What is community to you?: A critical discourse analytical and indigenous psychological exploration of the contemporary discourses of community and psychological sense of community among elderly people in Mumbai

Abstract

Seymour Sarason (1974) argued that the lack of psychological sense of community (PSOC) is a destructive force in living, and dealing with its consequences and its prevention should be the overarching concern of community psychology. Globalization affects the wellbeing of elderly people in a negative way by its effects upon the interrelated systems of culture, local politics, and the family. Due to its promotion of individualism chances are that it challenges PSOC as embedded in culture. Elderly people in India represent the fastest growing part of the Indian population, and the country has the second largest elderly population in the world. The elderly population of Mumbai reside in a context where these influences are effective. There is a shared agreement in community psychology that PSOC is a context specific concept. There is however limited research on PSOC in non-Western cultures. In addition, are there few studies on PSOC among elders, and those who exist have taken place in Western cultures. This thesis therefore aim first to explore the qualitative characteristics of the discourses of community and PSOC among the elderly people in Mumbai and secondly, the influence of global and local ideologies and context elements on these. The perspective of critical discourse analysis and indigenous psychology was used in this exploration. Twelve elderly people from Mumbai were interviewed. A cross-sectional design including interviews of ten young people in Mumbai and field research enriched the data collection and analysis. This topic and the perspectives in use are crucial for meeting gaps in PSOC research and research in the social sciences on elderly people in India. In addition an understanding of emic discourses of community and PSOC becomes vital for interventions to be evaluated in terms of the core value of community psychology wherever applied. The analyses provided an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of the elderly peoples discourses, and a dialectical-relational understanding of the influence of global and local ideologies and context elements upon these. Implications for the conceptualization of PSOC, future PSOC research, and PSOC interventions are proposed in light of to previous suggestions and current findings.