Chapter 3 Flashcards
History of Social Work: Historical Roots (IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER!)
Era of Moral Reform: Pre-1890
Era of Social Reform: 1891-1940
Era of Applied Social Science: 1941 onwards
History of Social Work: Era of Moral Reform
Pre-industrial era- Pre 1890 Private charities provided material relief lessons in moral ethics and behaviour Religiously motivated volunteers
Era of moral reform: Two STREAMS
Native Protestant and missionaries whose efforts led to the establishment of Charity Organization Society →social casework
Immigrant groups formed mutual aid groups and settlement house movement → community work and social justice
Charity organizations
Receive a request for assistance
A Charity Visitor will meet and interview the applicant in his or her home
Classify applicant as deserving or underserving poor
Deserving poor appear before a committee of trustees who made final decision
CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS
Deserving Poor Good moral character Temporarily out of luck Undeserving Poor Lazy and immoral
Charity organizations
Establishment of Charity Organization Society (COS) to coordinate the efforts of 640 charitable organizations in England in 1869.
The Protestant Charity Organization Society was established in Montreal in 1901.
Charity Organizations
COS believed that
The indiscriminate material aid will make dependent on handouts
Charity visitors were supposed to be the models of hard work and thrift
Poverty was the fault of the individual
possible short answer:
Do we still attach moral judgements to individuals or families seeking social services and income security?
Can you provide specific examples?
Settlement house movement
Youth from middle and upper classes
Volunteered to live and work in the residential buildings in poor neighbourhoods
Attempted to bring improvement in the lives of poor → food, education and recreation
Conducted social reform activities-better working conditions, health, housing and education for poor
According to the founder, Canon Barnett the goals were
To bridge the gap between rich and poor.
To reduce mutual suspicion and ignorance of one class for another.
Experimental settlements → social work “laboratories”
Settlement houses in Canada
Toronto-founded by Libby Carson and Mary Bell with the support of Toronto YWCA in 1902
Most large cities had settlement houses by World War I
First schools of social work were connected with these houses in Canada; often started by the settlement workers
Era of Social Reform
Emergence of public welfare funded by government
Growing number of people in need in urban areas
Charity visitors from private charity organization could not meet the needs
Concerns over potential social instability, mob violence and spread of illness due to rising poverty
Scientific philanthropy
No moral judgment
Objective assessment of problems
Scientific understanding of human behaviour and social processes
Development and application of solution
Trained Social Workers
University-based professional education and training of social workers
In 1914 UoT established a Department of Social Services for the scientific study of society
In 1947, first professional degree (MSW) was offered by UoT
Establishment of Canadian Association of Social Workers in 1927
Emergence of paid Positions
Shift from volunteers to paid social workers
Criticism of paid work
Disapproval from upper and middle classes
Willingness to work without monetary gain was considered the real social work
Social Casework
The Social Service Commission in Toronto first introduced the practice of professional casework in Canada
Influenced by the systemic methods developed by Mary Richmond
Heavily grounded in medicine-came to be known as medical model
Mary Richmond described the professional casework as follows:
Systemic collection of social evidence (e.g., data on family history, problems).
Critical examination and “diagnosis” of problem.
Development and implementation of a case plan.
