Module 2 Flashcards
Historical and philosophical foundations for practice
INDIGENOUS HEALING AND HELPING
▪ Australian First Peoples, Māori and Asian practices are based on ancient
knowledge and traditions.
▪ The focus is on collective and holistic responses to caring rather than
individualistic responses of Western systems.
▪ While social work has emerged from, and has been heavily shaped by, Western
worldviews, there are large movements within social work to foreground the
importance and centrality of Indigenous relationality and worldviews.
▪ The effects of colonisation must be acknowledged and understood.
How did Anglo predecessors define welfare or need
▪ 14th Century - the disabled or sick were supported either by a feudal lord who ruled them or the church
▪ 17th Century - Poor Laws of England 1601 - local parishes required to administer funds from local taxes to give money to people who could not work, find money for able-bodied people, and organise foster care or apprenticeships for orphaned children.
▪ Concepts of deserving versus undeserving poor
Friendly visitors’
(early 1800’s) Volunteers; Women; middle class; Christianity
Charity Organisation Society
(1840s) Benevolent Society 1813- (Australia); Volunteer staff.
Mary Richmond: Formal Training Advocate with individual assessment methods introduced
(scientific approaches)
Settlement Movement
(1884) Jane Addams
Neighborhood-based houses established (bringing diverse groups together);Worker lived in settlement houses; people in their environment considered (macro approaches). Nobel peace prize
Formal Training
(20th C) Mary Stewart – first trained Social Worker in 1895 in London in hospital setting. Victorian Institute of Almoners the first professional body of welfare workers in Australia. Schools of Social Work emerged from these bodies in the late 1930’s
Ideas Underlying Social Justice
Fairness in the distribution of social resources, rights, opportunities and duties (equity, rights, access, participation)
A social justice perspective claims that if the way resources are distributed is unjust it is
more likely that legal and commutative injustices occur.
3 main ideas of justice
- Legal justice - what a person owes to society
- Commutative justice - what people owe to each other
(interpersonal equity) - Distributive justice - what society owes a person
How should resources be distributed?
- Libertarianism: Focus on liberty and freedom, free-market economy, opposed to government intervention.
- Utilitarianism: Greatest good for the greatest number
- Egalitarianism: All people should have the same basic rights, equality of power and opportunity, income and resources
Human Rights
- First generation: Civil and political
- Second generation: Economic, cultural, social
- Third generation: Environmental
AASW
- The AASW holds that social justice is a core principle
- promotes policies, practices and social conditions that uphold human rights and that seek to ensure access, equity, participation and legal protection for all
- advocates change to social systems and structures that preserve inequalities and injustice
What do social workers and HS workers do?
…to position human welfare and rights as a primary social responsibility….Social workers and human service practitioners are responsible for bringing to public notice the values, attitudes, behaviors, social structures and economic imperatives that cause or contribute to the oppression of human welfare and rights. ….They have the duty to respond, with passion and hope, to human need wherever and however it is manifested, and to work towards the
attainment of social justice….in a local and global context (Chenoweth & McAuliffe, 2020, p.13)
Our definitions of purpose establish information on:
who we work with (individuals, groups, communities),
how we work (from the individual level to society as a whole) and
what we seek to achieve (human wellbeing (environmental wellbeing)
Social Justice vs. Human rights
Social justice is about combating injustices on people, communities and entire nations because of oppression, violence or exploitation.
Distributive justice - what society owes to a person.
Deciding how resources are to be distributed.
Libertarianism
Utilitarianism
Egalitarianism
Human rights:
Human rights are those entitlements that people possess simply by virtue of their humanity.
Inherent worth of a person and the right to self-determination.
Can talk about the first, second and third generation of rights.
1948 UN developed the Universal declaration of human rights - signed by 190 countries.
‘Social Justice is the way that human rights are realised’
Working towards social justice is ensuring that everyone has what they need to live a life that is productive, free from fear and discrimination, and able to make use of opportunities for growth and change.
Legitimate power
Gained through rules and official roles e.g. the power to allocate in-home supports through your official role as an aged care needs assessor
Expert Power
Gained through being viewed as having (but not necessarily possessing) particular skills or knowledge. e.g. a social worker gives court evidence regarding custody of children and their recommendations are followed.
