Models for Change in Social Group Work

Marian Fatout

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780202360782
• eBook ISBN: 9781351504935
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Trabajo social

Intended for beginning students as was as for practitioners, this volume shows how to make maximum use of the various models available for social group work. Dr. Fatout explores and delineates the "mainstream model," devotes separate and incisive sections to notable specific approaches, and offers suggestions on ways in which social workers can utilize these strategies in an effective and systematic fashion.

PART I

CHAPTER 1

Social Work with Groups: An Introduction

Group work is a modality for bringing about change either in the environment or in the member’s intrapersonal or interpersonal relationships. “Social group work uses the group approach to accomplish the goals common to all social work activities: (1) to prevent members from developing dysfunctional ways of coping with their situations; (2) to enhance members’ engagement in and use of artistic, social, intellectual, and other endeavors; and (3) to rehabilitate members who have developed handicaps in their social and personal functioning” (Garvin, 1981, p. 3).

In social work the unit of service can be an individual, a subgroup, a group, or a larger collectivity. In this book the unit of service of focus is the group. Eubank (1932, p. 163) states that “a group is two or more persons in a relationship of psychic interaction, whose relationships with one another may be abstracted and distinguished from their relationships with all others so that they might be thought of as an entity.” The particular type of group utilized is the small group, usually composed of five to nine persons. The reason for stating the number of members is that it is believed to be very important that every person be able to relate directly and engage every other member in the group, face to face. The group is viewed as a system, that is, the member and group are so interrelated that the condition of either affects the other. Not only is the group affected by the members it also is influenced by the environment in which it exists, as well as affecting that environment.

A major factor in group dynamics is that of mutual aid. It is believed that people grow and change as they relate to others, both in receiving and in giving help. A part of this process recognizes that everyone not only can take from but also has something very important to contribute to others. Over the years many practitioners and researchers have been involved in attempting to identify the specific forces that are released by this mutual aid process (Corsini & Rosenberg, 1955; Goldstein, 1981; Marks, 1956; Northen, 1982; Yalom, 1970, 1975). Northen (1988) summarizes these forces as follows:

1. 1.Mutual support. When members are supportive of each other and receive additional support from the social worker, a climate is created in which members are able to express themselves and try out new thoughts and behaviors.
2. 2.Cohesiveness. This dynamic results from the members developing affective ties with each other. A commitment to the group and to each other results from this force.
3. 3.Relationships. The optimum condition to help members change requires a blend of support and challenge.
4. 4.Universalization. The member discovers that he/she is not the only person who is feeling or behaving in this manner. There is solace in knowing that one is not alone.
5. 5.Instillation of hope. In groups there are opportunities to relate to others who may be more optimistic and, in fact, may have accomplished some very important tasks and goals. The group as a whole, with the help of the worker, may convey some very positive expectations for the members.
6. 6.Altruism. A great deal of self-esteem results from the member becoming aware that he/she does have something of value to give to others, whether it is a suggestion, the description of an experience, or simply support and concern.
7. 7.Gaining knowledge and skills. The group provides opportunities to learn from others and to try new ways of thinking and behaving in a safe environment.
8. 8.Catharsis. Ventilation of feelings and exposing ones ideas to others who are accepting frees energy so that the member can continue to work toward the desired changes.
9. 9.Corrective emotional experiences. The group setting allows the member to correct earlier dysfunctional relationships by providing a primary group experience in which the person can reexperience and correct ways of feeling about and relating to significant others. Often this is accomplished by working through transferences with the worker or with other members. Transferences result when the member perceives another in the group as being like a significant other that they had experienced earlier in their life.
10. 10.Reality testing. Groups provide a setting in which the members can test and compare their perceptions and feelings. This process promotes validation or corrections of distortions in perceptions.
11. 11.Parameter and pressure of group membership. The expectations and norms of the group help the member to function within certain limits, often allowing him/her to reduce resistance to authority, accept necessary limitations, and behave in a manner acceptable to others.

Even after a discussion of the overall purpose of social work with groups, the more specific purposes, definitions, and descriptions of small groups and a brief discussion of mutual aid and the specific dynamic forces that are involved, it is believed that group work can best be understood by referring to its history.

Historical Context

The historical development of group work was a very distinct and unique process differing markedly from the emerging work with groups in other professions, such as psychology and psychiatry. An appreciation of the evolution of work with this system, which later officially became a part of social work, gives perspective in regard to the potential breadth of client populations and problems for which the group can be utilized.

The Industrial Revolution began in the United States in the mid-1800s and resulted in major social changes. In addition, there were shifts of large populations from rural to urban areas and immigration from Europe, Mexico, and Asia. This led to new social problems for the individual and for the broader society. People who had worked on farms and were accustomed to working many hours a day were now employed by factories for a designated number of hours. In the city, even though they worked many hours per day, they found themselves with leisure time to be filled. In many cases they did not have the skills essential to perform the jobs. Women were beginning to join the labor force and had to be trained and supported in these endeavors. It was important for immigrants to learn the language and new ways of living in order to function and compete with the rest of the population. Children, as well as women and men, became a part of the work force. Child labor laws had not yet been passed and children were often required to work 15 to 18 hours a day 7 days a week.

Some of the societal problems resulting from these major industrial changes were overcrowding, unhealthy living conditions, and deteriorating neighborhoods. Labor problems were developing as immigrants accepted jobs for lesser pay. Within this atmosphere of social and economic upheaval, organizations using groups developed to ameliorate some of these conditions. There were several major strands of expansion that seem especially significant to the evolution of group work.

Programs usually referred to as “character building” were soon founded. In 1851 the Young Men’s Christian Association was organized with the purpose “to improve the spiritual condition of young men in the drapery and trades” (Wilson, 1976, p. 6). The Young Women’s Christian Association was organized in 1866 and offered spiritual and social support as well as classes to learn skills such as typewriting. Other “character-building organizations” such as The Girl’s Friendly Society of the United States, the Boy’s Clubs of America, Boy Scouts of America, and Girl Scouts were some of these developing national organizations. Schwartz (1971) suggests that these character-building agencies grew from the belief that small face-to-face groups could restore opportunities for the good life taken by the post-Civil War industrialization.

Another major thrust to deal with the problems experienced by individuals and society was the introduction of the settlement house to the United States. Patterned after Toynbee Hall in London, the Neighborhood Guild was established on the lower east side of New York in 1886. The idea of settlement houses spread rapidly and many were established by 1900. Probably the most widely known of these was Jane Addam’s Hull House in Chicago in 1889.

The use of the term “settlement house” is very significant and purposeful. In London, the idea for these institutions came from a clergyman and a group of others who were looking for ways to help people who lived in a particular community. They decided they could give the most assistance by moving into a neighborhood and becoming neighbors to those around them, and so they located a house and “settled in” among the people they were serving. A unique characteristic of this method of giving help was that the workers concentrated “on the total problems of a single geographic area” (Pumphrey & Pumphrey, 1961, p. 192).

This movement made very meaningful contributions to the evolution of group work. A concept that was clearly established and is now very much a part of the foundation of social group work is that of mutual aid. Since the workers lived among the people they were serving they were affected by many of the same environmental conditions and problems as were the clients, so they often received help as they aided others. The concept of participatory help was now established. The staff in the settlement house did “things with” rather than “did things to” or “did things for” the client and the clients too were expected to share in this process.

Another important contribution to social group work that grew from the settlement house development was respect and support for the differences in cultures among the clientele. Cultural groups were encouraged to teach others about their beliefs, ways of living, and their foods. Participation in this manner supported and validated the autonomy of both the individual and the cultural groups.

Other values emphasized by the settlement house movement, through their classes and leisure activities, were the democratic process with learning and growth. The many classes and clubs provided opportunities to learn skills and also to practice them. Hull House included reading groups for children and adults, arts and craft classes, a women’s labor club, and Sunday concerts. A public kitchen was established for the working men and women. Other facilities intended to serve the community were a coffee house, a children’s playground, and a nursery and kindergarten to accommodate the working mothers (Pottick, 1988).

The use of the group for social change was actively modeled in many of the settlements. Dinner at Hull House was often the setting for bringing together the neighbors suffering the problems and the persons with the power to help to bring about the needed changes. Often these persons with influence were political figures. Jane Addams (1893) stated “Hull House endeavors to make social intercourse express the growing sense of the economic unity of society. It is an effort to add the social function to democracy. It was opened on the theory that the dependence of classes on each other is reciprocal.”

Settlement house staff too were directly involved in bringing about social change. Jane Addams was pictured in her horse-drawn carriage wearing her broad brimmed hat going from house to house putting lids on the garbage cans to improve the sanitary conditions.

Another strand of organizational development that emerged was the formation of brotherhoods, such as Jewish Community Centers and the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association. According to Howe (1976) the purpose of these organizations was to “Americanize” the Jews who were just arriving in this country.

Camp vacations for children were another development that contributed to the emergence of group work. The camp vacations had a very different purpose than the summer camps for children that we have today. The aim of these vacations was to rehabilitate the children who had been laboring in the factories for many hours a day and often had not been exposed to the sun or other healthful conditions for months. In describing the young people who are employed in the factories, Jane Addams (1903) said, “The boys and girls have a peculiar hue, a color so distinctive that any one meeting them on the street even on Sunday in their best clothes and mixed up with other children who go to school and play out of doors, can distinguish almost in an instant the children who work in a factory.” These youngsters needed to be rested and brought back to health so they could continue to provide labor for the industries.

Many young people were affected by these unhealthy conditions. In 1900 there were reported to be nearly two million children between the ages of 10 and 15 in the labor force, many of whom were working to supplement family income (Reid, 1981). It was not until 1914 that almost all states had child labor laws that forced the discontinuance of this practice.

The development of labor unions also contributed to the evolution of group work. These organizations grew out of the unrest of labor. There was competition for jobs and often workers were replaced by immigrants who were willing to accept lower pay and work longer hours. The security of workers was threatened as a result of this new movement.

Two other thrusts that occurred at about this same time were the adult education and the recreation movements. Both of these programs were closely interlinked with the activities that were being conducted in the settlement houses. Classes were also established in other settings to meet the needs of adults. Playgrounds and parks were established to provide leisure activities for these urban dwellers.

All of these movements and organizations were utilizing and learning about the use of small groups, but there was no professional identification among the workers in the various agencies. Instead the workers were identified with their agency, a settlement worker, a Y worker, or a union worker. Wilson (1976) notes that many of the programs developed during this time utilized many volunteers and only a few workers. They were working together to help with the large social problems “such as poverty, low wages, long working hours, poor housing and exploitation by landlords, inadequate sanitation, political corruption, and caste-class treatment of people” (Wilson, 1976, p. 7).

Two individuals who influenced these early workers and their view of the group were Mary P. Follett and John Dewey. Follett (1926), a political scientist, stated that she thought the solution to social problems would emerge fr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• About the Author
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Part I.
• Part II.
• Part III.
• Index