The Profession of Social Work

Guided by History, Led by Evidence

Catherine N. Dulmus, Karen M. Sowers

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781118240182
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

An expert introduction to the foundations of the social work profession—from its historical roots to its evolution in an era of evidence-based practice

The Profession of Social Work provides a broad overview of the history, scope, values, ethics, and organizational framework of the social work profession. Exploring professional ethics and human rights, evidence-based practice and practice-guided research, as well as emerging trends and issues, this important book presents topics of critical importance to anyone considering a career in social work.

Each chapter in the text offers an array of pedagogical features, including Key Terms, Review Questions for Critical Thinking, and Online Resources.

Ideal for introductory courses for both undergraduate and graduate students, The Profession of Social Work features coverage closely aligned with social work accreditation standards (EPAS) and includes chapters authored by established scholars on topics including:

• Social work history
• Social work education
• Professional credentialing and regulations
• Values and ethics
• The strengths perspective in social work practice
• Evidence-based practice and improving the scientific base for social work practice
• Contemporary issues in social work

With a wealth of insider insights into and guidance on the profession of social work, this book is essential reading to prepare for a career in this field.

Chapter 1

The History of Social Work and Social Welfare

Leslie Leighninger

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To what extent and in what ways is modern social work a product of the experiences of the past?

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Religious Origins of Social Work

Social work as a profession grew chiefly out of the development of social welfare policies and programs in the United States, Europe, and Muslim countries. Judeo-Christian and Muslim practices and beliefs underlie many of the early attempts to provide help to the poor, the sick, widows, orphans, the “insane” and “imbeciles” (as those with problems of mental illness and developmental disability used to be called), and the elderly. This history begins with a discussion of the development of social welfare in Middle Eastern and European countries and then moves to the transfer of social welfare policies and practices to the New World of the American colonies. We then discuss the transition from the work of government officials and “people of good will,” who both helped and regulated those who were needy, to the creation of the profession of social work as we know it today.

Islam

Two thousand years before the birth of Christ, a ruler of Babylonia named Hammurabi made the protection of widows and orphans an essential part of his code. The Ancient Greeks and Romans were similarly concerned about helping the needy. The Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC) described man as a social animal who should “cooperate with and assist his fellow men.” He also said it is more blessed to give than to receive. As the social welfare historian Walter Trattner notes, “the words ‘philanthropy’ and ‘charity’ and the concepts for which they stand—love of mankind, love

of humanity, brotherhood—are of Greek and Latin origin” (Trattner, 1999, pp. 1–2).

The Arab world has also contributed to charitable traditions. Islamic thought draws a distinction between social justice and charity. The faith has a strong tradition of social reform, based on the Prophet Muhammad's advocacy on behalf of women, children, and the disadvantaged. This tradition is operationalized through the requirement that all Muslims who are financially able shall contribute 2.5% of their net wealth each year for support of the needy. This practice, called zakat, is not considered to be charity but rather an act of social justice through the redistribution of wealth. Any contributions in addition are seen as charity, or sadaqah, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. The Koran lists eight uses for charitable contributions: aid to the poor, the needy, those who collect the contributions, “those whose hearts must be reconciled,” debtors, wayfarers, the redemption of captives and, “for God's cause” (Al-Krenawi & Graham, 2000; Augustine, 2002; Canda & Furman, 1999, pp. 137–138; Stillman, 1975).

Judaism

Trattner emphasizes the importance of Jewish tradition in the development of modern philanthropy. Ancient Jewish doctrines, he notes, teach the duty of giving and “equally important, the right of those in need to receive.” Throughout the Old Testament, we find commandments to give to others, particularly the old, the sick, those with handicaps, and the poor. As in Islam, this giving is not a matter of charity but a matter of justice. Not only do the Scriptures state that “one might break off his iniquities” (or acts of wickedness) by showing a compassionate face to the poor, but they also go on to command that “thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand” to the unfortunate. “It is forbidden,” according to the Scriptures, “to turn away a poor man…empty-handed.” And in a phrase that social workers would appreciate, people should give such aid “with a friendly countenance, with joy, and with a good heart” (Trattner, 1999, p. 2).

The Jewish philosopher Maimonides set out the following eight degrees of charity:

Give, but with reluctance and regret. This is the gift of the hand but not of the heart.

The second is to give cheerfully, but not proportionately to the distress of the sufferer.

The third is to give cheerfully and proportionately, but not until we are solicited.

The fourth is to give cheerfully and proportionately, and even unsolicited; but to put it in the poor man's hand, thereby exciting in him the painful emotion of shame.

The fifth is to give charity in such a way that the distressed may receive the bounty and know their benefactor, without being known to him.

The sixth, which rises still higher, is to know the objects of our bounty, but remain unknown to them.

The seventh is still more meritorious, namely, to bestow charity in such a way that the benefactor may not know the relieved persons, nor they the name of their benefactor.

The eighth and most meritorious of all is to anticipate charity by preventing poverty; that is, to assist a reduced person so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding up his hand for charity (Macarov, 1978, p. 6).

From these ideas and principles, the Jews developed many social welfare practices. These included the education of orphans, burial of the dead, consolation of the bereaved, visitation of the ill and infirm, and the care of widows, divorcees, and the aged. Provision for the poor was made primarily through various agricultural practices, which included “gleanings,” or the practice of leaving grain dropped during the harvest which could be picked up by the hungry (Lowenberg, 2001).

Christianity

Christianity carried on the charitable tradition, adding a particular emphasis on love and compassion. The founders of the Christian Church were Jews, so it is not surprising that many parts of the New Testament focused on charity. The basic principle underlying early Christian approaches to social welfare was similar to the Hebraic idea that poverty was not a crime. Even though discretion should be observed in giving aid, and rules set up for discriminating among the various classes of poor people, evidence of need was still the paramount factor in offering help. It was assumed that need came about as a result of misfortune for which society should take responsibility.

At first, charity was an informal system of help, but as Christianity became more established as a religion, the Church fathers felt it was important to set up a more formal system of charities. Beginning in the sixth century, monasteries began to serve as basic agencies of relief, particularly in rural areas. Some monastic orders were organized with a particular mission of serving the needy. These orders received income from donations, legacies, and collections, and used this to provide help to the poor who came to their doors. They also, in a forecasting of what we might now call “community outreach,” carried food and other provisions to the sick and needy in their communities (Trattner, 1999).

During the First Crusade in the 11th century, which called for the abolishment of the Muslim states, military monastic orders were developed to care for and provide protection for pilgrims and the sick. These orders were well-organized associations of devout Christians who cared for pilgrims, nursed the sick, and even eventually took part in the military defense of the “Crusader States.” Once Jerusalem had been “reclaimed” by the Crusaders, there was a dramatic increase in the numbers of Christian pilgrims making their way to the Holy City. These pilgrims were often old and ill, coming to die in the same city where Christ had died. One of the first formal orders of those ministering to them was the Hospitallers. The order set up the great pilgrim hospital in Jerusalem. In what we might now call a “multicultural” approach, they sometimes employed both Jewish and Muslim physicians to care for the sick (Jordan, 2001).

Other monasteries expanded on the work of the Hospitallers, providing a medieval system of hospitals for the sick poor, including lepers. These hospitals did not solely provide for the sick, however. They also housed “weary wayfarers,” pilgrims, orphans, the elderly, and the destitute. Like the “community-based social services” of today, hospitals were found along main routes of travel and later in cities. Eventually, these hospitals were taken over by municipal authorities, creating a link between religious and secular charity. Trattner notes that by the middle of the 1500s there were more than 1,100 hospitals in England alone. Some took care of up to several hundred people (Trattner, 1999).

Government Enters the Picture

The evolution of feudalism in Europe in the 11th century provided a system of government, which, at least theoretically, dealt with poverty or distress among the population. By the late 11th and 12th centuries, most “common” people in Western Christian countries lived on feudal estates as serfs to the lords who owned the estates. Although they had little freedom, serfs were to be protected by the landowners against the hazards of illness, unemployment, and old age. At the expense of individual freedom, serfs were thus provided a form of social insurance against the challenges of life. This might be considered a primitive form of social insurance (Trattner, 1999).

Those who were not serfs, and who lived in cities, were often helped by social, craft, and merchant guilds. Like labor unions today, guilds provided benefits for their members. They also provided some assistance to the town poor, such as the distribution of corn and other food and the provision of free lodging for poor travelers (Trattner, 1999).

The Deserving and the Undeserving Poor

As early as the Middle Ages, people were developing a distinction between the “deserving” and the “undeserving” poor. Monks praised poverty, generally meaning the voluntary poverty of those in religious orders. But they also spoke of the “blessed poor”—presumably meaning those who had not volunteered to be destitute. They saw people who worked hard, and yet still suffered deprivation, as worthy of pity. People who begged, did not work, or “drank themselves into torpor,” and women and men who “hired out their bodies for sex” were the undeserving poor (Jordan, 2001, pp. 191–192).

The Black Death, or bubonic plague of the mid-1300s, and similar epidemics in the next two centuries, brought poverty and death to new heights in Europe and the Islamic world. The plague bacterium is a pathogen carried by fleas. The rat is the preferred host of fleas, and in the Middle Ages the plague spread to Europe and Asia through the fleas on shipboard rats. Once the host rat died of the disease, the fleas sought other hosts, such as cats or humans. The death rate from the disease, particularly in crowded urban areas, was extremely high. The Black Death, which occurred in England in 1348 to 1349, killed almost a third of the population. During the years of the plague, strangers who earlier might have been granted relief were seen as vagabonds “to whom the State prohibited almsgiving under pain of imprisonment” (Herlihy, 1997; Jordan, 2001; Trattner, 1999).

The Statute of Laborers

The Black Death, as you might expect, created a lack of labor. Surviving workers were in a position to demand higher wages. Landowners put a stop to this with the Statute of Laborers enacted in 1349. It set a maximum wage and compelled workers to work for whomever needed them. It forbade laborers from traveling, and made it illegal for an able-bodied man to beg. Punishment for begging included whipping for several days and having one or both ears cut off. Social welfare historian Blanche Coll notes that in this period, “those seeking work at better wages and under freer conditions…were deemed criminal.” In other words, poverty among the able-bodied was beginning to be seen as a crime, and people should deem themselves lucky to get any job available (Coll, 1969; see also Quigley, 1996). This set the tone for welfare legislation of centuries to come. Poverty was blamed on unwillingness to work, so people should be forced to work at whatever wages were offered. Contemporary emphases on “workfare” and on the prevention of welfare cheating continue this Medieval thinking.

Subsequent centuries brought new challenges and problems. In England, the feudal system was declining, mercantilism (or commitment to commerce and trade) was rising, new trade routes were being opened, and new industries were being developed. As the New World began to open up, the potential for increased prosperity grew. Systems like serfdom, however, which at least offered some protection to individuals by the lords of the land, went into decline. With the coming of industrialization and urbanization, many people no longer had any rights to the land they lived on nor to their dwellings. To make things worse, the Protestant Reformation brought about the expulsion of the Catholic Church from England in 1536. This meant the demise of the system of monasteries and their hospitals, which had carried much of the responsibility for helping the sick, the old, the traveler, and the poor in general (Popple & Leighninger, 2011).

The Elizabethan Poor Laws

Following the Statute of Laborers, various laws were passed that proposed to deal with the problems of labor, begging, and crime. These acts were eventually collected in one major piece of legislation, the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601. This major law established “the first secure basis for public assistance to the poor.” It required each parish or town to provide for the poor through levying taxes on property held within the jurisdiction. The Elizabethan Poor Law, which would stand with only minor changes for almost 250 years, defined three major categories of dependents. These were the vagrant, the involuntary unemployed person, and the helpless. The law established ways for dealing with each. It also established the parish, “acting through the overseers of the poor appointed by local officials, as the administrative unit for executing the law” (Coll, 1969; Quigley, 1996; Ziliak, 2005).

Indoor and Outdoor Relief

In a system that might seem familiar today, the parish was given the power to use the tax revenues to build and maintain almshouses, to supply help to the aged, the sick, and handicapped, and other helpless people in their own homes, and to “purchase materials with which to put the able-bodied unemployed to work.” The law held parents, if they had the means, responsible for the support of their children and grandchildren. In turn, children were liable for the care of their “unemployable parents and grandparents.” Those children whose parents could not provide for them “were to be set to work or bound out as apprentices.” Finally, vagrants and able-bodied people refusing to work could be committed either to a “house of correction,” a workhouse, or a common jail. Putting people into almshouses (or “poorhouses”), workhouses, or other institutions was considered “indoor relief.” “Outdoor relief” referred to providing some sort of help to people in their homes. As we will see, these terms were later transplanted to the American colonies, and lingered in the parlance of the American social welfare system for some time (Coll, 1969; Marx, 2004).

Most of the institutions for indoor relief, even orphanages, were unpleasant, often punishing places. Many were not much more than sheds divided into tiny rooms with little heat. Sanitation facilities were rudimentary, and food was inadequate. Watery gruel was a staple. Those who refused to go into workhouses were harshly dealt with. Vagrants “not willing to work,” could be sent to an institution, whipped, branded, stoned, or even put to death. Clearly all able-bodied, and thus “undeserving” poor were to be strictly and punitively controlled (Day, 2000; Dolgoff & Feldstein, 1998; Trattner, 1999).

Althoug...