While numerous studies have identified economic, social, and environmental conditions related to stress, greater stress has been found to be related to poverty, unemployment, assembly line work, crowding, and chronic exposure to noise. These stressful situations most frequently confront people with little personal, economic, or political resources to eliminate or control them. While stress is identified as a major psychological and health hazard, and numerous programs exist to help people reduce stress, there are serious problems with the present approaches to managing stress. Stress management programs are often designed for, and attended by, educated, middle-class participants. For most people confronted with the serious stressors of poverty, racism, and environmental pollution, the typical stress management program is not only unavailable and inaccessible, but also irrelevant, inappropriate, and ineffective. In addition, current stress management programs oversimplify the problems of stress, support a "blame the victim" attitude, and are ultimately self-defeating because they encourage a passive atttitude which reinforces conditions in the system that create stress. Instead of a focus on personal adjustment strategies, empowerment approaches to stress management must be encouraged. (PAS)