Decolonial Attitude and Community Psychology in Social Policy

This chapter aims to examine social policies, specifically government programs for poverty alleviation, from the perspective of community psychology and decolonial attitude. We draw on findings from a research project that offers a critical view of a Latin American social program. This project explored the bond between intervention agent and participant in an emblematic Chilean poverty alleviation program. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 pairs of intervention agents and program participants to explore both positive and negative/complex bonds. Descriptive and relational analysis showed the nature and dynamics of violence in this social community intervention that is shaped in the context of the State as a colonial apparatus. We refer to this as praxical violence, that is the asymmetrical exercise of power by a subject (institutional framework, intervention agents, or participants) in symbolic and practical dimensions, which targets an object (intervention agent or participant), resulting in the reproduction of unequal power relationships that are detrimental to the actors involved and to the aims of social community intervention. The relevance of critically reflecting on the occurrence of violence in social policies is discussed, connecting with the principles of community psychology, and advancing towards a decolonial attitude.