Transcript Lorem Ipsum - University of Miami

Well-Being, Justice and Power in the
Lives of Immigrants
Isaac Prilleltensky
University of Miami
[email protected]
http://www.education.miami.edu/isaac
Migrants Today
 100 million of international migrants
 First quarter of 2005: 81,900 asylum applications
to UNHCR
 Dominant movement of asylum seekers is from
eastern Europe and former Soviet Union into
Western Europe and North America
 “The social injustice experienced by civilians who
eventually become refugees, internally displaced
person….has often had a direct impact on their
health status” (Michael Toole, 2006, p. 190).
The Social Ecology of Well Being
Stokols’ view
 “The healthfulness of a situation and the well-being
of its participants are assumed to be influenced by
multiple facets of both the physical environment
(e.g., geography, architecture, and technology) and
the social environment (e.g., culture, economics, and
politics). Moreover, the health status of individuals
and groups is influenced not only by environmental
factors but also by a variety of personal attributes,
including genetic heritage, psychological
dispositions, and behavioral patterns.”
Stokols continues…..
 “Thus, efforts to promote human well-being should
be based on an understanding of the dynamic
interplay among diverse environmental and
personal factors rather than on analyses that
focus exclusively on environmental, biological,
or behavioral factors. (Stokols, 2000, p. 27)”
Seligman’s Authentic Happiness (2002,
pp. 61)
 “If you want to lastingly raise your level of
happiness by changing the external
circumstances of your life, you should do the
following:





Live in a wealthy democracy, not in an
impoverished dictatorship
Get married
Avoid negative events and negative emotion
Acquire a rich social network
Get religion”
Seligman’s Authentic Happiness (2002,
pp. 61)
 “As far as happiness and life satisfaction are
concerned, however, you needn’t bother to do
the following




Make more money
Stay healthy
Get as much education as possible (no effect)
Change your race or move to a sunnier climate (no
effect)”
Seligman concludes….
 “Even if you could alter all of these external
circumstances, it would not do much for you,
since together they probably account for no more
than between 8 and 15 percent of the variance in
happiness” (Authentic Happiness, 2002, p. 61).
 Really?
Is happiness really an inherited
phenomenon? Lykken and Tellegen (1996, Psychological Science).
 In the Minnesota twins study, authors report,
 “Neither socioeconomic status, educational
attainment, family income, marital status, not an
indicant of religious commitment could account
for more than about 3% of the variance in WB” (in
monozygotic twins)
 “We estimate that the heritability of the stable
component of subjective well-being approaches
80%”
 Let’s examine opposing evidence…….
Change in life satisfaction over the years
(Inglehart, 2004)
Russia’s happiness and satisfaction
plunges
Place Matters
Place and class in infant mortality
Income Matters for Well-Being
Wealth matters for life expectancy
Income is not everything though
Education Matters
Relative deprivation matters in Sweden
Relative deprivation matters in UK
Inequality and male mortality
Sweden and Japan
78
Canada and France
77
76
UK
75
USA
74
73
72
GINI 24.5
GINI 31.5
GINI 35.5
GINI 40
Chinese happiness and democracy
Lessons for Well-Being
 Subjective well-being goes up and down
depending on social circumstances (Russia,
Belgium, Switzerland)
 It is highly unlikely that gene pool of
countries varies in a few years
 Absolute poverty predicts low levels of physical
and mental well-being, within and across
countries (Kleinman, Eisenberg, etc.)
Lessons for Well-Being
 Absolute poverty predicts low levels of physical
and mental well-being, within and across
countries (Kleinman, Eisenberg, etc.)
 Relative deprivation predicts social gradient in
physical and mental well-being within countries
(Marmot, Wilkinson)
 Freedom is important in subjective well-being, but
there are exceptions like China
 Wealth does not necessarily lead to a happy or
meaningful life (Adams, Cushman, Sloan, Ryan)
What is Well-Being?
 Well-being is a positive state of affairs in
individuals, relationships, organizations,
communities, and the natural environment,
brought about by the simultaneous and balanced
satisfaction of material and psychological needs;
and by the behavioral manifestation of material
and psychological justice in these five ecological
domains.
Well-Being in the Lives of
Migrants: Protective Factors
Psychological preparation
Physical health
Migration by choice
Friendships
Language knowledge
Child care
Adequate housing
Cohesion and support
Access to health care
Language preparation
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Good parenting
Mutual Support
Good mental health
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Environmental
health
Employment
Justice
Safety nets
Multiculturalism
Quality education
Well-Being in the Lives of
Migrants: Risk Factors
Loss and grief
Guilt and shame
Status inconsistency
Life change events
Homesickness
PTSD
Acculturation stress
Loss of social network
Marginality
Bigotry
Iatrogenic morbidity
Role strain
Unemployment and
Underemployment
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Values, Resources
Programs, Policies
Absence of family
Family expectations
Marital conflict
Isolation
Intergenerational
conflict
Poverty
Toxins
Air quality
Forced migration
Injustice
Exclusion
Discrimination
Ecological, Material, Psychological,
Axiological Model of Well-Being
Sites of Well-Being
Individual
Relational
Organizational
Communal
Environmental
Material/
physical
signs
health
networks
resources
social
capital
low
emissions
Psycholo
gical
signs
efficacy voice
support
belonging
safety
Values as
source
and
strategy
autonomy
participation
Justice
as source
and
strategy
My due Your
due
diversity protection
of
resources
Their
Nature’s
due
due
caring
Its due
Model of Migrant Well-Being:
Some positive and negative factors
Sites of Well-Being
Individual
Relational
Organizational
Communal
Environmental
Material/
physical
signs
+health
- illness
+networks
-isolation
+resources
- lack of
resources
-social capital
-lack of trust
+clean air
-pollution
Psycholo
gical
signs
+efficacy
-lack of
control
+voice
-repression
+support
-isolation
+belonging
-rejection
+safety
-fear
Values as
source
and
strategy
+autonomy
-lack of
power
+caring
-neglect
+participation
-marginality
+diversity
-discrimination
+protection of
resources
-depletion of
resources
Your due
Its due
Their due
Nature’s due
Justice
My due
as source
and
strategy
Martha Nussbaum
“ In this increasingly
interdependent world, we need
to consider issues of justice
raised by inequalities between
rich and poor nations that affect
the life chances of their
citizens” (2006, p. 18)
The issue involves a “serious
asymmetry of power and
capacity” between one national
group and “some dominant
group” (2006, p. 22)
What Is Justice?
 General well-being depends on justice
 Migrant well-being depends on justice
 Individual, relational, organizational, communal
and environmental well-being depend on justice
 An understanding of justice is crucial
 Dominant definition of justice is

To Each According to His or Her Due
Sedgwick’s definition in 1922

Cardinal question of justice is whether there
are
 “any clear principles from which we may
work out an ideally just distribution of rights
and privileges, burdens and pains, among
human beings as such” (p. 274).
Miller’s 1999 condensed version
 To each his or her due
 Isaac’s four questions




First Question: Who Or What Is Each?
Second Question: How Do We Decide What Is
Due A Person, Family, Or Group?
Third Question: Who or What is Responsible
for Distributing Resources and Obligations?
Fourth Question: How Do We Decide what is
Due From a Person, Family, Group, or
Institution?
First Question: Who Or What Is Each?
 Dominant ideology
 Individual
 Alternative ideology
 Individual
 Family
 Community
 Government
 Environment
 Animals
Second Question: How Do We Decide What Is Due A
Person, Family, Or Group?
 Dominant ideology
 Alternative ideology
 Ability
 Ability
 Effort
 Effort
 Needs
 Rights
 Opportunities
 Power
Third Question: Who or What is Responsible for
Distributing Resources and Obligations?
 Dominant ideology
 Alternative ideology
 Individual
 Individual
employer,
 Government, with
little popular
participation, and
great influence
from power
players
 Family
 Community
 Participatory
mechanisms to
influence
government
Fourth Question: How Do We Decide what is Due
From a Person, Family, Group, or Institution?
 Dominant ideology
Needs
 Ability
 Charity

 Alternative ideology
needs,
 ability,
 obligation,
 duties,
 opportunity and
 privilege.

Revised Definition
 To each (individual, family, community,
government, animals and environment)
according to their needs, ability, effort,
opportunities, rights and power, and
 From each (individual, family, community, or
government) according to their needs, ability,
obligation, duties, opportunity and privilege.
The role of context
 context should determine what criterion or
criteria must be preferred in each case
 In social conditions of inequality, we must
accord preference to needs over ability
 Under conditions of relative equality, where
the gap between classes is not very
pronounced, it is possible to favor effort
over needs.
Context of Plenty of Opportunities
 In a context of plenty of opportunities for
everyone, it is possible that ability and effort
will be the preferred choice.
Justice Out of Context
 Societies aspiring to justice must seek equilibrium
among all criteria
 When context of inequality calls for need and
equality, but culture favors effort, it’s because
privileged groups benefit.
 As a result, group interests that influence the
choice of allocation pattern often disregard the
context-specific situation.
Well-Being  Justice
Well-Being is
enhanced by
Justice is enhanced, and contributes to
well-being, by the power, capacity, and
opportunity to
Self-determination Experience voice and choice, participate
in decision making
Caring and
compassion
Experience nurturing relationships free of
abuse
Equality and
freedom
Benefit from fair and equitable
distribution of resources and burdens
Experiences of Poor Migrants:
Injustice Leads to Suffering
 Material deprivation
 Exclusion
 Insecurity
 Humiliation
 Sickness
 Helplessness
 Powerlessness
The Role of Power in Justice and WellBeing
 Power is an essential component of justice and
well-being
 Power is an essential component of the context in
immigrants’ lives



Experiences of powerlessness
Experiences of exclusion and marginalization
Experiences of economic insecurity
 Power should be taken into account when
analyzing and partnering with immigrants to
promote their well-being
The Concept of Psychopolitical Validity
can help to incorporate power in practice
 Psychopolitical validity derives from the
consideration of power dynamics in psychological
and political domains of health.
 The main objective of psychopolitical validity is to
infuse in community psychology an awareness of
the role of power in wellness, oppression, and
liberation at the personal, relational, and
collective domains.
Psychopolitical validity
 In order to attain psychopolitical validity,
investigations and interventions would have to
meet certain criteria. These criteria have to do
with the extent to which research and action
incorporate lessons about psychological and
political power.
Psychopolitical Validity I: Epistemic
 This type of validity is achieved by the systematic
account of the role of power in political and
psychological dynamics affecting phenomena of
interest
 Such account needs to consider the role of power
in the psychology and politics of wellness,
oppression and liberation, at the personal,
relational, and collective domains.
Table 1
Guidelines for Epistemic Psychopolitical Validity in
Community Psychology
Concerns
Domains
Collective
Relational
Personal
Wellness
Accounts for role of political and
economic power in economic
prosperity and in creation of
institutions that promote equality and
public health
Studies the role of power in creating
and sustaining egalitarian
relationships, social cohesion, social
support, respect for diversity and
democratic participation in
communities, groups, and families
Studies role of psychological
and political power in
achieving self-determination,
empowerment, health,
personal growth, meaning and
spirituality
Oppression
Explores role of globalization,
colonization and exploitation in illness
and suffering of nations and
communities
Examines the role of political and
psychological power in exclusion and
discrimination based on class, gender,
age, race, education and ability.
Studies conditions leading to lack of
support, horizontal violence and
fragmentation within oppressed groups
Studies role of powerlessness
in learned helplessness,
hopelessness, selfdeprecation, internalized
oppression, shame, physical
and mental health problems
and addictions
Liberation
Deconstructs ideological norms that
lead to acquiescence and studies
effective psychopolitical factors in
resistance to norms that cause illness
Studies acts of solidarity and
compassion with others who suffer
from oppression and illness
Examines sources of health,
strength, resilience, solidarity
and development of activism
and leadership
Psychopolitical Validity II:
Transformational
 Transformational validity derives from the
potential of our actions to promote personal,
relational, and collective wellness by reducing
power inequalities and increasing political action
Table 2
Guidelines for Transformational Psychopolitical Validity
Concerns
Domains
Collective
Relational
Personal
Well-being
Contributes to institutions that
support health, emancipation,
human development, peace,
protection of environment, and
social justice
Contributes to power equalization
in relationships and communities.
Enriches awareness of subjective
and psychological forces
preventing solidarity. Builds trust,
connection and participation in
groups that support social
cohesion, health and social justice
Supports personal empowerment,
health, sociopolitical development,
leadership training and solidarity.
Contributes to personal and social
responsibility and awareness of
subjective forces preventing
commitment to justice and personal
depowerment when in position of
privilege
Oppression
Opposes economic colonialism
and denial of cultural rights.
Decries and resists role of own
reference group or nation in
oppression of others and
deterioration of health in other
groups
Contributes to struggle against ingroup and out-group domination
and discrimination, sexism and
norms of violence. Builds
awareness of own prejudice and
participation in horizontal violence
Helps to prevent acting out of own
oppression on others. Builds
awareness of internalized oppression
and role of dominant ideology in
victim-blaming. Contributes to
personal depowerment of people in
position of privilege
Liberation
Supports networks of resistance
and social change movements that
pursue health and wellness.
Contributes to structural
depowerment of privileged people
Supports resistance against
objectification of others. Develops
processes of mutual
accountability
Helps to resists complacency and
collusion with exploitative and illness
producing system. Contributes to
struggle to recover personal health
and political identity
There are many ways to advance the
transformative impulse
 Creating awareness among colleagues about
how power differentials get enacted in
interactions with immigrants seeking health
related advice
 Forming research and action groups in the
workplace to explore how practices may be more
empowering of immigrants
There are many ways to advance the
transformative impulse
 Increasing political literacy of immigrants to
empower them to scrutinize the practices of
health and helping professionals
 Establishing practices that enable participation of
immigrants in management of human services
Promoting Migrant Well-Being:
From DRAIN to SPEC
From
 Deficits-based
 Reactive
 Arrogance
 Individual blame
To
 Strengths-based
 Primary Prevention
 Empowerment
 Community Change
Strategies: Time and Place
Collective
X
Reactive
Proactive
Individual
9/7/1854…Removing the Handle
Big wake up call!!!
 No mass disorder, afflicting humankind, has ever
been eliminated, or brought under control, by
treating the affected individual
 HIV/AIDS, poverty, child abuse, powerlessness
are not eliminated one person at a time.
It’s like Venice…..
Venice’s Lesson
 “The psychotherapist, social worker or social
reformer, concerned only with his own clients and
their grievance against society, perhaps takes a
view comparable to the private citizen of Venice
who concerns himself only with the safety of his
own dwelling and his own ability to get about the
city. But if the entire republic is slowly being
submerged, individual citizens cannot afford to
ignore their collective fate, because, in the end,
they all drown together if nothing is done”
(Badcock, 1982)
Strategies: Time and Place
Collective
Quadrant IV
Examples:
Food banks, shelters for
homeless people, charities,
prison industrial complex
Quadrant I
Examples:
Community development, inclusive
policies, multiculturalism, high
quality schools and health services
for migrants
Reactive
Proactive
Quadrant II
Examples:
Skill building, emotional literacy,
language programs, fitness
programs, personal improvement
plans, work through identity issues
Quadrant III
Examples:
Crisis work, therapy,
medications, symptom
containment, case
management
Individual
Strategies: Abilities and Participation
Strengths
X
Detachment
Empowerment
Deficits
The
Grameen
Bank
Strategies: Ability and Participation
Strength
Quadrant I
Examples:
Voice and choice in celebrating
and building competencies,
recognition of personal and
collective resilience of migrants
Quadrant IV
Examples:
Just say no! You can do it!
Cheerleading approaches, Make
nice approaches
Detachment
Empowerment
Quadrant III
Quadrant II
Examples:
Labeling and diagnosis,
“patienthood” and clienthood,”
citizens in passive role
Examples:
Voice and choice in deficit
reduction approaches,
participation in decisions how to
treat affective disorders or
physical disorders
Deficit
Nussbaum’s Principles for the Global
Structure
 Nations have responsibility to their citizens
 National sovereignty should be respected, within
the constraints of promoting human capabilities
 Prosperous nations have a responsibility to give a
substantial portion of their GDPs to poorer
nations
 Multinational corporations have responsibilities for
promoting human capabilities in the regions in
which they operate
Nussbaum’s Principles for the Global
Structure
 The main structures of the global economic order
must be designed to be fair to poor and
developing countries
 We should cultivate a forceful global sphere
 All institutions and most individuals should focus
on the problems of the disadvantaged in each
nation and region
 Care for the ill, the elderly, children, and the
disabled should be a prominent focus of the world
community
Nussbaum’s Principles for the Global
Structure
 The family should be
treated as a sphere that is
precious but not private
 All institutions and
individuals have a
responsibility to support
education, as key to the
empowerment of currently
disadvantaged people.