Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Work Education: Radical Thought In Action, Peninah A. Chilton, Marsha R. Ellentuck, Eileen M. Gilkenson, Sharon A. Jachter, Tenley K. Stillwell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Through the experiences of a group of social work students, this paper critiques social work education and deals with two levels of the educational experience: the oppressive atmosphere of the school and the conceptual content of the curriculum. An alternative model is presented, which attempts to combine radical social work theory with a radicalized educational process and methodology.

The Soco-Legal History Of Child Abuse And Neglect: An Analysis Of The Policy Of Children's Rights, Diana M. Richett, James R. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The focus of this paper is on the two major axes that have influenced the course of child welfare policy. One upholds corporal punishment as the predominant method of child rearing, that is, "Spare the rod, spoil the child." The other defines the status of the child as property of "loving" parents. Because of these two conceptions, the authors maintain that reliance on parental benevolence or the "benevolent intrusion" of the state will not suffice to protect the child's best interests. On the contrary, the examination of the socio-legal history of child abuse and neglect highlights the authors' warning that …

Toward A Theory Of Accountability, Michael Borrero, Pricilla Martens, Gretchen Gubelman Borrero

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Since the mid 1960's the demand for accountability has been a major theme in the social work profession. The literature, however, has failed to provide a theoretical and practical guide on developing systems of accountability. This article traces the recent emergence of accountability; synthesizes the professional literature into four explanations as to why social work has not been accountable; and proposes a theoretical and practical paradigm to develop systems of accountability.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 6, No. 5 (September 1979)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Work Place Collectives: A Strategy Towards Decentralized Democratic Socialism - DAVID G. GIL
• Behavior Modification in the Classroom: Education or Social Control? - IRWIN EPSTEIN, CHRISTINE HENCH
• Applied Sociology and Social Work Manpower and Theoretical Issues - CARLTON E. MUNSON
• The Causes of Turnover Among Social Workers - F.M. LOEWENBERG
• The Social Construction of Ages and the Ideology of Stages - VICTORIA FRIES RADER
• Baseline Evaluation: Evaluating Consistency Between Federal Standards and Local Provisions - JAMES R. SEABERG, DAVID F. GILLESPIE
• The Economic Status of the Elderly: Is the Problem Low Income? - JOHN B. WILLIAMSON
• Lessons …

Heroin--Myths And Knowledge: Impact On Public Policy, Robert Salmon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Public Policy in the United States towards the heroin user and addict has been punitive as well as unsuccessful in deterring drug use or in treatment of the addict. Bias, myths, and prejudices have influenced our policy stance and have made heroin addiction a more serious problem than it otherwise would have been. This is explicated in the article, and contrasted with the British system which in attitude and practice tends to view the addict as ill rather than evil.

Applied Sociology And Social Work: Manpower And Theoretical Issues, Carlton E. Munson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Applied sociology and social work are compared and contrasted historically. Significant literature is reviewed that illustrates chronologically past cooperative efforts. Academic and practice integration of the two disciplines are identified in their modern context as well as trends are identified. Manpower issues that parallel and separate the two disciplines are explored. It is argued that current changes in funding of educational programs could have much impact on both disciplines and determine future differentiation.

Lessons From Private Health Insurance, Martha N. Ozawa

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

All across the country there is a sense of urgency, and even of crisis over what is happening in the health industry. Of special concern are the rapid rate of increase in the cost of health care services and the increasing national expenditures for health care. For fiscal year 1976, the total U.S. spending for health care reached $149.8 billion, or a per capita expenditure of $638. Expressed as a percentage of the gross national product (GNP), the national spending for health care reached a record-breaking 8.6 percent.1 From the early 1960s--except during the period from August 1971 through April …

Work Place Collectives: A Strategy Toward Decentralized Democratic Socialism, David G. Gil

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

I explore in this essay a possible strategy for the transformation of democratic, capitalist states into decentralized, democratic, socialist societies. The strategy suggested here can be pursued now within the United States and similar nation-states whose formal legal frameworks provide for certain civil and political rights including freedom of speech, press, assembly, association and life-style, due process, etc. More specifically, I will examine the notion of voluntary, social, economic, and political collectives, and networks of such collectives, organized in and around existing urban and non-urban places of work -- fresh cells of participatory democracy and socialism within the aging, crises-ridden …

Behavior Modification In The Classroom: Education Or Social Control?, Irwin Epstein, Christine Hench

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study presents an analysis of the empirical literature on behavior modification in the classroom. Data were drawn from all relevant articles published in four behavior modification journals from 1963 through 1976. An assessment of the intervention techniques employed and the behavioral objectives sought in this literature suggests that traditional intervention techniques are still primarily directed towards control rather than educational goals. Newer, more innovative techniques, however, are more likely to be directed towards academic achievement.

The Causes Of Turnover Among Social Workers, F.M. Loewenberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There is general agreement that social worker turnover is not desirable. Yet social work administrators who want to institute changes which might reduce the rate of turnover have little accurate information about the causes of worker mobility -- and without such information, any change activity must be based on a trial-and-error approach. In this study general propositions and hypotheses about social work turnover have been deduced from what is known about worker mobility generally and have been assessed in the light of the available literature on social worker mobility.

The Social Construction Of Ages And The Ideology Of Stages, Victoria Fries Rader

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is the thesis of this paper that the images and beliefs about any age group in a society indicate the kind of social order prevailing in a particular time and place. This paper critically analyses the developmental life cycle model from a sociology of knowledge perspective. It is argued that life's major activities and individuals' basic needs have increasingly become compartmentalized according to chronological age in modern Western society. This separation of basic activities and needs into specialized age roles is explained and legitimated by a popular belief in a model of inherent progressive life "stages", a model largely …

Baseline Evaluation: Evaluating Consistency Between Federal Standards And Local Provisions, James R. Seaberg, David F. Gillespie

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Baseline evaluation is a form of evaluation procedure in which objectives related to several dimensions of response to a social problem are set externally in the form of federal standards. The standards form the baseline against which local provisions can be compared. The case example giving rise to the development and field testing of the baseline evaluation procedure was new Federal Standards on the Prevention, Identification and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect. The baseline evaluation methodology is described and problems encountered are discussed.

The Economic Status Of The Elderly: Is The Problem Low Income?, John B. Williamson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The thesis of this paper is that poverty among the elderly is increasingly becoming a problem of relative as opposed to absolute economic deprivation. Many of the elderly (persons age 65 and over) are oppressed by the absolute poverty they must endure, but for most of those for whom inadequate income is a source of concern, the real problem seems to be relative economic deprivation. If present trends continue this will be increasingly the case in future years.

On The Creation Of Truth, David Howe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

No abstract provided.

Do Agency Administrative Changes Affect The Effectiveness And Efficiency Of Dhr Employees?, Richard M. Grinnell Jr., Linda S. Hill

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examined the perceived effectiveness and efficiency of DHR employees before and after agency administrative changes. Results indicated that the employees' perceptions of effectiveness and efficiency after agency administrative changes were not significantly affected. The employees also felt that "communication" was the major factor hindering them in becoming more effective and efficient.

Consciousness Raising, Values, And Practice Behavior, Joseph R. Steiner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper advocates for more conscious awareness of values, and their logical link, along with knowledge, to practice. A logical network is developed which reveals the association between values, knowledge, and practice behaviors. Excnples from social work literature are used to illustrate the breakdown in the logical development of practice which occurs when values are suppressed or are only dealt with subjectively. Examples are also given based upon a planning group in which values were defined and used with community data to logically deduce 'what ought to be done." A plan for self study is also developed.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 6, No. 4 (June 1979)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• The Social Construction of Professional Knowledge: Social Work Ideology, 1956-1973 - DANNY L. JORGENSEN - pp 434
• A Study of Strategies Used In The Pursuit of Legal Regulation of Social Work - JOHN T. GANDY, FRANK B. RAYMOND - pp 464
• Exploring The Validity of Multi Causal Models In
• Problem Analysis: The Case of Child Abuse - NOLAN RINDFIEISCH - pp 477
• Racial Segregation: The Impact of Monthly Contract Rent and Family Income - GEORGE E. 0’C0NNELL - pp 494
• Do Agency Admínistrative Changes Affect The Effectíveness and Efficiency of DHR Employees? - RICHARD M. GRINNELL, JR., …

Social Choice And Policy Formulation: Problems And Considerations In The Construction Of The Public Interest, Irv Berkowitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The need for and adoption of certain social policies for the nation are frequently rationalized by their advocates as being in the public interest. Often, though, the interest of the many merely disguises the special interests and wants of the few. It is obvious that the social choices made in the policy process only rarely benefit the interests of all without being adversely consequential to some. This paper argues that the problem of social choice in the conflictual process of policy making is as much a conceptual dilemma as a practical political or economic one. A major source of this …

Racial Segregation: The Impact Of Monthly Contract Rent And Family Income, George E. O'Connell

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The socioeconomic model of racial segregation is evaluated in terms of the impact of monthly contract rent and family income on the housing patterns of blacks and nonblacks. On the basis of 1970 census tract data for four metropolitan areas--Newark, Detroit, Dallas and San Francisco-Oakland--the analysis is carried out using Taeuber's index of dissimilarity and the method of indirect standardization. The results indicate that the socioeconomic model helps to explain racial segregation when rent differences between blacks and nonblacks are analyzed as the cause. Analysis by family income, however, indicates that for many black families the problem is not that …

The Social Construction Of Professional Knowledge: Social Work Ideology, 1956-1973, Danny L. Jorgensen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper reports on patterns and trends of ideological advocacy in social work. Findings from a content analysis of Social Work indicate that conceptions of this service profession have changed over a recent eighteen year period. Changes in professional meanings are analyzed in terms of authors' educational status, employment setting, and the problematic topics they discussed. This analysis supports a process model of reality construction in professional arenas and provides implications for the self-conscious management of professional imagery.

A Study Of Strategies Used In The Pursuit Of Legal Regulation Of Social Work, John T. Gandy, Frank B. Raymond

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The debate regarding legal regulation in social work has continued for a number of years. The issues are varied, including the desirability of licensing, the lack of progress in the achievement of regulation, and the discrepancy as to the form of such regulation.

The authors examined a topic area which they believe might be basic to the profession's problems with legal regulation, that being the procedure and process utilized by states in achieving such regulation. The primary purpose of the empirical research concerned the identification and description of strategies used by state chapters of the National Association of Social Workers …

Exploring The Validity Of Multi Causal Models In Problem Analysis: The Case Of Child Abuse, Nolan Rindfleisch

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of the study reported here was to assess the validity of a multi-causal view of child abuse as it is manifested in children's institutions. The analytical model utilized underlines the powerful role that norms play in creating differential predispositions to violence, that pressures and structural position play in creating differential chances of violence among people with different predispositions and that a sense of injustice plays as a dynamic through which violence is generated.

This ex post facto study utilized role playing techniques to examine voluntary harm doing in a purposive sample of 100 direct caregivers in 42 living …

Lay Counseling: The Basis Of Prevention In Mental Health, James R. Seaberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this paper is to increase the recognition of lay counseling as a basis of mental health prevention and to present a summary of the state of knowledge about it. Lay counseling is cast as one of several components of mental health prevention and treatment, a definition is offered which distinguishes it from paraprofessional and selp-help services, knowledge about it both direct and tangential is summarized, and future research and policy implications are discussed.

Status Enhancement And Social Problem Concerns: An Essay On The Course Of State Social Work Associations, Timothy Lause

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work's ability to contribute to the development of a more just and humanistic society is currently Inhibited by a state-level preoccupation with status enhancement. Professional status consciousness, in Itself, does have potential for promoting developmental forms of professional accountability and the further humanization of service bureaucracies. Current circumstances, however, prevent the fulfillment of either of these potentials.

When Clients Complain: Bureaucratic Responsiveness In Large Federal Agencies, Harvey A. Abrams, Peter Bidney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

High error rates in entitlements and slow responses to client complaints by Federal agencies are analyzed from a r.arket-power frame of reference focusing on the relative powerlessness of agency clients in relation to agencies which hold monopolies of life sustaining benefits. Data from a survey of Members of Congress are presented to provide an estimate of error rates. Three alternative structural solutions to the problem of unresponsiveness are assessed, including increased congressional casework service, ombudsmen services, and use of Federal Information Centers to aid clients. Necessary quality control procedures to facilitate each solution are described.

Integrating Child Care Services: Overcoming Structural Obstacles To Collaboration Of Institutional And Community Agency Staffs, Arthur K. Berliner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social Work practice settings are so diversified that different perspectives inevitably develop among practitioners. These may undermine collaborative efforts between agencies. Child care services afford an example of a field requiring diversified agency settings and therefore vulnerable to development of contrasting perspectives. Some of the sources of an "institutional perspective" and of a "community perspective" are identified, as well as problems originating in lack of a shared perspective. Proposals for overcoming these problems and promoting integration of services comprises the final section of the paper.

Public Monitoring Of Contracts With Nonprofit Organizations: Organizational Mission In Two Sectors, Bruce S. Jansson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Public officials in the human service delivery system must wrestle with complex decisions regarding utilization of agencies in the nonpublic sector to deliver publicly funded services. Data from a survey of 167 agencies in a major metropolitan area suggest that there are still substantial differences in priorities and service approaches of public and nonpublic agencies. These differences suggest that public officials may need to devote more resources to ascertaining whether and when public agencies should themselves deliver publicly funded services and to strengthening public monitoring of contracts in the private sector.

Implications Of Racism For Social Work Practice, Seymour Mirelowitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines school and practice issues in social work in relationship to the concepts of ethnicity, minority groups, racism, and institutional racism. Operational definitions to establish conceptual clarity are also developed. The statistical aspects of progression vis-a-vis cultural diversity in social work institutions, enrollment in schools of social work, and representation on the faculty of schools of social work are studied. Social policy and the implementation of change in social work practice and education are then dealt with in relation to the current reality of the profession and the society in which it functions.

Three Mile Island - A Personal Report, James R. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

March 29, 1979 was the first day of the spring term at The Pennsylvania State University--Capitol Campus. I had joined a car pool and as we drove from Lancaster to Middletown the conversation centered on the news from Three Mile Island. We were clearly unaware of the severity of the problem, but two of the riders were active in anti-nuclear energy organizations. They were grim and intense. Their central concern at the moment was how to mobilize the campus in some way to respond to the potential hazard. There was a certain deja vu in the themes of the conversation. …

The Social Policy Of Denial: Unemployment In Israel, Harris Chaiklin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

When reality does not match the dream nations tend to suffer. In Israel unemployment compromises social democratic ideals. The country oscillates between bombast and despair. Official data is not trusted. Those who leave Russia on Israeli visas and do not come are "dropouts." Those who leave Israel for other countries are "yordim." Those who go to work every day when there is nothing to do are draining the nation with "hidden unemployment." These are terms of derision. Some of the difficulty with unemployment data and understanding Israeli response to the problem may be for security reasons. Israelis have lived in …