Abstract
Hitherto, the concept of empowerment has been largely denied a place of prominence in both mainstream academic and applied psychology. It is argued that if this concept is to expand beyond the field of community psychology into more traditional areas of psychology, such as social, personality, clinical and school psychology, its moral and psychological foundations should be more clearly articulated. In order to advance this proposition, an integrative conceptual model of empowerment is presented. Within this framework, the ethical and therapeutic legitimacy of empowering practices, obstacles for their inclusion in mainstream psychology, and possibilities for their future development are explored. Some of the benefits to be derived from the adoption of the concept of empowerment in academic and applied psychology are outlined.
