Epigenetics

Define: This theory says that the social environment changes a person's genes, and these changes can be passed onto offspring. Social factors like chronic poverty and racism can literally alter the genes, and thus, phenotype, or what is expressed.

Combs-Orme, T. (2013). Epigenetics and the social work imperative. Social Work, 58(1), 23+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA318901328&v=2.1&u=lom_umichanna&it=r&p=HRCA&asid=f1ca5fe0745267f377844290fcbb8a2a

Apply: If genes, and by extension, human potential, can be changed by factors such as poverty, the implications for community development/social work could be great. It would mean that we have an even greater responsibility to work at changing the environment that allows societal ills to exist. At first I thought of this as more of a clinical theory, working to change how much social support individuals get so that they have healthy genes to pass onto their children. But now, I see it as a more macro theory, and for community developers, it just means that whatever community we are seeking to change, always remembering that we are ultimately working to benefit individuals (perhaps even down to a genetic level) by trying to improve the places they live, play, and work in.

Adapt: I think of the public health field when I think of this theory. Maybe you are studying a community and you observe that there are higher than average rates of stress-related illness. You could do a longitudinal study to see if children of parents with stress-related illness also end up with such ailments, and then see if there is a genetic component involved at various points during the lifetime of the child. (And maybe then you could figure out a way to change the environment so that the stress-related illness that altered genes can be reversed, and no longer passed on.)