Social Work – History and Ideologies

 Social work as profession of the most recent times has not developed in isolation. It has developed its body of knowledge by pulling various ideas from different relevant disciplines. ‘The basic concepts of social work’ in the sense we use in this unit, deals with the fundamental knowledge about some of the important concepts which are incorporated/included in the study and practice of social work profession. In this unit, attempt has been made to discuss those concepts in a lucid way.

The main objective of the Unit is to make the students or readers familiar with the basic concepts which constitute important part of social work knowledge. It is of optimum importance to understand and know about these basic concepts for they are the foundation of social work practice. After studying this unit, the readers will be able to comprehend and conceptualize the following matters: 

• Meaning, concept, scope, objectives, function and methods of social work,
• Concept, scope, and objectives of Social welfare. 
• Distinction between social work, social welfare and social service 
• Meaning, process and methods of social action and difference between social work, social action and social reform, 
• Meaning and Methods of social security and social security in India 
• Concept and Scope of social justice 
• Concept and importance of Human Rights 
• Meaning and objectives of Social Development 
• Interrelationship between some basic concepts 

Meaning and definition of social work 

The meaning of social work is so complex and dynamic that it is almost impossible to give a universally accepted meaning. It has been graded by different individuals in various ways on the basis of understanding of different individuals in the society under the following points:

Meaning of Social Work to a man in the street 

A common man in the street has a very simple interpretation about social work. According to any one who performs some good deeds for the people is doing social work. In this regard the man in the street however, tries to make a distinction between an ‘ordinary man’ who carries on community activities voluntarily without any payment and the ‘welfare worker’ who is appointed by a welfare agency for undertaking welfare work in the community and paid for his work. He has his own way of explaining social work in the light of his experience and knowledge needy people in the community. According to him good and voluntary work by an ordinary man and the social welfare by the paid agents more or less is the same thing, but in case of the former, there is more warmth of feeling towards the beneficiaries.

Meaning of Social Work to a Semi-professional 

This interpretation of social work is given by those who are not trained social workers but work in some welfare agency. They believe that they have the right to be called as social worker just because they are engaged in welfare activities. In their belief, because a person employed in the welfare agency, and carries on welfare activities, he is a social worker and his activities are social work practices. However, Proff. Clarke points out two deficiencies in their concept of the social worker and social work. Firstly, they seem to forget that not all persons who work in the large welfare fields are social workers but may be experts in housing, recreation, social insurance, nursing, accounting etc. Secondly, they neglect to consider the professional qualities of a social worker and so fail to understand what makes a person social work professional. In this connection, it may be argued that a mother who successfully relieves her sick child is not for this reason, entitled to be called a doctor, who is a professional. A profession is characterized by special knowledge and skills, systematic training, certain code of ethics, social recognition etc. all of which social work has. Therefore, it can be concluded that the interpretation of semi-professionals about social work cannot be valid for social work.

Scientific meaning 

The third interpretation of social work is given by Dr. Helen Witmer. It is of course scientific but it is too narrow to represent the real and perfect concept of social work. She says the function of social work is “to give assistance to individuals in regard to the difficulties they encounter in their use of an organized group services or their own performance as member of an organized group.” By organized group she meant institutions like family, the neighborhood, the school, the church, hospitals etc. For example in regard to family, the function of social work is to facilitate the family’s normal activities through counseling with individuals about the difficulties they encounter in family life, providing financial assistance or other material helps that are necessary to secure a family’s adequate functioning or helping the members to avail the required services from the different sources. In her scientific interpretation of social work Dr. Witmer does not consider all agencies which claim to carry on social work activities as social work agencies. For instance, she does not believe that public relief agencies are social work institutions because they primarily concerned with providing some form of assistance to all who meet certain specifications temporarily rather than working at scientific solution of the problems through social readjustment with their impaired environment. She excludes many activities which she feels are not directly connected to the problems of the people. If the end is not the development of general capacities but that of helping individuals solve the particular problems they encounter in group relations, then alone she would call the activities as social group work in particular and social work in general. In this sense most of the activities like that of Scouts, Boys Clubs, and recreational activities are excluded from social work activities by her. Having limited the activities of social work, she further points out that social work has a defined personnel norms and values and material apparatus. The personnel of social work operate largely through agencies which utilize professional knowledge to carry on professional activities and laymen to determine agency policy. It has its norms of conduct, which define its organization and its material apparatus includes land, buildings, furniture, records, food and clothing for clients and journals and books etc. She was of the view that the main objective of social work is to remove those obstacles which are felt in the process or in performing the role.  

Generally accepted meaning of social work 

Social work is a profession primarily concerned with the remedy to psycho-social problems and deficiencies which exists in the relationship between the individual and his social environment. This phenomenon always existed in the society in one form or the other, but achieved its scientific basis in the last decades of 19th century. People in distress, destitution and deprivation have been helped in the past by individuals joint families, caste communities, religious institutions motivated by religious philosophy that assumed ‘charity’ as a reward or medium for salvation, humanism, philanthropy, humanitarian feeling, democratic ideology, equality of all citizens; regard for human personality; respect for other’s rights including the indigents, the handicapped, the unemployed, emotionally challenged and above all, those in need. The charitable work taken up by individuals and some voluntary organizations came to be termed as social work in the due course of time. The most frequently seen misconception about social work is that people mistake charity, alms giving and voluntary activities as social work, but this in reality is not social work, as it does not provide any permanent solution to the person’s problems and does not empower a person to face his problems by himself. Social work aims at making a person self-dependent and self-reliant. It attempts to explore the casual factors behind the problem and tries to solve them scientifically. Therefore, it is visualized that social work is scientific process for helping to the needy suffering from material deficiencies, physical disabilities, mental disorders, emotional disturbances and so on by using knowledge in human relationship and methods and skills in dealing with them. Speaking in a nut shell, social work intended to assist individuals, families, social groups and communities in sorting out their personal and social problems and permanently solving those problems through a systematic process. 

Definitions: 

In order to have a better understanding and a broader view of social work, a few selected definitions of some famous social work scientists both from India and abroad can be cited (in a chronological order of years) and discussed hereunder: 

Foreign Authors: Allice Cheyney (1926), stated, “Social work includes all the voluntary attempts to extend benefits in response to the needs which are concerned with social relationships and which avail themselves of scientific knowledge and methods”. In this definition Cheyney has included all the attempts which are voluntary in spirit and scientific in nature in social work. But she seems to have ignored the public practice of social work that is voluntary and involuntary in nature. 

 Arthur Fink (1942), defined social as “The provision of services designed to aid individuals, singly or in groups in coping with the present or future social and psychological obstacles that prevent or are likely to prevent, full or effective participation in the society”. According Fink, social work intervenes on individuals or groups to enable them to effectively participate in the development process of the society. 

Anderson (1943) stated, “Social work is a professional service rendered to the people for the purpose of assisting them, as individuals or in groups to attain satisfying relationships and standards of life in accordance with their particular wishes and capacities and in harmony with those of the community”. This definition viewed that social work as profession is used to improve the standard of living and social relations which are important components for a happy and satisfied life. 

Friedlander (1951) defined, “Social work is a professional service, based on scientific knowledge and skill in human relations, which assists individuals, alone or in groups, to obtain social and personal satisfaction and independence”. This definition of Friedlander is considered as one of the most comprehensive definitions of social work. According him, social work is a profession like other professions, through which a trained social worker with scientific knowledge and outlook in handling human relations, helps individuals and groups to have social and personal satisfaction. 

Stroup (1960) defined social work as “an art of bringing various resources bear on individual, group and community needs by the application of a scientific method of helping the people to help themselves”. In his definition Stroup gave a different look to social work saying it an art. He said that it is an art of bringing the people into the position where they themselves will be able to solve their problems. Pincus and Minahan (1978) combinely gave a definition of social work saying, “Social work is concerned with the interaction between people and their environment which affects the ability of people to accomplish their life tasks, alleviate distress, and realize their aspirations and values”. 

Pincus and Minahan together differ from others in their approach to understand social work when they say that social work deals with problems of interaction with the social environment which encompasses the peer group, colleagues, teacher, doctor, neighbor, parents and other relatives etc. who play a pivotal role in the life of an individual. If one chronologically looks into all the above definitions given from time to time, it may be found that social work has a progressive movement from a voluntary action to a more developed form of profession.

Indian Authors: Most of the definitions given by the Indian authors reflect the understanding of social work in the context of Indian social situation, though some of them still stick to the foreign view point. 

B.G. Kher (1947) stated, “The aim of social work, as generally understood, is to remove social injustice, to relieve distress, to prevent suffering and to assist the weaker members of the society to rehabilitate themselves and their families and , in short, fight the five giant evils of (1) Physical want, (2) Disease, (3) Ignorance, (4) Squalor and (5) Idleness”. Kher has defined social work with reference to Indian social situation. According to him social work deals with the five major problems prevalent in the society. 

Sushil Chandra (1954) defined social work as “a dynamic activity undertaken by public or private effort in the implementation of social policy, with a view to raise the standard of living and to bring about social, economic, political and cultural wellbeing of the individual, family and group with a society irrespective of its stage of social development.” 

This definition portrays social work as a dynamic activity dealing with all the aspects of social life. 

Indian Conference of Social Work (1957) unanimously defined social work as “a welfare activity based on humanitarian philosophy, scientific knowledge and technical skills for helping individuals, groups or community, to live rich and full life”. The above definition suggests that social work is a welfare activity which has a scientific basis in dealing with the problems of individuals in the society. 

Mirza R. Ahmad (1969) said, “Social work is professional service based on the knowledge of human relations and skills in relationships and concerned with intrapersonal and inter-personal adjustments resulting from unmet individual, group or community needs”. This definition has emphasized on role social work as professional practice to bring intra-personal (within the person) and inter-personal (between persons) adjustments. 

Moorthy and Rao (1970) defined, “Social work is help rendered to any person or group, who or which is suffering from any disability, mental, physical, emotional or moral, so that the individual or group so helped is enabled to help himself or itself”. 

This definition has depicted social work as merely a pathological practice that deals with the sufferings of individuals, groups or community. It has little consideration for the growth and development aspects of those people.

With the contemporary point of view, it has been defined according to the idea jointly formulated by the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and International Federation of Social Work (IFSW) in their conference in 2001 in Copenhagen that, “The social work profession promotes social change, solving problems in human relationship and empowerment; and liberation of people to enhance well being, utilizing the theories of human behaviour and social systems. Social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environments. Principle of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work”.

It is the most comprehensive and most recent definition of all discussed so far. It has been formulated with the collaboration of two premier bodies of professionals who guide and supervise intellectual pursuits in social work profession all over the world. This definition encompasses almost all the issues of social work such as social change, social relationship, social problems, human salvation, resources, social environment, human rights, social justice etc. 

From the deeper analysis of all the definitions cited and discussed both from Indian and foreign perspectives of social work profession, it can be submitted that: 

i) Social work is a professional practice which critically involves professional knowledge, skills, tools and techniques for dealing with human behaviour 

ii) It mainly emphasizes on the analysis and synthesis of human behaviour for establishing a growth-producing relationship 

iii) It is concerned with individual and social problems which are solved by applying different methods and techniques. iv) As a practice giving much emphasis on social adjustment. v) Its main objective is to help the individuals to become self-dependent. 

vi) It aims at permanent solution of problems and prevention of their occurring through proactive measures. 

vii) It relates the available resources with the needs of individuals, groups and community at large. 

viii) It also integrates and coordinates the means and resources of social development. 

ix) It believes in democratic values. 

x) It is based on humanitarian philosophy 

Objectives of social work 

Objectives in general are the statements or formulations of what we are trying to do. In social work an objective implies to the statement expressing what social work is trying to do or what we as professionals are trying to do in social work for accomplishing the task of social work. 

For the convenience of the readers understanding, the objectives of social work can be classified into the following two groups:

1. Objectives prescribed by the social work scientists

Witmer prescribed two objectives of social work such as i) To give assistance to individuals while removing difficulties which they face in utilizing basic services of the society and ii) To facilitate effective utilization of community resources for their welfare. 

Friedlander gave three objectives of social work i.e. i) To change in painful situation of individuals, ii) To develop the constructive forces both within and around the individual and iii) To enhance the democratic and humanistic behaviour of the individual. 

Gordon Brown has given four objectives of social work such as: i) to provide physical or material support ii) to help in social adjustment, iii) to help in solving the psychological problems and iv) to make adequate opportunities for the individuals in problems for raising their standard of living which can prevent problems from intruding.

2. Generic objectives of social work:

These are generally and universally accepted objectives of social work which basically try: 

i) To solve psycho-social problems 

ii) To fulfill humanitarian needs like love, affection, care, etc. 

iii) To solve adjustmental problems 

iv) To create self-sufficiency 

v) To make and strengthen harmonious social relations 

vi) To make provision of corrective and recreational services 

vii) To develop democratic values among the people 

viii) To provide opportunities for development and social progress 

ix) To conscientize the community 

x) To change the environment in favour of individual’s growth and development

xi) To bring change in the defective social system for social development and 

xii) To provide socio-legal aid to the needy who cannot afford to meet them. 

If we critically synthesize all the objectives given above, we can compress them just into two statements such as: 

1. Enabling the individual and his impaired being so as to make him fit to live a self sufficient and satisfied life and 

2. Modifying his social environment in his for so that it becomes conducive for him to live happy and adequate life. 

Scope of social work

Scope of social work implies to what extent we can intervene social work. It may also imply to the areas or fields where social work can be applied by using its methods, tools and techniques. Social work as professional practice extends from a single individual to the largest body like UNO. The scope of social work can be broadly classified into 1) The agencies-non-governmental, semi-governmental or governmental which render social work services; 2) The ways (methods) through which they render services such as Case Work, Group Work, Community Organization, Social Action, Social Research, Social Welfare Administration etc and 3) The various types of services (fields of social work) that they render to diff individuals, groups and communities keeping in mind the objectives, philosophy and values of social work.

The scope of social work has been changing with the changes in its objectives and with the changing social situation. The profession is increasingly recognized for its unique services to the people and being asked to perform new and varied tasks. The principal aim of social work is to solve psycho-social problems which obstruct the social advancement of an individual. Social work as one of the youngest branches of knowledge, is gradually embracing every aspect of human life. Consequently, its scope is gradually expanding. It has now started to become international and inter-racial in scope. It deals with almost all the groups of the society in the following ways:

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