Sri Devi Institute of Social Work
Second Annual Seminar
18 and 19 January 2001
Changing Trends in Social Work Practice
In the New Millennium
Chairperson, participants, guests, and organisers,
01. Occasions like this are very rare for a person like me. As a
resource developer involved in conducting training
programmes in different places, my work is scheduled
sufficiently early, with the result that there are very few
occasions to move out from the designed schedules. So,
when an invitation from Sri Devi Institute of Social Work
came through a close associate, I saw a need to reschedule
my work on this day. I had to find a person to replace me in a
continuous work of four days, starting from the sixteenth of
this month. I could do that. I was told that I had to replace a
very important person who could not make it to the seminar. I
had to be a step-in. It is both an honour and an opportunity,
an honour that you are replacing someone considered more
important and an opportunity as a step-in. I asked myself
whether it is respectable enough to be a step-in. I told myself
that any good driver keeps the best tyre as the step-in to be
used in an eventuality which cannot take yet another
eventuality because, if or when it happens, it will be a total
break down. I am sure that the drivers here have kept me as
a step-in knowing fully well that a step-in tyre has to be the
best among the five. Fun apart, I am happy about this
opportunity of reading and preparing a paper on a subject
which though dear to me I would not have otherwise
ventured into at present. Structurally, this paper has been
subtitled, annotated and italicised.
02. I must plead guilty to a possible charge that I am not an
Defining MSW
admirer of the MSW course, about which I had spoken and
written on earlier occasions. I have a difficulty to think about
a professional social worker. I have wondered many a time
whether the degree should be called Master of Social Work
Administration or Master of Social Work Theories, or may
be, Master of Social Welfare Practices or even Master of
Constructive Work Practices, to borrow a phrase from the
Mahatma for the last. One of the reasons for this is that
social work presupposes voluntarism and professionalism
does not guarantee voluntarism as a part of it. To this extent
my presentation focuses attention also on the need of
bringing in a conceptual clarity on social work practices and
the professionalism associated with it.
03. Let me call your attention to the reports in the newspapers
yesterday about the earthquakes in El Salvador, Nicaragua,
Guatemala, and a few other Latin American countries.
Around 900 people were reported dead, 15,000 people hurt,
32,000 houses destroyed and unknown number rendered
homeless. United States and Spain were the first to send
rescue teams followed by many other countries contributing
their mite. The work is in progress and we do not know how
much would be needed and who will have to do it. But one
thing is certain. People in the world have learnt that they
have to come to the aid of suffering societies and do work for
amelioration of the miserable plight in which other people
may be. People in the world also have learnt that such
service is their responsibility to offer genuine care and not an
expression of magnanimity.
04. Sometime ago there were floods in Mozambique. Floods are
not anything new for the people of Mozambique yet the
incessant rains for three consecutive days and the
consequent flooding was beyond the purview of any of their
experiences when one considered the amount of
destruction it had done. By Monday 06 March 2000, a million
people were affected by it. The death toll rose by the hour.
The response from the rest of the world was also
unprecedented. British helicopters rescued hundreds of
people. A dare devil act of a British soldier hanging on a rope
from a helicopter and rescuing a woman, who had delivered
a baby on top of a tree on a tin sheeting, clinging on to him
who had put a noose around her waist, with the two hour old
infant in her arms, was a sight that addressed the
conscience of the world. Military and medical personnel from
South Africa, Britain, Netherlands, France, Portugal, Spain,
Libya, Malawi and Zambia got down to work in Mozambique.
United Nations officials were also there. Fifty helicopters
were in the skies and a hundred boats in the water by early
morning on Tuesday. People from more African nations
were arriving for rescue operations. As many as 900 military
Human Concern as
Responsibility
International
Panetics Society.
Prof. Ziu
Concern and Social
Work
personnel from the United States were in Mozambique by
Tuesday, hardly a day after the news flash. They brought
with them six 130 – C cargo planes to deliver relief supplies
and six heavy lift helicopters. A Special Operations Task
Force with search and rescue capability was set up to coordinate
emergency activities.
05. However, I do not forget that when we had floods in Orissa
which left thousands dead, and much destructions in its
wake, several times more in terms of property and
belongings than the disasters described above, there were
not many countries which had responded in like manner.
Speculating reasons for their behaviour do not console us in
any way either. It will be worthwhile to analyse the reasons
for the quick responses in the first two cases and the lack of it
in the third.
06. Any analyst will understand that social work which may be a
voluntary attempt to extend benefits in response to needs or
welfare activity to remove social injustice or a professional
service to solve problems of people in any given society or
working towards the economic well being and deeper sense
of happiness of people or functioning with specialised
knowledge and skill to deal with human behaviour, has to be
first seen as a value – a belief system. In some cases it is only
an intellectual value that is practiced only when personal
benefits are available, may be this is a partial answer to the
lack of response to the Orissa disaster and the quick
response to the disasters in Latin America and Africa. Social
work has to be a lived value, a principle of life that is practiced
without taking into consideration the benefits that will accrue
to the social worker or the group that conducts the social
work. This principle once established has a single or major
role to play in shaping the destinies of both the parties
involved and the quality of existence of societies.
07. The Western social scientists consider the dawning of the era
of social work in their world to have started with the Statute of
Henry VIII in the first half of the sixteenth century,
Elizabethen Poor Law in the beginning of the seventeenth
century or the alms house established in the thirteen
colonies of the present United States in the latter half of the
seventeen century. One wonders whether this was actually
social work or social administration for the general well being
as a responsibility of the ruler or administrator.
Introduction To
Social Work.
D. Paul Chowdhry
Concern and
Situational Sanctions
New Approaches to
Leadership.
Fred Fiedler
Associated Values of
Concern
Principle-Centred
Leadership.
Stephen Covery
Western Social Work
Radical Social Work
Today.
Mary London
08.
Some social scientists in India consider the Yagnashalas and
communitarian societies of the Vedic period and the
institutionalization of ‘dana’ during the later vedic period and
the reference in Kautilya’s Arthashasthra about the duties of
the king to be social work. In the same way, Ashoka’s and
Kanishka’s interest in the well being of the people has also
been listed as social work. Welfare activities during the reign
of the Sultanate or the Mughal period including the abolition
of slavery by Akbhar are considered by many as social work.
However, it is difficult to accept these. Probably in India,
social work as such could be said to have started only with
Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s social interventions and the initiation
of Gandhi’s work after his return from South Africa.
09.
May be the initial activities of people who were interested in
the well being of both the individual and society could be
termed as social service. Once such activities had become
organised or institutionalised they could have become
social work. Subsequent to this, because of their
implications and results, they could have been considered
social reform. As far as the twentieth century is concerned,
apart from Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Mahatma Gandhi
social work got its due and was entrenched with the
establishment of the TATA Graduate School of Social Work in
1936.
10.
Let us return to the values of social work. One understands
that social work should have its basic values in respect for
every person; mutual dependence; consideration of any
group of workers as a constructive force; belief in social
justice, freedom and equality; and more importantly, the right
of every individual to live devoid of violence. If these values
can be established as principles of life for individuals,
families, communities, congregations and nations through
the activities of individual social interventionists, social work
itself would be established as the key player in the well being
of any given society.
11.
Twentieth century and its thinkers have given us scope for
new trends in social work practices.
12.
Charity has been a motivation for social work to many. In this
regard a point to be noted is that charity usually does not
promote social reform which could result in social change.
Charitableness is certainly appreciated, especially in a
Social Welfare as
Social Work
Social Work.
P.D. Misra
Indian Social Work
Gandhian Concept of
Social Work.
S. Narayanaswamy
Principles of SocialWork
Alice Cheyney, Witmer
and Others
Modern Trends: 1
Not Charity
society which needs the concern of those who have.
However, the trend of the modern world is not for receiving
charity but instead it is more for performance of
responsibilities. When a beggar sitting in a street corner
stretches out his palm he is not doing that to get a piece of
nickel or a crumb of bread, but asking for recognition and
consideration to live like the giver. So, charity is not what is
needed in any social work today. It is responsibility,
responsibility for having understood or for having procured
or for having possessed.
13.
Responsibility is not only in sharing through understanding
needs. A greater responsibility is the intellectual
responsibility. The responsibility of having known better than
the others becomes an obligation of every individual to the
society in general and individuals in particular. It is not
welfare of the general public that should be uppermost in the
mind of the social worker. Neither shall it be the essential
goodness of an individual to sympathise with the others in
distress. Nor is it a desire to rehabilitate either to get Moksha
or to have a sense of satisfaction. It is intellectual
responsibility that shall be the cornerstone for any social
work that is worth its name.
14.
Social work, it was thought in the mid part of the twentieth
century, should result in liberation of individuals, liberation
from the shackles of poverty, ignorance or exploitation. But
then, it is important for us to understand that the second half
of the twentieth century showed us that liberation is not
possible without empowerment. Political liberation does not
mean anything to a community of people who are not able to
enjoy the benefits of such liberation because they do not
even know what such benefits are and how they are
associated with their liberation. Economic liberation which
results in plenty has no significance until there is an equitable
distribution of the wealth and people are powerful enough to
bargain and take possession of their rightful share of wealth
generated. Social liberation is only a research report when it
is not producing equality of opportunity for every individual in
any society. Therefore, a modern social worker has to think
about empowering people to make them feel the status of
liberation.
15. A modern trend in social work practices is to deal with societal
violence itself. Indulgence in violence is the most disastrous
Modern Trends: 2
Intellectual
Responsibility
Modern Trends: 3
Empowerment
Modern Trends: 4
Dealing With Violence
aspect of modern societies. A principle-centred social worker
has to understand that the greatest contribution an individual
can make to the existing society is reduction of violence.
When one considers violence one refers to the violence
indulged in by big time involvers like terrorists or mafia
gangs or hired killers. A social worker’s role to deal with such
people is limited. However there is another area where a
modern social worker has to get involved. There is a need to
understand that the violence indulged in by the so called
good people in totality is much more than the violence
indulged in by the big time involvers. The fact that the minor
forms of violence is indulged in by parents, teachers,
administrators, educationists and corporate organisers
makes every social worker understand that it is dealable. An
influence process can result in reduction of this violence.
There is a great need for the social worker to get involved in
this activity as early as possible.
16. Yet another trend in social work practices, and a very
desirable one is to prepare people for political leadership.
Considering the fact that corruption has become a way of life
for political leaders in very many countries, a true social
worker has to work with people to produce people of quality
who can indulge in political work honestly. Preparing a
community to throw up a political leader who can steer clear
of the existing standards of political living and developing the
resource in such individuals is the need of the day. A social
worker has to envisage strategies and methods for achieving
this.
17. The days of individual power have definitely been reduced
and the power of the collective is easily seen all over the
world. Therefore, the modern method of the social worker is
to instill in people the need for an awareness of democratic
systems of communication and governance. Democracy is
not merely a form of governmental existence, it is a value of
life in every field of activity. A social worker who has a vision
of any society or nation today works for acceptance of
democracy and its systems so as to enable these to
percolate into every stream of the social order whether it is
general activities or societal governance.
Modern Trends: 5
Preparing People for
Leadership
Modern Trends: 6
Democratic Ways of
Living
18. Sustainability is the hallmark of the activities of a modern social worker. Honesty and
Modern Trends: 7
excellence are, no doubt, values that produce results. However, results generally
Sustainability
are short lived. Very often activities themselves come to an
end with the exit or withdrawal of the individuals who
spearhead a particular form or method. Quite a lot of social
work turns out to be absurd when its systems are not
sustainable. Any new thought or action that comes in
because of a shift of mind due to the personal power of the
individual to influence can sustain as a base for a new way of
living only when various aspects of sustainability have been
taken care of. A modern social worker with a commitment to
the design of work that has been drawn up scrutinises the
design for sustainability.
19. A modern social worker also accepts the values of resistance
as a way of living. An empowered person cannot contribute
to any society unless resistance becomes a way of life.
Resistance is not a simple internal process where
purification of the individual systems make the individual
more resourceful, more effective and more successful. It
indeed is an external process of not only reaching out to
people to support their causes but also immersing oneself to
feel the resistance and imbibe its spirits, never to duck under
power or pressure.
20.
A social worker today is essentially a human developer,
striving to produce an individual with concern for other
beings and the society in which they live. This concern does
not stop with the social worker. The influence processes
adopted by the worker reach out to larger numbers and then
they are converted to a culture of concern. This culture of
concern is a paragon of an example of not an understanding,
not even a learning, instead, it is that of an enlightenment.
The social worker understands that every activity that she or
he does should influence every person with whom she or he
interacts to become a part of this culture of concern. The
essential faith of such workers is in humanism. Therefore, a
modern social worker does everything for building a more
humane and enlightened society.
Modern Trends: 8
Resistance as a Value
Modern Trends: 9
Human Developer
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