SOCIAL WORK

Lecture 2

Definition



Social work

is a professional and academic discipline that seeks

to improve the quality of life and subjective well-being

of individuals, groups, and communities through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, crisis intervention, and teaching

for the benefit of those affected by social disadvantages

such as poverty, mental and physical illness or disability,

and social injustice

, including violations of their civil liberties and human rights.

История развития социальной работы в США и Европе

   

Octavia Hill

: Social housing and home visits

Mary Richmond

: Social Diagnosis and Social Casework

Jane Addams

: Settlement work in North America

Alice Salomon

Internationalisation of social work education

http://historyofsocialwork.org

Octavia Hill (1838-1912) Social housing and home visits

Octavia Hill believed that a

well-maintained home

, however small, with light, air and space – and with neighbours who care about each other –

is one +of life’s main necessities

.

Octavia Hill and rejection of charitable alms

Her intention was

to provide help without alms

(подаяние), arguing that charity tended to be resented and served to keep people on the margins of poverty. “The people’s homes are bad, partly because they are badly built and arranged, they are tenfold worse because the tenants’ habits and lives are what they are. Transplant them tomorrow to healthy and commodious homes and they would pollute and destroy them”.

(1875)

Mary Ellen Richmond (1861-1928)

With her book

Social Diagnosis

(1917)

, Mary Ellen Richmond constructed the foundations for the scientific methodology development of professional social work. The causes of poverty and social exclusion are in the interaction between an individual and his or her environment.

“Social Diagnosis” (1917)

In modern social work, about everybody agrees there is a need for diagnosis and research to happen before care provision.

It was Richmond who systematically developed the content and methodology of diagnosis in the period around 1910. Her first principle was that

care had to focus on the person within her or his situation

. Her famous circle diagram visualised the correspondence of client and environment.

Richmond’s circle diagram showing the correspondence of client and environment

Draw an ecomap!

An ecomap

serves to capture the networks that your client moves around in.

An ecomap

stems from an idea borrowed from zoology. In zoology, an ecological system is an entire natural system that helps an animal or plant to survive.

Hence,an ecomap refers to a person’s your entire Ecological network.

Sources of power available to clients and their social workers

 sources within the household  in the person of the client  in the neighbourhood  in wider social network  in civil agencies  in private and public agencies

What is social casework? (1922)

Mary Richmond introduced the methodology of ‘learning from cases’, i.e. elaborately described practice situations.



open and honest communication with clients

,

without encumbering formalities



strengthening the resilience of clients



involving clients in the solving of their problems

Jane Addams (1860-1935) Settlement work in North America

The Hull House group,

with their neighbourhood work, contributed to a more structural political focus. They started from a profound analysis of real situations.

Their research was

a tool and starting point for social action

.

Hull House ‘mapping’

In the Hull House maps and papers female activists reported on the effects of concentration of different ethnicities and their living conditions, about labour circumstances in the sweatshops, about child labour.

This approach to ‘mapping’ contributed to the emergence of the famous Chicago school in urban sociology.

Alice Salomon (1872-1948) Internationalisation of social work education

Alice Salomon was a key figure in the development of social work in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. She saw care for the poor as one area in which women could meaningfully do paid work.

Alice Salomon

 

In 1908

established the

Soziale Frauenschule

(the Social Women`s School),

In 1925

started the

Deutsche Akademie für soziale und pädagogische Frauenarbeit

(German academy for social and educational women`s work). Now it is

Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences

in Berlin.

“Social motherhood”

The idea of

geistige Mütterlichkeit

or

`social motherhood`

was a resource for social care that was exclusive to women. Although upper-class women could be good at social care, their backgrounds did not always prepare them for the practical aspects of such work. This made

formal training necessary

which could bring together professional development, personal development and emancipation.

Alice Salomon “Soziale Diagnose”

In 1926 AliceSalomon published her most important book:

Soziale Diagnose

. Based on a European perspective, it was her version of Mary Richmond`s work on social diagnosis. In a very personal way,

Salomon linked care with pedagogical coaching

. In this way she – and others – launched the typically German development where

Sozialarbeit Sozialpädagogik

(social work) and (social pedagogy) were closely related.

Practical Task

Ecomapping

Draw an ecomap!

An ecomap

serves to capture the networks that your client moves around in.

An ecomap

stems from an idea borrowed from zoology. In zoology, an ecological system is an entire natural system that helps an animal or plant to survive.

Hence,an ecomap refers to a person’s your entire Ecological network.

Richmond’s circle diagram showing the correspondence of client and environment

Ecomapping

Ecomapping

       

Think of your friends from former times —from primary and secondary school,etc. Who do you keep contact with? How often? On which occasions? Who would you invite to your wedding? Who would you have sitting at your reunion dinner table? Who would you visit, or who would visit you, during Hari Raya, Deepavali, Christmas or other festivals? Think of your favourite place in Singapore. Who would you like to meet there? How would you like spending your time? With whom? Who lived in or near your street/block?

Ecomapping

      

Scroll through your handphone number list. Who did you call last week? Who has left you voicemails? Who sends you forwarded emails? Who would you like to go on holiday with? Who would you be comfortable borrowing money from? Who has been with you during a crisis or a troubled time? Who would you contact when feeling stressed, or when you need advice?

Draw your own EcoMap

On another sheet, list down the resources each of the people in your ecomap bring.

Feel free to use a format of your choice - be as creative as you wish!

Pair up

Ecomapping

 Pair up   One assumes role as interviewer U se your partners’ ecomap to apply the resource finders   Be as active a listener as you can After 10 minutes – switch roles