Self-Help/Mutual Aid Groups and Peer Support: A Literature Review: 23 (Brill Research Perspectives in Humanities and Social Sciences)

Thomasina Borkman reviews English-language social science research on North American self-help/mutual aid groups (SHGs) and organizations and some from industrialized countries. SHGs, known by many names, are voluntary, member-run groups of peers who share a common issue, utilize lived experience, and practice mutual aid. Borkman’s autoethnographic approach highlights her international SHG participation. Despite initial common values and practices in the 1960s and on, Alcoholics Anonymous, the mental health SHGs, and other SHGs evolved in the US as three separate social movements that became institutionalized by 2000; their history, characteristics, achievements and supportive infrastructure are summarized. British contributors Munn-Giddings and Boyce show in European countries how socio-political contexts shape self-help/mutual aid. Research has shifted from SHGs to peer support since 2000.

Author

Thomasina Borkman, Ph.D. (1969) Columbia University, is Professor of Sociology Emerita at George Mason University. She is known for her research on self-help groups and peer support, especially her book Understanding Self-Help/Mutual Aid: Experiential Learning in the Commons (1999).

Contributing Authors

Carol Munn-Giddings, Ph.D. (2003) Loughborough University, is Professor of Participative Inquiry and Collaborative Practices at Anglia Ruskin University. She is known for her research on self-help/mutual aid and complementary participatory research that engage citizens and practitioners in the research process.

Melanie Boyce, Ph.D. (2016) Anglia Ruskin University, is Senior Research Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University. She has expertise in undertaking community-based research with groups and communities that are often defined as marginalised, due to their health and/or social situation.