The ethics of problem definition

The way we look at problems affects how we study them and try to solve them. Different interventions become salient depending on whether we focus on individuals perceived to have the problem, on the social setting that fosters it, or on an interaction of the two. As psychologists, our training is conducive to thinking on the individual rather than on the system level. When we employ research strategies that personalize the political, we risk being complicit with conservative political agendas that avoid social change by focusing on individual dysfunction. Even community psychologists, despite dealing in system-level theories, too often transform these into individual-level research. I will use, as examples, poverty, drugs, homelessness, resilience, and empowerment. I argue that since our research can provide a justification for either changing or maintaining the status quo, it has ethical implications.