Social Work Prior To The Great Depression, Essay Example

Social work refers to a profession that entails a quest for social justice in order to fully improve the quality of life of the members of a society (Davies & Martin, 2002). It involves an effort directed towards solving the social problems that members of a society may be facing. It is founded on the need within a society to fight the problems that are facing it especially poverty. Social work has grown over the years from its early form where it was viewed as charity to a full profession which encompasses human development theories as well as social theory in order to be in a position to explore the complex social challenges that face a society.

There are four main perspectives involved in social work which refer to the various ways that it is viewed as a profession. They are utilized as frameworks that are geared towards assisting clients who are undergoing therapy as well as in other various social work environments. The first perspective is the feminist perspective which involves a study of the various stereotypes, beliefs as well as practices that a society holds in respect to gender (Saulnier, 1996). It is concerned with the feminine characteristics of people and thus endeavors to deal with the patriarchal and andocentric practices that oppress women in the society.

The strengths perspective is the second and involves a study of the success of members of a society. Its main goal is to discover the strengths and resources that individuals within a society are endowed with and how to augment these strengths based on an assumption that no one is aware of the maximum level of an individual’s ability (Saleeby, 1997).The third perspective is known as the generalist perspective which is a holistic approach that seeks to appreciate clients in a number of levels such as at the individual, family, and societal levels (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2001). It incorporates models that are geared towards understanding the situation that a client is in and then making the necessary interventions to assist.

The forth perspective is the ecological perspective that is concerned with the relationship that exists between people and their environment exploring how the capabilities that these individuals have fit well with the resources that there environment provides them with. In addition, there three major levels of professional interventions involves in social work. The first is the macro level which involves interventions that are geared towards the whole society at a national scale. The second is the mezzo level which involves working with small agencies and organizations that work in communities. The third is the micro level that involves intervention geared towards assisting individuals.

Social Work Prior to the Great Depression

Social work dates back to the legalization of the church in Europe by Constantine when the church built hospitals, poorhouses, and orphanages aimed at assisting the less fortunate in the society. During that time, it was viewed as charity within Europe and was considered to be a responsibility of the church though the empire offered grants to assist running the hospitals, orphanages and poorhouses. Social work was introduced in America following British settlement which saw the development of almhouses. These were houses that built to offer quarantine facilities in the event that epidemics would occur amongst the population to prevent contamination.

Due to an increase in the population, there was increases in the numbers of people without any form of economic support and thus became homeless creating the need for intervention so as to assist them. In addition, they also housed people with terminal diseases and the aged. The first known almhouse was built in Philadelphia in the year 1713 by William Pen and was intended to house only Quakers with a second one being built in 1728 near to the first one. The almhouses would later become the precursors to modern hospitals as some of these almhouses were later converted into hospitals.

The 19^th century saw the development of the industrial revolution that resulted in massive migrations from the rural areas to urban areas as people looked for jobs in the newly formed industries. This led to several social problems such as poverty, homelessness, prostitution, and numerous contagious diseases that were brought about by the ever increasing number of people in the urban areas. This in turn resulted in more intervention by the church so as to counter this rise in social problems with numerous churches carrying out missionary efforts which were characterized by direct relief through the provision of food and evangelism (Germain & Gitterman, 1996).

A new organization was formed during the 1880s known as the settlement movement that was based on the three R’s which were Research, Residence and Reform. The movement was focused on the roots of poverty and provided various services such as medical, educational, and legal. This migration also extended to America where immigrants of European descent went there in search of better lives. Most of these immigrants came through New York and then moved to other cities. The resulting overcrowding led to numerous social problems such as homelessness, prostitution as well as diseases.

These problems led to the creation of the New York Infirmary for women and children that was founded by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell who was the first female doctor in the United States (Axinn & Mark, 2008). The Hull House that was founded by Jane Adams in 1889 became a community service centre that run a social research program where health professionals carried out work on the social causes of poor health. The 20^th century saw the professionalization of social work following the formal training of social workers as nurses. Garnet Pelton was the first trained social worker being employed by the Massachusetts General Hospital (Germain & Gitterman, 1996). Other professional social workers were Dr. Richard Clarke and Ida Canon who were also trained nurses.

Following the professionalization, the economic, social as well as the psychological conditions that accompanied most of the social problems that were being experienced by people were recognized making it easier for these professionals to work with the afflicted members of the society. In addition, social workers were now able to work together with nurses and doctors which resulted in the proper management of both the physiological and social health problems of the victims at the same time. It was thus found out that social work was crucial and provided a critical perspective to medicine that had been neglected earlier on.

By 1911, most of the American hospitals had created social work departments totaling to forty four at the time and which later increased to two hundred by 1913 (Axinn & Mark, 2008). One of the people who led to the professionalization of social work was

Dr. Abraham Flexner who argued that social work lacked specialized knowledge as well as specific use of the intellectual knowledge and thus was unable to resolve social problems facing human beings. This argument resulted in social work focusing more on both case work as well as scientific methods (Sowers, et al., 2008). This was followed by the creation of the American Association of Hospital Social Workers in1918 that was focused on increasing the relationship between hospital practice and formal social work education.

References

Axinn, J. & Mark, J. S. (2008). Social Welfare: A History of the American response to need (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Davies, Martin (2002). The Blackwell Companion of Social Work (2nd ed.).Alden, MA: Blackwell.

Germain, C. & Gitterman, A. (1996). The life model of social work practice. (2nd ed). New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

Kirst-Ashman, K. & Hull, G. (2001). Generalist practice with organizations and communities, (2nd ed).Belmont, CA: Brooks-Cole.

Saleeby, D. (1997). The strengths perspective in social work. (2nd ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Saulnier, C. (1996). Feminist theories and social work. Binghamton, NY: Haworth

Sowers, K.M. et al. (2008). Comprehensive handbook of Social Work and Social Welfare. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.