Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Self-Help Groups as Participatory Action

  • Chapter
Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

“You alone can do it, but you cannot do it alone” uniquely captures the combination of self-help (personal responsibility) and mutual aid (interdependence with others) that characterizes voluntary self-help groups (SHGs) and self-help organizations (SHOs). The slogan also emphasizes action, the participatory action of self-help/mutual aid, not organization or form.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Bayers, L.S. (2004). Surviving breast cancer: A discourse analysis of breast cancer self-help groups. Adelaide, Australia: University of South Australia, Doctoral dissertation in the Faculty of Education

    Google Scholar 

  • Beito, D.T. (2000). From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services 1890–1967. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger, B.M. (1981). The Survival of a Counterculture: Ideological Work and Everyday Life Among Rural Communards. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borkman, T. (1976). Experiential knowledge: A new concept for the analysis of self-help groups. Social Services Review, 50:445–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borkman, T. (1999). Understanding Self-Help/Mutual Aid: Experiential Learning in the Commons. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borkman, T. (2004). Self-help groups. In: Philanthropy in America: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, ed. D.F. Burlingame, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, pp. 428–432.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borkman, T. (2005). The methodology of in-depth research with self-help groups. Unpublished manuscript. August 19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Borkman, T., Karlsson, M., Munn-Giddings, C., and Smith, L. (2005). Self-Help and Mental Health: Case Studies of Mental Health Self-Help Organizations in US, UK, and Sweden. Stockholm, Sweden: Skondal Institute and University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of Meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns, D. and Taylor, M. (1998). Mutual Aid and Self-Help: Coping Strategies for Excluded Communities. West Sussex, UK: Policy.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesler, M.A. (1991). Participatory action research with self-help groups: An alternative paradigm for inquiry and action. American Journal of Community Psychology, 19:757–768.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesler, M.A. and Chesney, B.K. (1995). Cancer and Self-Help: Bridging the Troubled Waters of Childhood Illness. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cockerham, W.C. (2002). Medical Sociology (9th edn.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, P. and Schneider, J.W. (1992). Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denzin, N. (1993). The Alcoholic Society: Addiction and Recovery of the Self. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni, A. (1969). The Semi-Professions and Their Organization: Teachers, Nurses, Social Workers. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forsyth, D.R. (2006). Group Dynamics (4th edn.). Belmont, CA: Thomason/Wadsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, R. (1977). The medicalization and demedicalization of American society. Daedalus, 106:9–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guba, E.G. (1990). The Paradigm Dialog. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guba, E.G. and Lincoln, Y.S. (1983). Epistemological and methodological bases of naturalistic inquiry. In: Evaluation Models: Viewpoints on Educational and Human Services Evaluations, ed. G.F. Madaus, M. Scrivenand, and D.L. Stufflebean, Boston: Kluwer-Nijhoff, pp. 311–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hastie, N. (1999–2000). Origins and activities of a self-help support center in Nottingham, United Kingdom. International Journal of Self Help & Self Care, 1:123–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horwitz, A.V. (2002). Creating Mental Illness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, E.C. (1971) (1984). The Sociological Eye: Selected Papers. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphreys, K. (2004). Circles of Recovery: Self-Help Organizations for Addictions. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Irvine, L. (1999). Codependent Forevermore: The Invention of Self in a Twelve Step Group. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isenberg, D.H., Loomis, C., Humphreys, K., and Maton, K.I. (2004). Self-help research: Issues of power sharing. In: Participatory Community Research: Theories and Methods in Action, ed. L.A. Jason, C.B. Keys, Y. Suarez-Balcazar, R.R. Taylor, and M.I. Davis, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 123–137).

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Katz, A.H. (1993). Self-Help in America: A Social Movement Perspective. New York: Twayne.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz, A.H. and Bender E. (1976). The Strength in US: Self Help Groups in the Modern World. New York: Franklin-Watts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, M. and Humphreys, K. (1994). Understanding worldview transformation in members of mutual help groups. Prevention in Human Services, 11:181–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, M., Humphreys, K., and Borkman, T. (1994). Naturalistic paradigm as an alternative approach to research with self-help groups. In: Understanding Self-Help Organizations: Frameworks and Findings, ed. T. Powell, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 172–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kloos, B. (1999). Cultivating identity: Meaning-making in the context of residential treatment settings for persons with histories of psychological disorders. Urbana-Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign unpublished PhD dissertation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurtz, L. (1997). Self-Help and Support Groups: A Handbook for Practitioners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavoie, F., Farquharson, A., and Kennedy, M. (1994). Workshop on ‘good practice’ in the collaboration between professionals and mutual aid groups. Prevention in Human Services, 11:303–311.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, Y.S. and Denzin, N.K. (Eds.) (2003). Turning Points in Qualitative Research: Tying Knots in a Handkerchief. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, Y.S. and Guba, E.G. (1986). But is it rigorous? Trustworthiness and authenticity in naturalistic evaluation. Naturalistic Evaluation, 30:73–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Litvak, S. and Martin, D. (1999–2000). The state of the independent living movement. International Journal of Self Help & Self Care, 1:49–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loseke, D.R. (1992). The Battered Woman and Shelters: The Social Construction of Wife Abuse. Albany: The State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madara, E.J. (1992). The primary value of a self-help clearinghouse. In: Self-Help: Concepts and Applications, ed. A.H. Katz et al., Philadelphia: Charles, pp. 117–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattingly, C. (1991). Narrative reflections on practical actions: Two learning experiences in reflective storytelling. In: The Reflective Turn: Case Studies in and on Educational Practice, ed. D. Schon, New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, pp. 235–247.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matzat, J. (2001–2002). The development of self-help groups and support for them in Germany. International Journal of Self Help & Self Care, 1:307–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medvene, L. (1992) Self-help groups, peer helping, and social comparison. In: Helping and Being Helped: Naturalistic Studies, ed. S. Spacapan and S. Oskamp, The Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 49–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milofsky, C. and Elworth, J.T. (1985). Charitable associations. In: Issues in the Care of Children with Chronic Illness, ed. N. Hobbs and J.M. Perrin, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 790–810.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mogren, S. (2002). Into Our Own Hands: The Women’s Health Movement in the United States, 1969–1990. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munn-Giddings, C. and Borkman, T. (2005). Self-help/mutual aid as a psychosocial phenomenon. In: Mental Health at the Crossroads: The Promise of the Psychosocial Approach, ed. S. Ramon and J. Williams, London: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oka, T. (1994). Self-help groups in Japan: Trends and traditions. In: Self-Help and Mutual Aid Groups: International and Multicultural Perspectives, ed. F. Lavoie, T. Borkman, and B. Gidron, Binghamton, NY: Haworth, pp. 69–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport, J. (1993). Narrative studies, personal stories, and identity transformation in the mutual help context. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 29:239–256.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport, J., Seidman, E., Toro, P.A., McFadden, L.S., Reischl, T.M., Roberts, L.J., Salem, D.A., Stein, C.H., and Zimmerman, M.A. (1985). Collaborative Research with a Mutual Help Organization. Social Policy, Winter: 13–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riessman, F. (1990). Restructuring help: A human services paradigm for the 1990’s. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18:221–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riessman, F. and Carroll, D. (1995). Redefining Self-Help: Policy and Practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarason, S. (1972). The Creation of Settings and the Future of Societies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D.H. (1997). The rest of the nonprofit sector: Grassroots associations as the dark matter ignored in prevailing ‘flat earth’ maps of the sector. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 26(2):114–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D.H. (2000). Grassroots Associations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, J.C. (1999). Some current issues in research on social identity and self-categorization theories. In: Social Identity Context, Commitment, Content, ed. N. Ellemers, R. Spearsand, and B. Doosje, London: Blackwell, pp. 6–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Til, J. (2000). Growing Civil Society: From Nonprofit Sector to Third Space. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • von Appen, U. (1994). The development of self-help in Germany’s new provinces (former East Germany): The case of Schwerin. In: Self-Help and Mutual Aid Groups: International and Multicultural Perspectives, ed. F. Lavoie, T. Borkman, and B. Gidron, Binghamton, NY: Haworth, pp. 97–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitz, R. (2001). The Sociology of Health, Illness, and Health Care: A Critical Approach (2d edn.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, J. (1995). Two Worlds: Self Help Groups and Professionals. Birmingham, UK: British Association of Social Workers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wong, D. and Chan, C. (1994). Advocacy on self-help for patients with chronic illness: The Hong Kong experience. In: Self-Help and Mutual Aid Groups: International and Multicultural Perspectives, ed. F. Lavoie, T. Borkman, and B. Gidron, Binghamton, NY: Haworth, pp. 117–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wuthnow, R. (1994). Sharing the Journey: Support Groups and America’s New Quest for Community. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zola, LK. (1987). The politicization of the self-help movement. Social Policy 18(Fall):32–33.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia

    Thomasina Borkman (Professor of Sociology)

Authors
  1. Thomasina Borkman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania, 3701 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Ram A. Cnaan

  2. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 17837, USA

    Carl Milofsky

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Borkman, T. (2008). Self-Help Groups as Participatory Action. In: Cnaan, R.A., Milofsky, C. (eds) Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-32933-8_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation