identity), concern about gender equality within the Muslim community, less concern about equality generally and report that Muslims were not conforming to Australian values. High prejudiced participants also scored higher in the reporting of negative media-related beliefs, were more likely to perceive higher support in the community for their views than was the case and were more negative towards Muslim men than Muslim women. The implications for anti-prejudice interventions are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The current study examines the inherent biases about sexual offending held by 123 laypersons and 120 professionals (i.e. probation officers and therapists). In order to determine the extent of these biases, a series of brief newspaper articles were constructed to depict cases of sexual offenders. Each article comprised several combinations of key variables, including offender type, level of admission, and the presence of alcohol. Participants read a series of three fabricated articles and then completed a questionnaire regarding attitudes about the various offenders. The results indicate important differences between the lay and professional samples. Laypersons deemed sex offenders more favourably in terms of character, accountability, and risk for sexual recidivism. However, both groups showed some similar perceptions about sexual offending. Specifically, both groups evaluated child molesters more negatively than exhibitionists and in some cases, rapists. These findings highlight the need for continuing education for professionals in order to attenuate the effects of prejudicial attitudes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The aim of this study was to explore the presence of resilience factors in families living in an informal settlement on the outskirts of a rural town that have lost their homes in a shack fire. A mixed methods research design was utilised. Qualitative data were obtained through responses to an open-ended question, and quantitative data were obtained through the completion of questionnaires by an adult representative of each of the 38 African families that were identified through convenience sampling. To identify resilience factors, content analyses (on the qualitative data) were performed and Spearman correlations (for the quantitative data) were calculated. The results show that supportive communication, a sense of being in control and having internal strengths and dependability, while working together as a family, are vital to the resilience of the families that took part in this study. Furthermore, material support from the municipality and extended family, shelter provided by members of the extended family, and financial support from the extended family were also indicated as essential in overcoming the crisis and being resilient. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper recommends that the study of the case be seen as of primary analytic concern to social and community psychologists. Criticism is made of the idea that a case is merely an instance or a methodological option. Instead, we argue that psychologists should re-direct their attention to the ‘study of the case’ as being central to issues concerning social life. There are three reasons for doing this. First, case study is basic to any procedure that involves collecting information about the context in which psychology is practised. Second, communication between professionals involves presenting the situation of their clients as storied accounts, so that cases are made, not found. Third, the communication of experience involves presentational work, which is basic to how individuals come to be understood as ‘cases’. The paper explores differences between these different forms of case, while emphasising portrayal as a key feature of all of them. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study examined the role of value patterns of potential migrants from Russia to Finland (N = 229) in predicting expectations of post-migration socio-cultural adaptation. Furthermore, the fit between migrants' personal values and the values they expect to encounter in the new home country (i.e. perceived value congruence) was hypothesized to predict anticipated socio-cultural adaptation (ASCA). The study took into account perceived cultural distance variables as well as socio-demographic controls traditionally related to adaptation outcomes among migrants. According to the results, familiarity with the host country (i.e., the number of Finnish friends/relatives in Finland), the openness to change value and perceived value congruence significantly predicted potential migrants' ASCA. When using four sub-scales (interpersonal relations, cognitive understanding, impersonal perils and bureaucracy) of the ASCA-scale, a more complex picture emerged. The results suggest that future work should include values, particularly perceived value congruence, in the analysis of the cultural fit hypothesis, as well as find better means of supporting immigrant adjustment starting at the pre-migration stage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cultural threat has emerged as a consistent predictor of anti-immigrant and anti-minority attitudes across many different national contexts. We examine this issue in the context of Northern Ireland using representative survey data, suggesting that Protestant and unionist communities experience a higher level of cultural threat than Catholic and nationalist communities on account of the ‘parity of esteem’ principle that has informed changes in the province since the Belfast Agreement of 1998. Our analyses confirm that, although there is evidence for some level of anti-immigrant sentiment across all groups, Protestants and unionists do indeed report relatively more negative attitudes towards a range of immigrant and ethnic target groups compared with Catholics, nationalists or respondents who do not identify with any political category. The analyses further suggest that their higher level of perceived cultural threat partially accounts for this difference. We argue that cultural threat can be interpreted as a response to changes in Northern Ireland that have challenged the dominant status enjoyed by Protestants and unionists in the past. More generally, we argue that a politicised characterisation of cultural threat needs to be elaborated through future work. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We conducted a field study to investigate the secondary transfer effect of intergroup contact, consisting in the generalisation of the positive effects of intergroup contact to outgroups uninvolved in the contact situation. Italian secondary school students (N = 175) filled out a questionnaire; the effects of prior contact were statistically controlled. Results showed that contact with immigrants improved attitudes toward them. In turn, these attitudes generalised to attitudes toward two dissimilar outgroups not directly involved in contact: disabled and homosexuals. Notably, we found evidence for a secondary transfer effect of intergroup anxiety and perspective taking, which generalised from immigrants to the disabled and homosexuals. Evidence was found for the mediating role of intergroup attitudes, intergroup anxiety and perspective taking. The theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

To explain the interrelated effects of material and psychosocial inequalities, we suggest a move beyond research focused on deprived communities to include their broader social situation. Bourdieu's theory of practice explains how social and material disadvantages are interconnected, and struggles for power are enacted in everyday practice. In this paper, we draw on data from a qualitative study of two neighbourhoods to provide examples of everyday practice as people work to perpetuate or overcome inequalities in one field: education of their children. These examples show that those with more resources are actively working to retain and improve their children's social advantage, which rests on the disadvantage of others. In conclusion, we suggest that many current interventions to improve material and social conditions within disadvantaged communities ignore the damaging effects of social inequalities between social groups. Work towards understanding the nature of power struggles in daily life and the everyday actions of the privileged will help us understand and address the damaging effects of inequalities. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The present paper argues for a discourse analytic approach to social psychological peace research and demonstrates the potential of such an approach through a re-specification of the concept of attitudes to war. This is illustrated through an analysis of a series of televised debates broadcast in the UK in February–March 2003 in the build-up to the formal outbreak of the Iraq War. Analysis draws attention to the importance of rhetorical context and function, the inseparability of attitude object and evaluation and the formulation of evaluations as specific or general. Findings are discussed in the context of recent calls for methodological pluralism in social psychological peace research with a suggestion that matters of epistemology stand prior to methodology. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article examines the discursive construction of the 1978–1979 social movement that ultimately became the Iranian Revolution, as constructed through the discourse of the charismatic leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This article illustrates that Khomeini was able to strategically co-opt the Shiite symbolism of the Battle of Karbala to bring together the most unlikely of bedfellows to unite in one common opposition movement. We first provide a summary of the socio-political events that contextualised Khomeini's discourse and then examine two commemorative declarations given by Khomeini in the key months before the overthrow of the Pahlavi regime. We will illustrate, via a discourse-historical analysis, that the two primary narratives prominent in Khomeini's discourse are as follows: (i) the continuation of the Battle of Karbala and (ii) the idea of a foreign conspiracy and a dangerous foreign other. We will also describe various discursive strategies that rendered Khomeini's discourse purposefully vague enough to appeal to Iran's fragmented opposition. Although the conspiratorial appeal of Khomeini's speeches has been discussed in the literature, we seek to show that it is the co-opting of a national myth in an all-encompassing language that drives the mass appeal of the discourse. The methods described in this study can be utilised by social and community psychologists seeking to understand how political actors discursively construct history in such a way as to serve their political ends. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.