This chapter explains the principal paradigm of the book — the person-process-context model — to answer the question: How do socially stigmatized individuals reconcile basic humanness in daily praxis? Operationally, the PPC model, metaphorically liken to a jazz ensemble, explains the improvisational nature of daily life experiences. Ordinary varieties of intersubjective experiences and Bronfenbrenner’s nested ecological contexts are given full explanation with diagrammatic illustrations. The PPC model is inherently rooted in the idea of the maximization of change processes. Since change is...

This chapter explains the principal paradigm of the book — the person-process-context model — to answer the question: How do socially stigmatized individuals reconcile basic humanness in daily praxis? Operationally, the PPC model, metaphorically liken to a jazz ensemble, explains the improvisational nature of daily life experiences. Ordinary varieties of intersubjective experiences and Bronfenbrenner’s nested ecological contexts are given full explanation with diagrammatic illustrations. The PPC model is inherently rooted in the idea of the maximization of change processes. Since change is not always possible, the limitations of change is given systematic analysis by addressing issues of structural strain and social capital.