A Brief History Of Social Work - SAGE Publications Inc
CHAPTER2A Brief History of Social WorkFrom the English Poor Laws to the ProgressivePolicies of President Barack ObamaSocial work, social problems, and the organizations that were developed in an attempt tocope with those problems have had almost a parallel history. This chapter discusses thedual development of organizations and the profession of social work. The chapter alsoprovides a timeline of the development of social welfare policies in the United States and many ofthe major people who helped develop more progressive attitudes and programs toward the poor,the mentally ill, the unemployed, and children at risk. As you will see in this chapter, many of thesocial welfare policies and programs we take for granted occurred quite recently in our history.Some of the following discussion is taken with appreciation from Tannenbaum and Reisch (2001).THE ENGLISH POOR LAWS: REGULATING THE POORThe origins of American social welfare are found in the English Poor Laws. Although the lawswere passed over a 400-year period and changed incrementally to reflect new thinking aboutpoverty and work, a brief discussion of the poor laws follows with thanks to Peter Higginbotham(2004) for his wonderful website on the subject.The poor laws evolved and changed between 1601 and the new act of 1834, but unlike theold poor laws of 1601, the new act of 1834 differentiated between the deserving and the undeserving poor by a simple test: “Anyone prepared to accept relief in the repellent workhouse mustbe lacking the moral determination to survive outside it” (Higginbotham, 2004). The otherprinciple of the new act was that of “less eligibility” or “that conditions in the workhouse shouldnever be better than those of an independent labourer of the lowest class” (Higginbotham,2004). These same ideas about the treatment of the poor are still with us today, as the chapteron social work with clients in poverty will attest. InfoTable 2.1 gives a slightly edited version ofthe original 1536 draft of the poor laws defining poverty and what might be done about it.23
InfoTable 2.1 A Slightly Edited 1536 Draft of the Poor Laws Explaining Who IsPoor and Why They Need HelpFor as much as the king has full and perfect notice that there is within his realm agreat multitude of strong valiant beggars [comprised of]: (1) vagabonds and idlepersons, who might labor for their living but unlike your other loyal servants, live idlyby begging, to the high displeasure of Almighty God, the hurt of their own souls, theevil example of others, and to the great hurt of the commonwealth of this realm; asare (2) the old, sick, lame, feeble and impotent persons not able to labor for their living but are driven of necessity to the charity of the people. And his highness (3) hasperfect knowledge that some of them have fallen into such poverty (4) through sickness and other casualties, and some through their own fault, (5) whereby they havecome finally to that point that they could not labor for any part of their living but aredriven by necessity to live by the charity of the people. And some have fallen to suchmisery because they have been released from work by their employers because of sickness, leaving them without relief and comfort. Some have been neglected by friendsand family and have developed idleness and the belief that they can live well withoutworking. Some have even been taught to beg from childhood. And so for lack of goodoversight in youth, many live in great misery as they age. And some have come to suchmisery through sloth, pride, negligence, falsehood and such other ungraciousness,whereby their employers, lovers and friends have been driven to forsake them until noone would take them to any service; whereby they have in process of time lain in theopen streets and fallen to utter desolation. But whatever the reason is, charity requiresthat some way be taken to help them and prevent that others shall not hereafter fallinto like misery. Therefore, his highness and the Parliament assembled [are asked to]provide certain remedies for the poor and miserable people, in the following manner. . . written by William Marshall (1536).Under the 1601 Act, each parish (equivalent to a small county) was ordered to helpthe elderly and the infirm, to bring up needy children with a work ethic, and to providework for others without a trade or those who were unemployed. The main objectives ofthe 1601 Act were:The establishment of the parish as the administrative unit responsible for poor relief,with churchwardens or parish overseers collecting poor-rates and allocating relief.The provision of materials such as flax, hemp, and wool to provide work for the ablebodied poor.The setting to work and apprenticeship of children.The relief of the “impotent” poor—the old, the blind, the lame, and so on. This couldinclude the provision of “houses of dwelling”—almshouses or poorhouses rather thanworkhouses.Any able-bodied pauper who refused to work was liable to be placed in a “House ofCorrection” or prison.SOURCE: Reprinted with permission of Peter Higginbotham.24 PART I SOCIAL PROBLEMS, THE SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM, AND THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORK
Much like current efforts to put those on welfare back to work, the workhouses were meantto stimulate a work ethic and to provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care, but the realityof the workhouses was altogether different, as the description in InfoTable 2.2 indicates.InfoTable 2.2 The WorkhousesWhatever the regime inside the workhouse, entering it would have been a distressingexperience. New inmates would often have already been through a period of severehardship. It was for good reason that the entrance to the Birmingham Union workhousewas through an arch locally known as the “Archway of Tears.” . . . The inmates’ toiletfacilities were often a simple privy—a cess-pit with a simple cover having a hole in it onwhich to sit—shared perhaps by as many as 100 inmates. Dormitories were usuallyprovided with chamber pots or, after 1860, earth closets—boxes containing dry soilwhich could afterwards be used as fertiliser.SOURCE: Reprinted with permission of Peter Higginbotham.Under the 1834 act, illegitimate children were the responsibility of their mothers until theywere 16 years old. If mothers were unable to support themselves and their children, they usuallyentered the workhouse whereas the father was free of responsibility for his illegitimate children,a notion that continues to this day in the United States and is felt to be responsible for thefeminization of poverty, even among legitimate children and mothers who have child supportdecrees from the court that are all too often ignored by fathers. Fortunately, this 1834 law onillegitimate children was unpopular and was replaced with a subsequent act in 1844 (7&8 Vic.c. 101) allowing an unmarried mother to order the father to pay for maintenance of the motherand child, whether or not she was receiving poor relief.The poor laws changed as times and the horrific conditions in the workhouses led thepublic to increasingly believe that the workhouses were shameful and that the British peopledeserved a much kinder and more humane approach to helping all people in times of economicand health concerns. InfoTable 2.3 provides a scathing criticism of the poor laws. As a result,Britain became one of the leading countries to institute free health care and other highlythought-of social services and became an important model for many social programs duringPresident Roosevelt’s New Deal (1933–1945).InfoTable 2.3 A Criticism of the Poor Laws Written in 1817The clear and direct tendency of the poor laws, is . . . not, as the legislature benevolentlyintended, to amend the condition of the poor, but to deteriorate the condition of bothpoor and rich. . . . If by law every human being wanting support could be sure to obtainit, and obtain it in such a degree as to make life tolerably comfortable, theory wouldlead us to expect that all other taxes together would be light compared with the singleone of poor rates. The principle of gravitation is not more certain than the tendency ofsuch laws to change wealth and power into misery and weakness.SOURCE: Ricardo (1817, pp. 35–40).CHAPTER 2 A B rief History of S ocial Work25
A Brief Overview and Timeline of the English Poor LawsAD 1300–1562 Large tracts of English land were set aside for sheep farming to produce wool.This dislocated many people who became an underclass of dispossessed poorwandering the countryside seeking work, settlement, and charity. A population increase of 25% and a series of famines led to increased poverty, whichcould not be dealt with using the old system of individual charity.1563–1601 In an attempt to provide a system of assistance to a growing number ofimpoverished citizens and because of concern that civil disobedience andchaos would result in civic deterioration, the English Poor Laws of 1563, 1572,1576, 1597, and 1601 were created. In 1563 the poor were categorized for the first time into deserving(the elderly and the very young, the infirm, and families who occasionallyfound themselves in financial difficulties due to a change in circumstance), who were considered deserving of social support, and theundeserving (those who often turned to crime to make a living, such ashighwaymen or pickpockets, migrant workers who roamed the countrylooking for work, and individuals who begged for a living), who were tobe treated harshly. The act of 1572 introduced the first compulsory localpoor law tax, an important step acknowledging that alleviating povertywas the responsibility of local communities. In 1576 the concept of theworkhouse was born, and in 1597 the post of overseer of the poor wascreated. The great act of 1601 consolidated all the previous acts and setthe benchmark for the next 200 years. (“A Brief Explanation of thePoor Law,” n.d., para. 4)1601–1834 During these years a system was devised and rules were developed thatprovided “poor relief ” by local authorities and depended on legal residencein a locale with provisions to help determine whether someone would stayor leave the “protection” of the poor laws administrator. Emphasis wasplaced on work, apprenticeships, and other means to determine that onehad become a contributing citizen. If character issues were noted thatsuggested a person was not deserving of help he or she could be removedfrom assistance.After 1834 The poor laws went from being a local administrative responsibility to ashared one where communities could band together to provide assistance.Workhouses rather than any assistance in kind (food, shelter, clothing,small money grants) became the primary way of assisting the poor. It wasnot until 1930 that the poor laws were finally abolished. The following rulesand conditions (Bloy, 2002, para. 1) were standardized by the Poor Lawsof 1834: After the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act had been passed, the Poor LawGuardians had to provide accommodation for paupers. They did this bybuilding “workhouses.” The aim of the workhouse was to discourage peoplefrom claiming poor relief, and conditions were to be made as forbidding aspossible. Residents of poor houses were segregated by age and gender.Married couples, even the elderly, were to be kept apart so that they could not“breed.” The old, ill, insane, slightly unbalanced, and fit were kept together26 PART I SOCIAL PROBLEMS, THE SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM, AND THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORK
both day and night with no form of diversion. Inmates simply sat and didnothing if they were not working. The daily schedule was as follows:5:00 A.M.Rising Bell6:00 A.M.—7:00 A.M.Prayers and Breakfast7:00 A.M.—12 noonWork12 noon—1:00 P.M.Dinner1:00 P.M.—6:00 P.M.Work6:00 P.M.—7:00 P.M.Prayers7:00 P.M.—8:00 P.M.Supper8:00 P.M.BedMeals were as dull, predictable, and tasteless as poor cooking and no imagination could makethem. Often the quantity, quality, and lack of nutrition meant that workhouse inmates were on aslow starvation diet.After 1930 Although the laws changed in England and the inhumane treatment of thepoor gave way to the progressive changes in the way the society viewedpoverty, many of the cruel ideas about the poor continue on in both Englandand America. Later in the book you’ll read about compassionate conservatism (Chapter 25), where the writer (Magnet, 1999, para. 9) urges a changein the way we provide assistance to the poor: Since some women will still have illegitimate children despite renewedstigma, Gov. Bush has just set up four pilot residential hostels forwelfare mothers and their babies—tough-love institutions, not handouts for the irresponsible, that will focus on making sure the babiesget the nurture they need to be able to learn and to succeed, somethingthat young welfare mothers often don’t know how to provide. Privategroups run the hostels—including, thanks to the “charitable choice”provision in the 1996 welfare reform act, a church-related group. Theyare able to provide the clearly, enunciated moral values that theirresidents, like most social-service clients, need to live by.Sound familiar? Some bad ideas apparently never go away.THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCEEven before the American Revolution, services to the poor, to children, and to the mentally illhad been established in North America, many using the poor laws established in England todefine who should receive services and the content of those services. By the early 19th century,states had begun providing relief through towns and counties. Because their efforts were ofteninadequate, private benevolent societies and self-help organizations began to supplement theirefforts. These benevolent societies were the predecessors of modern social service agencies.InfoTable 2.4 provides a description of the condition of mental institutions, as they were calledin the 19th century, and one woman’s work in bringing about change. InfoTable 2.5 considerswhether the condition in hospitals for the mentally ill have improved since the 19th century.CHAPTER 2 A B rief History of S ocial Work27
InfoTable 2.4 D orothea Dix and the Condition of American Mental Institutionsin 1840In March 1841, Dorothea Dix entered the EastCambridge, Massachusetts, jail, where she witnessed such horrible images that her life, fromthat point on, was changed forever. Within theconfines of this jail she observed that prostitutes, drunks, criminals, retarded individuals,and the mentally ill were all housed together inunheated, unfurnished, and foul-smelling quarters (Viney & Zorich, 1982). When asked whythe jail was in these conditions, she was toldthat the insane do not feel heat or cold.Dix proceeded to visit jails and almshouseswhere the mentally ill were housed. She madecareful and extensive notes as she visited withjailers, caretakers, and townspeople. Finally, shecompiled all these data and shaped a carefully Dorothea Dix, early activist for theworded document to be delivered to the mentally ill.Massachusetts Legislature. After a heateddebate over the topic, the material won legislative support, and funds were set asidefor the expansion of Worcester State Hospital (Bumb, n.d.).SOURCE: Bumb (n.d.).InfoTable 2.5 Are We Doing Better Now?In a report by the U.S. Justice Department in its 2005 review of California institutionstreating the mentally ill, as cited by Lopez (2005, p. A1), it was noted that therapistsand employees had been accused of sexually assaulting patients, patients were murderedby other patients, and “between January and June 20, 2003, one patient assaulted 20other patients. Staff were afraid of this patient and failed to intervene to protect otherpatients.” The report described inadequate toilet facilities, patients dying for unknownreasons, unsupervised patients committing suicide, and, on the testimony of a physician,staff at one hospital bringing drugs to the facility in exchange for cash. One wondershow Dix would view the progress made in even the past 30 years since the publicationof “On Being Sane in Insane Places” (Rosenhan, 1973), where researchers at a statehospital faked being mentally ill and observed the maltreatment and lack of professionalconduct of the staff to such an extent and to such a public outcry that American hospitals for the mentally ill were largely emptied and people began changing their locationof being warehoused from the hospital to the streets and inner cities of the United States.SOURCE: Undated portrait of Dorothea Dix, 19th-century advocate for the rights of the mentally ill.Courtesy of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/1175128 PART I SOCIAL PROBLEMS, THE SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM, AND THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORK
Those who worked or volunteered in benevolent societies were often upper-class womenand men, often known as “friendly visitors,” who used moral persuasion and personal exampleas helping devices. While I was a student social worker in the MSW program at the Universityof Washington in 1963, my field placement in the Seattle public schools still used the termfriendly visitor to designate who we were and what we did. How little things change.As social work became more interested in the conditions that created social problems,“organizations such as the Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor andthe Children’s Aid Society began investigating social conditions in areas such as tenementhousing and child welfare” (Tannenbaum & Reisch, 2001, para. 3).THE ORIGINS OF MODERN SOCIAL WORKIn the half-century after the Civil War, economic depressions, racism, and drastic increasesin immigration from southern and eastern Europe prompted an awareness of the need forsocial programs and helping organizations to assist millions of people who were experiencing economic and social displacement. The recognition of serious social problems followingthe Civil War led to what was then called “scientific charity,” an attempt to use conceptscommon to business and industry to cope with larger social problems. Tannenbaum andReisch (2001) note that although many clients receiving help from the first of these scientificcharities, such as the American Charity Organization organized in Buffalo, New York, in 1877,benefited, many preferred the more personal approaches offered through self-help groupsand community mutual aid. This distinction between large-scale efforts to resolve socialproblems and a more individualized approach set the stage for the earliest notions of thehelping process in social work—one that combines a personalized service with an understanding that environments and social policies need to be improved if individuals are to betruly served.A more highly personalized approach to helping is noted in the development of the settlement house movement, begun in 1886 with the Neighborhood Guild in New York City and madefamous by the best known of the settlement houses, Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr’s muchadmired Hull House in Chicago. Settlements focused on the causes of poverty and expandingjobs for the poor. See InfoTable 2.6 for a more complete description of Hull House. They also“conducted research, helped develop the juvenile court system, created widow’s pension programs, promoted legislation prohibiting child labor, and introduced public health reforms andthe concept of social insurance” (Tannenbaum & Reisch, 2001, para. 8). By 1910, the settlementhouse movement had more than 400 individual settlements, many serving newly immigratedgroups, which led to the creation of national organizations such asthe Women’s Trade Union League, the National Consumers’ League, the Urban League, and theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Settlement leaderswere instrumental in establishing the Federal Children’s Bureau in 1912, headed by JuliaLathrop from Hull House. Settlement leaders also played key roles in the major social movements of the peri
A Brief History of Social Work From the English Poor Laws to the Progressive Policies of President Barack Obama S ocial work, social problems, and the organizations that were developed in an attempt to cope with those problems have had almost a parallel history. This chapter discusses the
The Project Brief can take two forms: A letter Brief may be used for projects less than 100,000 (total cost including GST and fees). Full Brief utilising a project specific brief with this Basic Brief. The Project Brief in its dra
Center for Substance buse Treatment . Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies for Substance buse . Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series . 34 . Brief Interventions and Brief Therapies. For Substance . Abuse. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series . 34. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration . 1 Choke Cherry Road .
akuntansi musyarakah (sak no 106) Ayat tentang Musyarakah (Q.S. 39; 29) لًََّز ãَ åِاَ óِ îَخظَْ ó Þَْ ë Þٍجُزَِ ß ا äًَّ àَط لًَّجُرَ íَ åَ îظُِ Ûاَش
Collectively make tawbah to Allāh S so that you may acquire falāḥ [of this world and the Hereafter]. (24:31) The one who repents also becomes the beloved of Allāh S, Âَْ Èِﺑاﻮَّﺘﻟاَّﺐُّ ßُِ çﻪَّٰﻠﻟانَّاِ Verily, Allāh S loves those who are most repenting. (2:22
History 1301 Department of History Department: Social Sciences Discipline: History Course Number: HISTORY 1301 Course Title: United States History I Credit: 3 Lecture, 0 Lab Satisfies a core curriculum requirement? Yes, American History Prerequisites: TSI complia
220405 US History: IB History of the Americas I 220406 US History: Gifted and Talented 220409 US History: Honors 220614 NOCCA Integrated World History IV 220407 US History: DE CHIS 2013 American History I 220408 US History: DE CHIS 2023 American History II LASMSA courses 1 unit 220501 Civics 1 year 220502 Government
Business History Review 85 (Autumn . A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance In this brief history of U.S. consumer fi nance since World War II, the sector is defi ned based on the functions delivered by fi rms in the form of payments, savings and investing, bor- . [ATM] transactions), credit
accounting equation as shown above. The accounting equation is a simple expression of the fact that at any point in time the assets of the entity will be equal to its liabilities plus its equity. The transactions of a new business entity in its first five days are as follows: Required:
