An Introduction to Social Work Theory

David Howe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351958691
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Social workers need to recognize the critical role that theory plays both in the way they make sense of what is going on and in the way they order their work. Such recognition clarifies practice for both the worker and the client. David Howe's classic text provides a framework to help social workers develop an understanding of the theories which inescapably underpin their thoughts and actions. This edition contains a new preface by the author, written in 2008, in which he examines the continuing value of his framework, concluding that it remains an effective tool for making sense of the profession's most current ideas. The book covers a range of theoretical approaches, demonstrating through examples that different theories necessarily lead to very different practices. It offers a stimulating guide to social work theory which is proven to help social workers both to understand their practices and to practise in a disciplined and imaginative way.

Chapter 1
The Consumer Reports

It was not until the late 1960s that researchers thought to ask clients what they felt about social workers and the service that they gave. As well as satisfying social work's curiosity, it was recognized that the provision of an 'effective service requires us to know something about the responses and reactions of those we seek to help' (Sainsbury 1975, p.1). More broadly, the pursuit of the consumer's view was part of a general movement in the social sciences away from simply seeing people as objects in society to understanding them as individuals who have personal views of the world.

In social work, the consumer's view is not just an interesting aside. If social work is to be a personal social service then it becomes necessary to know how the service is being personally experienced. The client's perception is an integral part of the practice of social work. It was recognized that it was important to know what consumers felt and understood to be happening if social work was to be appropriate and effective. For both researchers and practitioners this opened up an entirely different line of practice. Explanations, values and methods changed. The view of the other was sought and the client spoke.

What clients say

Davies (1985, p.26), in his review of the literature on the client's perspective, identifies two aspects of practice that consumers feel social workers should get right: the quality of the relationship; and the achievement of results. Clients do not like social workers who are cool, detached, career-minded or suggest that they are just doing their job. In Salisbury's (1975) study, Mrs Underwood said:

It's got to be done on a friendly basis with me. It's no good them coming and just sitting and listening to you and not caring a damn (p.89).

Clients do like workers who show friendliness, homely qualities and honesty. 'I just felt like I was talking to an old friend.' says Mrs Mole in The Client Speaks (Mayer and Timms 1970. p.82), 'and just pouring out my troubles.'

Closely bound up with the worker's style and the satisfactory achievement of results is the issue of the client knowing where he or she is with the social worker. The need to understand why the worker is involved and what is going on runs through all the consumer reports. Ideally, the worker should be clear and explicit both about her purpose and method of working.

Many clients felt confused, baffled and even irritated by social workers who were vague or unclear about their intentions. 'An uneasy lack of clarity' about why social workers visited troubled many of Salisbury's respondents (Sainsbury 1980). Clients new to the personal social services often have no precise knowledge of what social workers do. MrZebedee in Rees's study (1978, p.75) recalled his social worker's first visit, 'he just nosed around in here, took particulars, just like the police when they come in to see who done the meter'. Rees (p.75) goes on to observe that, by making enquiries beyond first meetings, social workers gave an impression of being interested, 'yet. subsequently, they felt reluctant to take further initiatives and withdrew without any explicit agreement'. Thus, clients were left hazy about the purpose of the worker's visit, as in the case of Mrs May:

I wondered why he was coming. He seems to think I'm going to take another dose of pills. When he comes it's embarrassing because he doesn't seem to know what to say (Rees 1978, p.99).

Ambiguities over intervention and clashes in perspective also became a source of client dissatisfaction. In Mayer and Timms's (1970) investigations, many clients remained unaware that the worker's psychoanalytic outlook accounted for the interest being shown in their past and the family's relationship in the present:

When we came out of there the fourth time, my husband said, 'what do you think of it?" and I said, 'I don't know what to think of it". Then my husband said, 'He just don't give you any idea what he's going to do or anything. He just keeps on saying come back and have some more talks and he says he's going to have more talks and more talks. Well, while he's doing that, we're not getting anywhere. Penny's the problem, not us' (ibid., p.71).

In similar vein, Rees (1978, p.101) cites the case of the social worker who was seen by the family as coming to collect the rent but he himself regarded this as an opportunity to discuss the possibility of the father getting a job and check the welfare of the children whom he suspected of being maltreated. Similarly, a woman who had sought to adopt a child found some of her experience with social workers 'extremely unsatisfactory', she told Timms (1973, p.6), 'because they never explained procedures to us so we never knew what the next stage would be or how many hurdles lay in front of us'.

Clients who understand the worker's role and appreciate their methods of working appear more satisfied. When explanations are made clear and explicit, the client's confusion and anger disappear. Corby (1982. p.630) records that clients prefer social workers who are 'straight', who let them know where they stand. A general sense of progress that the involvement was leading somewhere recognizable was viewed favourably. Indeed, a certain amount of 'acceptable directiveness' (Sainsbury 1975. p.80) was felt to aid the worker's relationship with the client. The subsequent experiences of the woman seeking to adopt with another agency confirm the value of practising in a clear and open way. 'The meeting ... gave the social worker a chance to explain exactly how their adoption procedure worked and this was most helpful as we then knew where we were throughout the negotiations' (Timms 1973, p. 19).

Effective practice

What clients say is matched by what observers see to be effective in practice. Fischer (1978, pp.222–3), in a comprehensive review of the literature, concludes that, in order to be effective, workers must succeed in the two following areas:

1. They must create those personal conditions which establish a relationship of trust, caring and acceptance, thereby increasing the client's amenability to therapeutic influence. It appears, therefore, that the quality of the relationship is important in social work practice. Social workers should be 'responsive'.
2. They must employ clear and explicit procedures. The purpose of the worker's involvement must be understood by the worker and the client. Good practitioners make deliberate use of well articulated theories and methods which organize, order and direct practice in a way that is recognized by both worker and client. Social workers should be 'systematic'.

Failure in one or both of these areas leads to weak practice. Truax and Carkhuff (1967) were amongst the first to identify the value of empathy, genuineness and warmth in successful therapeutic relationships. The absence of any of these 'core conditions' did not equate with satisfactory outcomes.

Mayer and Timms (1970, p. 144), reflecting on the insight-oriented techniques of their family welfare workers, felt that 'an approach of this type, our data strongly suggest, will prove ineffective unless clients first acquire some understanding of the assumptions underlying its use'. Sainsbury (1975, p.83) reminds social workers of their responsibility for shaping the content of the interview and quotes Mrs Price, one of his respondents, on the characteristics she prefers in a social worker, 'they've got to be strong. They should be able to take control of the situation'.

Social workers who are able to state what it is they think is going on and how things should be tackled are appreciated by clients. Yet the evidence is that many practitioners are weak in these critical respects. Corby (1982, p.627), for example, in his examination of long-term practice, found that social workers were clear about their description and assessment of cases but uncertain about what it was they were trying to achieve. When clients themselves were asked what they thought their social workers were trying to do to help them 'many were unaware of the idea of any strategy on the part of the social workers' (Corby, p.628).

Rees (1978, p.43), too, records that some of his respondents could not state the objectives in their work, or, if they did. they were couched in very general terms such as 'to make people happier'. In fact, means and ends often became confused. 'He requires the kind of help that might come from building up a relationship', believed one worker (ibid., p.44). Throughout most of the consumer studies, social workers were clear about the value of a good relationship but muddled about the actual purpose of their involvement. This left clients bemused.

The structure of practice

The relationship and the use of interpersonal skills has received a good deal of attention in social work practice over recent years. Although the use of direction and order by the worker is a recognized part of skilled practice, the characteristics of sequentially organized work have been examined less rigorously. This book looks at the nature of a structured practice – the process of social work – and considers its relationship to social work theory.

Both social workers and clients should know where they are and where they would like to go. If you do not know where you are, you will not know in which direction to move. If you do not know where you are going, you will not know when you have arrived. Drift and a lack of purpose in much social work practice suggests many social workers have little idea of place in their work with clients. Thus, a sense of location and a sense of direction should structure practice. With her client, the worker should be clear about her role, purpose and methods of working. What has brought them together and the expectations each has of the other should be discussed and made mutually clear. These are the ingredients of good practice. This is the language of organization order and structure. It dispels confusion and prevents talk which is at cross-purposes.

During the 1970s the basic pattern of a structured practice was formulated (Goldstein 1973, Siporin 1975, Pincus and Minahan 1973). In some hands it became known as the social work process (Butrym 1976, p.81). In this, the worker is required to think and act systematically. With the client, the worker needs to be clear who she is and why she is there. Nothing should be assumed. What may be a daily and accustomed way of thinking to the social worker is an entirely new experience for the client.

According to Fischer (1978, p. 138), the most crucial aspect of structure is planning. This involves making a careful assessment, formulating goals, developing programmes and sequenced steps, choosing methods and establishing criteria against which the outcome can be judged. At the very outset, the client has to be involved in what is going on. aware of what is being done and why. Clients who remain unclear about the purpose and methods of social work practice tend to drop out (Briar 1966). The worker should be clear not only about her position, but should actively discover the client's expectations of the involvement. Out of this demand for clarity and the avoidance of 'double-agendas' arose the widespread use of the 'contract' – sometimes written, often spoken. The contract is usually specific, spelling out in concrete detail what each party will do and expect. As Fischer (1978, p. 142) argues, 'contracts foster explicitness, clarity and openness in the relationship between worker and client. They also provide a built-in framework for establishing reciprocal accountability.'

This brief survey of the client's view suggests that social workers should be able to answer the following five questions if they are to establish a practice that is clear, organized and structured:

1. What is the matter? The worker needs to recognize and identify the problem.
2. What is going on? The situation has to be assessed, interpreted and explained.
3. What is to be done? In the light of the assessment, the social worker and client decide on their goals, making plans and clarifying intentions.
4. How is it to be done? The methods by which the goals are to be achieved have to be chosen.
5. Has it been done? The outcome is evaluated.

The views of clients and the observations of researchers leave no room for complacency on the part of social workers. The questions need to be asked with persistence. Answers should be sought with insistence by workers, clients and supervisors alike. But there is one more thing to note. Although the answers to each of the five questions may be given loudly and clearly from individual social workers, each social worker may give a different answer in the same situation. This curious state of affairs takes us into the world of theory.

Chapter 2
Making Sense

Seeing and understanding

For different people, the world around just looks different – physically, psychologically and socially. Ways of viewing the world and explaining how objects, people and situations work is the province of theory. In this way competing theories lead to contrasting explanations of the same phenomena.

For example, in geology, the historical reason for the existence of great mountain chains has received two contrasting explanations. The first theory suggested that the earth is gradually cooling down. As it cools, the planet shrinks and like an apple that dries and shrivels or a balloon that deflates and wrinkles, its surface begins to crumple and fold and this we see as mountains. The other theory takes a directly opposite view. The earth's core and mantle actually generate heat through radioactive decay. This heat wells up towards the surface, and like porridge in a pan, it crumples, fractures and disturbs the crust. As pieces or 'plates' of crust glide over the surface, some collide and are pushed into huge mountainous blocks. Each theory of mountain building understands the same geological condition in a fundamentally different way. The accounts are mutually exclusive.

Similarly, in the case of mental disorder, theoretical disputes have led to varying and conflicting explanations. Moreover, these different understandings have led to different practices and treatments. If the cause of madness is said to be the possession of the individual by evil spirits, the appropriate response is exorcism. When the explanation of mental disturbance lies with chemical imbalances in the brain, treatment by drugs is recommended. If mental confusion is generated in the disturbed communication patterns of family life, family therapy is offered. What is to be done depends on what it is you think is going on.

So, returning to the relationship between good practice and the structure of social work, it is now possible to sense that the content of good practice is highly contested ground. The problems seen, the assessments made, the goals set and the methods employed vary according to the theoretical position held. But although the need for clear structure and order in social work practice has been strongly argued and fully articulated, the theories that underpin it have not received such a close examination, at least as they impinge on the shape and direction of practice. In some quarters there has been what Hardiker and Barker (1981, p.2) call an 'anti-intellectual stance' in which the role of theory is avoided. We all have ideas about the way things are and views about what should be done. Each way of making sense of what is going on amounts to having a theory. Of course, my understanding of the situation may not be the same as yours. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to ask of me, particularly in a morally and socially fraught area such as welfare work, how I am seeing events, what I understand to be happening and what actions I propose to take.

The rest of this book examines the characteristics of different social work theories. It seeks to explore how the identification of problems, the setting of goals and the choice of methods depend on how people and their situation are being explained and so lead to different kinds of practice. So, although the social worker may well know where she is and where she is going, which from the client's point of view is good, the starting point and destination vary depending on the initial outlook. By understanding how theory determines the 'process' of practice, I hope to show that there are many possible starting points and numerous places to go. To travel at all is to hold ideas about the behavioural and social terrain over which we journey. To show no interest in social work theory is simply to travel blind. This is bad for practice and unhelpful to clients.

However, before proceeding any ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface to the Revised Edition
• Permissions
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The Consumer Reports
• 2 Making Sense
• 3 Sorting Out Social Work Theories
• 4 The World of Objects and Subjects
• 5 Order and Conflict in Society
• 6 A Taxonomy of Social Work Theories
• 7 The Fixers
• 8 The Psychoanalytic Tradition in Social Work
• 9 Behavioural Social Work
• 10 The Seekers After Meaning
• 11 Client-Centred Approaches
• 12 The Raisers of Consciousness
• 13 Radical Practice
• 14 The Revolutionaries
• 15 Marxist Social Work
• 16 Theories for Social Work and Theories of Social Work
• Bibliography
• Subject Index
• Name Index