Mark Burton | Independent Scholar (original) (raw)

Papers by Mark Burton

The Routledge International Handbook of Community Psychology , 2022

Abstract We explore a number of ways in which community psychology can become more attuned to pol... more Abstract
We explore a number of ways in which community psychology can become more attuned to political economy. First we identify the paradigmatic connections between mainstream economics and psychology. Then we explore political economy as the context for practising community psychology, with emphasis on the ways the economic system and its power relations structures the lives of people in their communities. We examine potential cross fertilisations between political economy and community psychology and then give examples from our own work of community psychological practice within the counter-hegemonic economic practice and movements. The examples are Community Wealth Building, Degrowth, and Psychologists organising against austerity policies in the UK movement, Psychologists Against Austerity/Psychologists for Social Change. We conclude that community psychologists can do more to integrate a political-economic dimension into their work.

Resumen
Exploramos varias maneras para que la psicología comunitaria pudiera sintonizar más con la economía política. Primero identificamos las conexiones paradigmáticas entre la disciplina económica dominante y la psicología. Luego exploramos la economía política como el contexto para la práctica de la psicología comunitaria, con énfasis en las formas en que el sistema económico y sus relaciones de poder estructuran la vida cotidiana de las personas en sus comunidades. Examinamos potenciales fertilizaciones cruzadas entre la economía política y la psicología comunitaria y luego ofrecemos ejemplos desde nuestro propio trabajo de la práctica psicológica comunitaria dentro de la práctica y los movimientos económicos contrahegemónicos. Los ejemplos son la Construcción Comunitaria de la Riqueza, el decrecimiento y los psicólogos que se organizan contra las políticas de austeridad en el movimiento del Reino Unido, Psychologists Against Austerity/Psychologists for Social Change (Psicólogos Contra la Austeridad / Psicólogos para el Cambio Social). Concluimos que los psicólogos comunitarios pueden hacer más para colocar e integrar una dimensión político-económica en su trabajo.

Renewal, 2019

The British Labour Party has been the site of a resurgence of radicalism in the context of the ec... more The British Labour Party has been the site of a resurgence of radicalism in the context of the economic, social and political crisis post the 2007-8 Great Financial Crash. With the collapse of neoliberalism's authority (manifested in the Labour party leadership in the two stage shift to the left via Miliband to Corbyn), a space has opened for ideology, theory and policy that seeks to offer an alternative. This space has been rather dominated by a post-Keynesian orthodoxy, that seeks to manage capitalism better, and in the interests of the many-sometimes with an acknowledgement to the urgency of confronting the ecological and climate crisis that threatens to render any economic and social system unviable. However, there are other ideas emerging and here I will draw together some threads that suggest a potential opening to ideas associated with the growing degrowth movement, an alliance of scholars and activists that links social, economic and ecological justice through a critique of the dominant economic and social models of advanced capitalism. An alternative socialist tradition.

New Left Review, 2019

A response to Robert Pollin's article in NLR 112 that criticised degrowth and promoted green grow... more A response to Robert Pollin's article in NLR 112 that criticised degrowth and promoted green growth. We review Pollin's claims and, without suggesting that degrowth is an easy path to follow, argue that only with a significant contraction in the material scale of the global economy can climate catastrophe be averted.

Traducción del artículo: Traducción del artículo: We need to end growth dependency, but how? M... more Traducción del artículo:
Traducción del artículo: We need to end growth dependency, but how? Monetary reform would at best a minor contribution to the task.

Revo Prosperidad Sostenible , 2018

Traducción del artículo: "We need to end growth dependency, but how? Monetary reform would make ... more Traducción del artículo:
"We need to end growth dependency, but how? Monetary reform would make at best a minor contribution to the task."

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs) were produced in 2015 to end poverty, protect... more The Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs) were produced in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Eight of the 17 SDGs address social dimensions of sustainable development, although there are interrelationships between these and environmental, economic and process dimensions. Despite this emphasis on social aspects of sustainable development, sustainability science often neglects social science perspectives. In this paper this neglect will be confronted, and the value of both theoretical and empirical critical social sciences to sustainability science will be explored. With reference to an action research project, it will be argued that the framework of ideology– action–structure complexes is a useful one that can help illuminate the social conditions in which strides to achieving sustainability goals are taken. Some core characteristics of a future sustainability social science will be outlined.

The former industrial towns of the global North have already seen capitalism peak locally. Global... more The former industrial towns of the global North have already seen capitalism peak locally. Globally we may be living through a similar peaking as the system exhausts both its options to fix its internal contradictions, and more critically, the capacity of the planetary systems that sustain it. This essay begins with the first sense of peak capitalism and moves on to the second. Strategies, mainstream and alternative for economic and social restoration, are criticised the context of the relentless expansion of global capitalism that, having created these places in conjunction with colonial pillage, has now moved on. It is suggested that the reform strategies, whether proposed by mainstream or critically inclined bodies and campaigners, is inadequate to scale of the challenge posed by footloose capital. Moreover, such strategies, insofar as they require growth in the material scale of the economy, are ecologically illiterate and will both hasten and be rendered powerless by the coming resource and climate crisis and catastrophe. Given this picture, the counsel of the degrowth and similar movements, North and South, to live better with less, makes sense, as practice and as policy. Given that a global economic and social collapse will happen, the only policy and practice approaches that make sense today are those that provide scalable resources that will aid (but not guarantee) communities to make a livelihood under turbulent and harsh conditions. Helpful guidance can be found from permacultural thinking on materially and socially retrofitting urban and suburban human settlements.

The Psychologist, Nov 2013

I am part of a small collective that is promoting an alternative socioeconomic approach to the so... more I am part of a small collective that is promoting an alternative socioeconomic approach to the society-economy-environment nexus in "post-industrial" Greater Manchester, England. I will describe the approach we have taken which is to promote alternative thinking via publication, networking, and working in alliances with actors from a variety of sectors. I will reflect on what we have learned from our successes and failures, emphasising the importance of identifying issues that both engage people and are open to a degrowth orientation (e.g. income and wealth distribution, finance and investment, alternative exchange systems, sustainable and affordable food), and the value of framing the degrowth alternative positively, both in its concepts (the Viable Economy) and its goals (e.g. economic and social security). The ecological concept of edges and ideas from critical community psychology (my own academic discipline) will inform the contribution.

Conventional economics shares a number of characteristics with mainstream psychology: individuali... more Conventional economics shares a number of characteristics with mainstream psychology: individualism, acontextualism, and both social and ecological irrelevance. Community psychology has been one response to the shortcomings of mainstream psychology, but has not typically engaged with criticisms of the conventional economics with which it shares assumptions, nor with the economic dimension of community. I reflect on experience promoting alternatives to the dominant economic growth / global competitiveness policy paradigm in the region of Manchester, England, and on the community psychological nature of this project. Community psychology can help articulate an alternative set of values and provide conceptual and practical tools for counter-hegemonic social movements, but the path from community psychology praxis to social movement praxis is not obvious.

Pre-publication draft of chapter in S Degirmencioglu and C Walker (Eds.) The Personal Debt Industry: International Perspectives., Aug 2015

A brief introduction to the work of Enrique Dussel for the Global Social Theory website.

n this article we seek to reflect critically on some recent research we have carried out, in coll... more n this article we seek to reflect critically on some recent research we have carried out, in collaboration with a Chinese welfare NGO, on the experience of forced labor among Chinese migrant workers in the UK. We will (a) locate briefly the wider political context of migrant work (both regular and irregular) in the UK; (b) explore how and why the actual research methods and process of the research deviated in practice from those that were planned; and (c) show the extent to which aspects of the research process reflected a liberation psychology perspective.

pre-publication draft of chapter in Handbook of Community Psychology, 2016.

The work of Argentinian-Mexican philosopher Enrique Dussel is presented in outline, focusing on h... more The work of Argentinian-Mexican philosopher Enrique Dussel is presented in outline, focusing on his intellectual history as a thinker from the global periphery. We explore his reconstruction of the history of modernity and critique of Eurocentrism, his reconstruction of the later Marx, his concepts of analectics and trans-modernity, and his ethical framework. Finally we consider his relevance for psychology in the context of the debate over modernism, indicating some features of a Dusselian, transmodern psychology.

Over the last 30 years we have developed an approach to "Critical Community Psychology", that aim... more Over the last 30 years we have
developed an approach to "Critical
Community Psychology", that aims to
be locally focussed but globally aware.
Characteristics that distinguish it from
other approaches in community and
critical psychology include 1) the
concept of prefigurative action, which
relates work with local projects and
initiatives to a wider project of principled
social change, 2) an understanding of
community that reflects its contested
nature and lived diversity, 3) a priority
for working with those most oppressed
or excluded by dominant power
systems, 4) ecological and systems
thinking which includes our own
distinctive use of boundary, edge and
the ethic of stewardship, 5) use of a
wide repertoire of methods and theories
adequate to the variety of problem
contexts community psychologists can
encounter. We also offer critical
reflections on our approach.

Annual Review of Critical …, Jan 1, 2000

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2005

The Routledge International Handbook of Community Psychology , 2022

Renewal, 2019

New Left Review, 2019

Revo Prosperidad Sostenible , 2018

The Psychologist, Nov 2013

Pre-publication draft of chapter in S Degirmencioglu and C Walker (Eds.) The Personal Debt Industry: International Perspectives., Aug 2015

A brief introduction to the work of Enrique Dussel for the Global Social Theory website.

pre-publication draft of chapter in Handbook of Community Psychology, 2016.

Annual Review of Critical …, Jan 1, 2000

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 2005

Book - A Viable Future?, 2021

Nine years ago we formed Steady State Manchester. Since then we have produced many articles, pam... more Nine years ago we formed Steady State Manchester. Since then we have produced many articles, pamphlets, reports and blog posts, exploring the post-growth alternative, practically and conceptually. Nine years on, degrowth has become more widely known about and discussed. It has yet to achieve hegemony but those who make reasoned arguments for the feasibility of continued economic expansion on a finite planet are increasingly embattled.
The body of work that we have produced has, as its main focus, the implications of a post-growth approach to economy and society at the meso-scale, that of the city region, or better, the bio or eco-region. What would it mean to adopt that approach and how feasible would it be, given that we are still inextricably linked with a global economic super-system? There is no simple answer and we have explored a number of dimensions to this question. Sometimes our work has extended beyond that meso-level, to more fundamental questions: Can growth be decoupled from environmental destruction? What is the role of money and could reforming it be part of the needed policy-mix? What social safety net is required in a shrinking economy and what policy instruments might help equitably constrain the expanding material economy?
Our small group has become established as a serious voice in our city region and we have made many international contacts. Our work has been syndicated by other websites and media resources. Some of it has been presented at conferences and events nationally and internationally and some has appeared in book chapters, journal articles and publications of other campaigning organisations. However, it remains scattered. We therefore thought that it would be worth bringing together a selection of our work, as a resource for the wider movements in degrowth, post-growth, climate activism, ecological economics, political economy, community psychology, urban studies, social and public policy, and political activism more generally.
The book is divided into twelve sections. Each has an introduction to its chapters, contextualising and, where necessary, bringing the topic up to date. The book finishes with a postscript, rhetorically asking if there is a Viable Future. It also considers our impact as a group, questions of scale and issues that got insufficient attention in the previous selections.

Book: A Viable Future? (epub version), 2021

To be published October, 2019

Interest in community psychology, and its potential has grown in parallel with changes in welfare... more Interest in community psychology, and its potential has grown in parallel with changes in welfare and governmental priorities. Critical Community Psychology provide students of different community based professions, working in a range of applied settings, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with a text which will underpin their community psychological work.

Key Features:

Clear learning objectives and chapter contents outlined at the start of each chapter
Key terms highlighted with definitions, either as marginal notes or in chapter glossaries
Case examples of community psychology in action
Each chapter ends with a critical assessment section
Discussion points and ideas for exercises that can be undertaken by the reader, in order to extend critical understanding
Lists of further resources -- e.g. reading, film, electronic
Authors are members of the largest community psychology departmental team in Europe
Interest in community psychology, and its potential has grown in parallel with changes in welfare and governmental priorities. Critical Community Psychology provide students of different community based professions, working in a range of applied settings, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with a text which will underpin their community psychological work.

Key Features:

Provides an account of the ways in which agencies across health and social services can work beyo... more Provides an account of the ways in which agencies across health and social services can work beyond traditional boundaries to provide effective services for people with learning difficulties. This text is written by the practitioners who have developed, implemented and managed this service - it contains guidance on how such a position can be achieved to the benefit of all involved.

This text brings together a community psychology approach to combatting the marginalisation of in... more This text brings together a community psychology approach to combatting the marginalisation of intellectually disabled people with a broad based analysis of social competence and methods for increasing it. We link the ideas of social integration and the responsibilitiesof the community to include all its members with social competence at an individual level through our concept of social capability.

Staeady State Manchester blog, 2019

uncommontater blog, 2018

This piece is intended as a guide to what’s gone wrong with Venezuela’s “Bolivarian process”. Th... more This piece is intended as a guide to what’s gone wrong with Venezuela’s “Bolivarian process”. That process, associated with the leadership of the late Hugo Chávez Frias, has divided opinion, not just in Venezuela but also beyond. Too often commentary has fallen into one of two camps, either uncritical support for what appeared to offer hope to progressives and leftists, that a democratic process could lead to a just transformation, or opposition to what is seen as the imposition of a near dictatorship with economic, civil and political freedoms severely curtailed. The truth is more complex and I will try to cut through the ideological polarisation, to explore what has happened, and indeed what has gone wrong.

http://uncommontater.net, Jan 2016

The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party, and the appointment of John McDon... more The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the UK Labour Party, and the appointment of John McDonnell as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance spokesperson), signals a refreshing break from the politics of austerity and the economically illiterate notion of running a permanent government surplus. At last we are seeing Labour openly recognise that a government can borrow at advantageous rates and can, where necessary and appropriate, create money. While the new leadership is widely portrayed as of the “far left”, the new approach is economically broadly neo-Keynesian rather than Marxist. Far from overthrowing capitalism, it recognises that the State needs to intervene in the capitalist economy, both to regulate it and to moderate the cycle of boom and bust (and provide protection to those who would otherwise be vulnerable). Much of the inspiration seems to come from a small group of thinkers who could be called post-Keynesian, some of them associated with the Green New Deal Group, Indeed, with Corbyn’s generally high commitment to the environmenti, we might see Corbynomics as Green Keynesianism.
This article discusses some of the problems with this approach and suggests an alternative approach.

Now, however, new research has been published that does seem to provide evidence for absolute dec... more Now, however, new research has been published that does seem to provide evidence for absolute decoupling, in some national economies, even when outsourced emissions are included (i.e. using consumption or total emissions rather than territorial emissions).
In this post, I will review the strength of that evidence, and consider what it means in relation to a) the thesis that emissions can be decoupled from economic growth, b) that this will be sufficient to the climate change challenge facing humanity.

Steady State Manchester website, Mar 2016

It can be difficult to form a view of what’s really going on in our atmosphere, given the amount ... more It can be difficult to form a view of what’s really going on in our atmosphere, given the amount of information and of contradictory claims.
This piece concerns recent reports on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and levels.

The Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities has just repo... more The Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with learning disabilities has just reported its findings. Extrapolated, they indicate 1,839 excess deaths per year of intellectually disab...

Reviews recent claims for evidence for the decoupling of greenhouse gas emissions from economic (... more Reviews recent claims for evidence for the decoupling of greenhouse gas emissions from economic (GDP) growth. Concludes that while there is evidence for relative decoupling in some economies, on a territorial basis, there is no evidence for absolute decoupling, and economic growth remains a major contributor to the rise in greenhouse gas emissions.

Socialist Health Association blog, Mar 5, 2015

A critical analysis of the deal for devolution of direct responsibility for significant areas of ... more A critical analysis of the deal for devolution of direct responsibility for significant areas of public spending to the Greater Manchester city-region, specifically the devolution of the entire NHS budget for the city region with a view to integrating this with social care.
The article suggests we should be very concerned about the plans as they stand for the following reasons.
1. The indecent haste with which they are being agreed,
2. The secrecy of the deal,
3. The context of extreme cuts to social care budgets in the region, following an almost inexorable trend to privatise and casualise provision,
4. The economic rationalism that underpins the whole DevoManc deal,
5. The shaky governance arrangements with power over the City Region being concentrated in the hands of a mayor, while NHS and social care will continue to be run by technocratic managers,
6. The lack of any very clear value-base – so different from the founding statements of the NHS, where a vision of meeting human need and liberation from want trumped narrow economic considerations.

Socialist Health Association blog, Feb 3, 2015

The (UK) Socialist Health Association has just published this piece on their blog. It is a respo... more The (UK) Socialist Health Association has just published this piece on their blog. It is a response to recent discussions in England on the integration of health and social care based on my long term experience of developing and managing such integration.

We are living in an ecological emergency and an economic crisis. This pamphlet brings together th... more We are living in an ecological emergency and an economic crisis. This pamphlet brings together three contributions to what will have to become an ambitious but alternative strategy for real change in the way we all live. The three essays printed here start from the recognition that endless economic growth is not possible. Getting Started on the Economy also points to the incoherence of competition in the global economy as a national or regional economic strategy, sets out some alternative principles for building the replacement economy and suggests priorities for activists to help bring them about. Sustainability, Utopian and Scientific offers a constructive critique of what has become mainstream green economic thinking. Concepts for Bioregional Development is an attempt to synthesise a new integrated vocabulary for the new economics of social and ecological justice.

We are living in unprecedented times. At least three linked crises are coming together to threate... more We are living in unprecedented times. At least three linked crises are coming together to threaten not only our accustomed standard of living and financial security, but also the resource base of the late 20th century economy and way of life, and the capacity and integrity of the earth’s natural systems on which we all depend. This conjuncture of crises requires urgent and drastic action that completely restructures the way we organise to produce and distribute the things we need to have worthwhile lives This has to be done fairly and sustainably. The following outline sets out a programme of action for the Manchester-Mersey bioregion. It argues that it is the bioregional level that provides the viable basis for a sustainable economy that can deliver well being for all, despite drastically reducing energy use. But this means replacing a strategy of competition in a global economy with one based on the principle of trade subsidiarity (strategic localism) and production for need.

steadystatemanchester.net, Nov 6, 2016

It is easy to be critical. We are critical of the way in which our city and regional leaders hav... more It is easy to be critical. We are critical of the way in which our city and regional leaders have generally tackled the difficult problem of economic, social and environmental viability. We see their approach as based on a fundamentally flawed model that puts the economy first and attempts to restore economic growth to our post-industrial city region in the context of a competitive global order. No doubt this is motivated by concern for the people of the city region, their livelihoods and the future of them and their children, but we question whether the strategies will lead to improvements in overall social, economic and environmental well-being. “So what would you do? What options would you back? What priorities would you set?”. These are fair questions. Previously we have set out ideas1, and we'll return to some of these, but we must admit that it is not easy to produce an alternative analysis and strategy that is coherent, convincing, realistic and practical. Well, someone has to do it, so this piece tries to do just that.
First we'll define the problem, because the way the problem is defined sets the path for any solutions – get that wrong and it is hard to turn off and find the right direction. Secondly we look at some of the approaches on offer: the official Treasury/GMCA2 model, the same model with some tweaks for inclusion and environmental benefit, and the radical reformist approaches of CRESC and CLES. Finally we make a selection from those ideas and add in some others that we think are missing to sketch the basis for a more convincing alternative strategic approach to economy, society and environment.
This paper is about Greater Manchester (and is relevant to GMCA's “strategy refresh” and to the Greater Manchester People's Plan initiative3), but the thinking should also be relevant to many other city regions.

An output of the North West Collaborative Learning Disability (Intellectual Disability) Research ... more An output of the North West Collaborative Learning Disability (Intellectual Disability) Research Group based on a conference held in 2001.
Broadening the boundaries refers to both broadening the definitional boundary of what is considered to be research, and broadening the boundary of those (people and organisations) that conduct or are involved in research.

Report of a three year demonstration project to improve experience and outcomes of transition to ... more Report of a three year demonstration project to improve experience and outcomes of transition to adulthood or young people who are significantly intellectually disabled in Manchester. Part of an initiative in a number of UK municipalities from the Office of Disability Issues.

Nursing mirror, Jan 25, 1982

1. Nurs Mirror. 1982 Aug 25;155(8):56-7. Environments. 2. Private thoughts. Kagan C, Burton M. PM... more 1. Nurs Mirror. 1982 Aug 25;155(8):56-7. Environments. 2. Private thoughts. Kagan C, Burton M. PMID: 6810322 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]. MeSH Terms. Hospital Design and Construction*; Hospitals, Chronic Disease*; Hospitals, Psychiatric*; Hospitals, Special*; Humans; Intellectual Disability; Interior Design and Furnishings; Long-Term Care*.

Nursing mirror, Jan 18, 1982

1. Nurs Mirror. 1982 Aug 18;155(7):44-5. Environments 1: Scenes of improvement. Kagan C, Burton M... more 1. Nurs Mirror. 1982 Aug 18;155(7):44-5. Environments 1: Scenes of improvement. Kagan C, Burton M. PMID: 6921753 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]. MeSH Terms. Environment; Hospital Design and Construction*; Hospital Units*; Hospitals, Psychiatric*; Humans; Interior Design and Furnishings; Social Environment.

Conferencia invitada presentada en la Universidad Nacional Pedagógica de México, Cuernavaca, y la Universidad Autónoma de México, Iztapalapa, marzo, http://homepages. poptel. org. uk/mark. burton/exclusi% F3ndis capacidad. doc, Mar 1, 2004

Accounts of women with multiple commitments (Kagan and Lewis, 1993) revealed the complex ways wom... more Accounts of women with multiple commitments (Kagan and Lewis, 1993) revealed the complex ways women manage their lives. We saw that they draw on their own resources, strengths and capacities to manage the situations with which they are faced and to derive positive satisfactions from their lives. They employ various cognitive strategies in construing their lives as fulfilling, valued and of importance. They employ various behavioural strategies to handle day-to day practical demands and to harness other resources to help them do ...

Published by: IOD Research Group Copyright (c)1995 IOD Research Group All rights reserved. No par... more Published by: IOD Research Group Copyright (c)1995 IOD Research Group All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced by any means, or transmitted, or translated into a machine language without the written permission of the IOD ResearchGroup, ...

Behavioural Psychotherapy, 1978

Recent articles in this journal have argued for and against the admission of cognitive concepts i... more Recent articles in this journal have argued for and against the admission of cognitive concepts in discussion of behavioural therapies. The intention of this article is to clarify some of the issues and hence to try and reduce some of the confusion. Much of the confusion stems from a misunderstanding of behaviourism, particularly of the approach variously called radical, analytical, or systematic behaviourism. This approach, associated with Skinner in particular, must be clearly demarcated from methodological behaviourism ...

Paper presented to British Psychological Society Conference, March 2001, Glasgow.

OPen Learn: Free Learning from the Open University, 2016

Orthodox perspectives see aggregate economic growth as a positive factor in supporting population... more Orthodox perspectives see aggregate economic growth as a positive factor in supporting population health and well-being. We will review the evidence, concluding that it only has such impacts within certain parameters. Moreover the social and ecological costs of economic growth and therefore public health are considerable. We outline the work of a campaign group Steady State Manchester to articulate practical and feasible local approaches to building a post growth society that draw on the insights of:

· ecological economics (the steady state economy),

· the degrowth movement (the society of frugal abundance)

· the rethinking of prosperity and well-being by social movements in the majority world (vivir bien, and de-colonising perspectives)

· eco-feminism (the subsistence perspective)

· tools for promoting equitable and sustainable development (doughnut economics).

Building on public health’s use of whole system approaches and addressing equity we will review public health’s potential role and contribution to steady state thinking and practice.

Over the last 30 years we have developed an approach to working in community contexts that is our... more Over the last 30 years we have developed an approach to working in community contexts that is our approach to "Critical Community Psychology". We will set out its defining characteristics and highlight some aspects that distinguish it from other approaches in both community psychology and critical psychology. These include 1) the concept of prefigurative action, which relates work with local projects and initiatives to a wider project of principled social change, attempting to combine a pragmatic practice with utopian/value-based perspective, 2) an understanding of community that reflects lived diversity and the contested nature of the concept, 3) a priority for working with those most oppressed or excluded by dominant power systems, 4) an emphasis on ecological and systems thinking which includes our own distinctive use of boundary and edge and the ethic of stewardship (responsible use and conservation of resources), 5) use of a wide repertoire of methods and theories ("psychological " and "non-psychological"), necessary for the variety of problem contexts community psychologists can encounter. Finally we will offer some critical reflections on our approach.

Short interview with Mark Burton about the argument that only through growing the economy can we ... more Short interview with Mark Burton about the argument that only through growing the economy can we deal with poverty and ecological problems,

Clinical Psychology, 2001

ABSTRACT

The papers collected here are the result of a workshop conducted by a ‘methodology subgroup’ of ... more The papers collected here are the result of a workshop conducted by a ‘methodology
subgroup’ of the Collaborative Group for Learning Disability Research in the North
West in the summer of 1998.
The workshop was meant to address issues in the design of research, broadly on
treatment effectiveness with learning disabled people, in response to the particular
difficulties listed in the next section: The methodology challenge, p. 4. Inevitably, it
raised many further questions, but the papers presented here might serve as a useful
resource for both the wider collaboration, and for others.
The materials presented here are taken from presentations given at the workshop,
from handouts, and from group work carried out. I have also added a section that
presents a suggested overall approach to the process of investigation of treatment
effectiveness: A template for establishing effectiveness of treatments, p. 23.

Unpulblished conference paper, 2005

Social Policy for adults with significant additional social needs (disabled and other disadvantag... more Social Policy for adults with significant additional social needs (disabled and other disadvantaged people) will be examined with particular reference to British government policy for intellectually disabled people. The policy contexts governing the work of health and welfare services can often be difficult to 'read', especially since they are likely to contain contradictory elements that both support and confront social processes that create inequalities and oppression. In Britain, since the election of the Labour government, new social policy frameworks have emerged. In the case of intellectual disability, for example, new initiatives emphasise people's inclusion in community and society and the reversal of some of the systemic disadvantage they have experienced. However, as an uneasy mixture of the progressive and the neoliberal, the romantic and the practical, it has been difficult to evaluate in order to use its opportunities and minimise its dangers. The influence of economic strategies and the ideologies associated with the free market will be examined to try to decode current social policy emphases. It will be argued that progressive workers should engage with these contradictory policy contexts with a view to minimising their damaging aspects and beginning to construct an alternative approach to real social inclusion and support in partnership with disabled and other disadvantaged people. La lectura crítica de la política social-una base para trabajar de manera ética. Se trata de la política social para adultos con necesidades adicionales (personas discapacitadas o con otras desventajas). Esta política se considerará con referencia a la política gubernamental británica sobre personas con discapacidad intelectual (retraso mental). Los contextos de la política pueden ser difíciles de leer, especialmente ya que es probable que contengan elementos contradictorios que al mismo tiempo apoyan y enfrentan procesos sociales que crean desigualdades y opresión. En el Reino Unido, después de la elección del gobierno laborista, han surgido nuevos marcos de la política social. En el caso de la discapacidad intelectual, por ejemplo, nuevas iniciativas enfatizan la inclusión de la gente en comunidad y sociedad, y el combate contra la situación de desventaja que han experimentado. Sin embargo, como una mezcla precaria entre lo progresista y lo neoliberal, ha sido difícil evaluar la política para aprovecharse de sus oportunidades y disminuir sus peligros.

The notes and illustrations used in this talk. It covers the following issues: Limits to Gro... more The notes and illustrations used in this talk. It covers the following issues:
Limits to Growth, Planetary Limits and Climate Change
GDP and its problems
Alternative Frameworks
Feasibility of Degrowth and Steady State
What practical policies does this entail?
It was part of the event: A Sustainable Newcastle: What does this really mean? organised by Newcastle Green Party. Other speakers were Chi Onwurah, Labour Party spokesperson for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Andrew Gray, University of Durham, Alistair Ford, University of Newcastle and Helen Jarvis, University of Newcastle.

Note: the event was organised prior to, and was not part of, the UK 2017 General Election Campaign and speakers were asked to avoid making party political presentations.

There is now plenty of evidence that economic growth is highly problematic for human welfare and ... more There is now plenty of evidence that economic growth is highly problematic for human welfare and survival. The evidence comes from three domains. 1) The ecological: continual growth uses up the resources that supply and the sinks that take the waste from human activity globally. 2) The social: economic growth does not correlate well with human welfare and its supposed benefits, rather than being shared, become ever more concentrated at the top of the wealth and income pyramid. 3) The economic: economic systems that rely on perpetual growth are inherently unstable, and meet internal and external constraints (or contradictions) that undermine them.
While it may be clear that the wager on endless growth is a bad one, a more difficult question arises: “what would be the characteristics of an economy that does not grow?”.
In his book “Macroeconomics Without Growth1” Steffen Lange attempts to construct a framework for answering this question, rooted in the three main approaches to theorising the economy, hence the subtitle: “Sustainable Economies in Neoclassical, Keynesian and Marxian Theories”. The book is a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of degrowth and provides a solid grounding for interventions in the policy arena, including those by political parties that seek to construct a coherent alternative, rather than a mishmash wish list of proposals. A strength of the book is its rigorous, formal analysis of the main theoretical approaches and what they say about the preconditions for growth, and the possibilities of zero growth.
As such the book extends to 583 pages, and the detail, with recourse to mathematical formulae to capture the various models and sub-models, will mean that many will not read it. The aim of this essay review, then, is to summarise the book, emphasising the synthesis reached by Lange, and suggesting a few issues that arise.