Stress, Culture, and Community, 1998
The Psychology and Philosophy of Stress
The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology Series

This original work focuses on how stress evolves and is resolved in the interplay between persons and their social connectedness within family, tribe, and culture. Stress, Culture, and Community maintains that the primary motivation of human beings is to build, protect, and foster their resource reservoirs in order to protect the self and its social attachments. Stevan E. Hobfoll searches for the causes of psychological distress and potential methods of successful stress resistance by probing the ties that bind people in families, communities, and cultures. By focusing on the `process" rather than the `outcomes' of stress, he reshapes the stress dialogue.

1.The Social and Historical Context of Stress. 2.The Evolutionary and Cultural Basis of the Stress Experience. 3.Conservation of Resources Theory: Principles and Corollaries. 4.Majesty, Mastery, and Malignment. 5.Our Coping as Individuals Within Families and Tribes. 6.Marching to a Different Drum, Singing the Same Song. 7.Turbulent Spiral or Graceful Pirouette: Cycles of Resource Loss and gain. 8.Stress Crossover: The Commerce of Resources Across the Borders that Divide and United People, Organizations, and Tribes. 9.Aiding Resource Acquisition and Protection in Ecological Context. Index.