Towards Constructive Change in Aboriginal Communities - A Social Psychology Perspective

The widespread failure of so many interventions in First Nations and Inuit communities across Canada requires an explanation. Applying the theoretical and methodological rigour of experimental social psychology to genuine community-based constructive change, Donald Taylor and Roxane de la Sablonniere outline new ways of addressing the challenges that Aboriginal leaders are vocalizing publicly. To date, the decolonization process in Canada has led to programs that focus on the struggling individual. However, colonization was and still is a collective process and thus requires collective solutions. Rooted in years of research, teaching, and experience in First Nations and Inuit communities, the authors offer necessary solutions. They contend that survey research can be uniquely applied as a means to initiate constructive community change, demonstrating how their intervention process uses such research to foster positive social norms by feeding the results back to the community. Ultimately, Towards Constructive Change in Aboriginal Communities outlines how field research can be used to give a voice to First Nations and Inuit community members and serve as a platform for constructive social change.