Response to autobiographical essays by community psychologists

Autobiographical essays by five community psychologists suggest that members of this profession often grew up with a strong sense of community and an interest in human interactions, rather than more abstract intellectual ideas. Their life stories reflect the idealism of the 1960s and 1970s that motivated the development of the field. Although these authors have sometimes struggled in the more conservative atmosphere of the past three decades, they retain a characteristic American sense of optimism about the meaning of their lives.