Transcript An Introduction to Human Services: Policy and Practice Multicausality  • • • This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law.

An Introduction to Human
Services: Policy and Practice
Multicausality
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002
Analysis of Problems
 People often look for simple answers to complex
problems.
 This leads them to try simple solutions which
don’t work because the problem has been
incorrectly analyzed.
 The concept that many factors contribute to
problems is called multicausality.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002
No Quick Fix
 In dealing with social problems, we can never
establish causality with any solid degree of
certainty.
 There is rarely one simple cause of a problem.
 Human service problems are the result of many
intertwined personal pressures and social forces.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002
Symptoms and Reactions
 Some causes of social problems are deeply rooted,
and others are secondary causes or symptoms of a
deeper problem.
 Although many people appear to have the same
problem, they may have it for a different set of
reasons.
 Even when people encounter similar experiences,
they do not necessarily react in similar ways.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002
Assumptions
 Differing views of human nature can lead to
differing assumptions about the cause of problems.
 Thomas Hobbes believed that people were
basically evil and needed a strong state to control
them.
 People who subscribe to his philosophy are likely
to favor “law and order” approaches to human
problems.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002
Nature or Nurture
 John Locke believed that if people followed their
own self-interest, a rational, just society would
result.
 He believed that a child came into the world with
a tabula rasa (blank tablet) on which experience
was inscribed through the five senses.
 People who subscribe to his philosophy are likely
to adopt an environmentally oriented psychology
such as behaviorism.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002
Nature Vs. Civilization
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that people were
good by nature but corrupted by civilization.
 He believed that education should draw out the
knowledge that people are born with.
 Paolo Freire, the Brazilian educator, subscribed to
a theory of education called “conscientization.”
 This is similar to Rousseau’s philosophy of
drawing on people’s innate strengths.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2002