Playing procrustes: The interactional production of a "psychological senseof community"

The notion of "sense of community" is central to community psychology's con ceptual framework. It has been described as the discipline's "overarching v alue" (Sarason, 1974). Allied to the notion of "sense of community " are ot her constructs-empowerment, representation, solidarity-which map the empiri cal concerns of community psychology. Together, these notions make Importan t rhetorical claims about the modus operandi of community psychology in bot h research and practice. This article first seeks to illuminate some of the tensions between the rhetorical and ideological commitments of the discipl ine, and the primarily quantitative research methodologies it has tradition ally employed. Second, a conversation analysis of the employment of a quali tatively inspired methodology-the semi-structured interview-in researching "sense of community" suggests that the uncautious embrace of a qualitative paradigm, as an approach more rhetorically congruent with the values of the discipline, may entail as many problems as it resolves. (C) 1999 John Wile y & Sons, Inc.