Social Work Commons^™

Ryan Revisited: Updating The Prevalence Of Bastards, Hudson R. A. Rosen, Lois J. Martindale

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Ryan, in Blaming the Victim, discusses welfare mothers in terms of an ideology of illegitimacy, and its impact on welfare policies. He then refuted the ideology. Since then several conditions have changed. This paper assesses how those changes may have affected Ryan's conclusions, and whether AFDC recipients most likely to fit the ideology differ from other unmarried, pregnant women. Hypotheses: AFDC and non-AFDC recipients will not differ significantly in (1) "promiscuity;" (2) contraceptive usage; (3) number of children being raised; and (4) solution to their problem pregnancy. The sample was 424 AFDC and 741 non-AFDC pregnant, unmarried women. While some …

The Prestige And Effectiveness Of The Public Welfare Worker, Richard M. Grinnell Jr., Nancy S. Kyte

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An empirically-based study was conducted to determine how BSW and MSW social work students differentially assess the relative prestige and effectiveness of public welfare work in relation to the fifteen other social work methods and to ascertain what methods they would ideally like to enter upon graduation from their programs. The study findings point dramatically to a wide discrepancy between the BSW and MSW student's view of the public welfare worker. Not only was the average prestige and effectiveness of welfare work rated significantly higher by the BSW students, but more than five times as many BSW as MSW students …

The New Left And The Human Service Professions, Robert J. S. Ross

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There are three characteristics of the New Left which had impact on social and human service professionals. Egalitarianism produced distrustof orthodox professional detachment from and power over poor and minority persons. The movement also gave expression to guilt, for some, over their "privileged" backgrounds. The New Left's decentralist views about power produced an orientation to local insurgency: the organization of neighborhood and community activist organizations. In combination, for those influenced by the movement and entering the professions, a characteristic type of new professionalism arose: advocacy for the interests and organizations of the oppressed. Illustrations of this process are found in …

The Non-Verbal Communication Of The Physical Handicapped, Mary Jo Deegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper explores the types of problems which may arise as a function of a physical disability and its effects on non-verbal communication. Examples of social interaction problems were obtained through participant observation at a physical rehabilitation hospital. The author assumes that social skills based on communication through and by the body need to be conceptualized and have implications for their use in therapeutic settings.

Social Welfare And Danish Communes: An International Case Study, Thomas H. Shey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The implementation of public assistance and related forms of social insurance, based on existing social welfare legislation, often discriminates against new and emerging social institutions such as collective families residing in a communal situation. A recent case study of the Danish experience has shown that, while members of such communes are in fact discriminated against by the authorities (as a communal entity), the system has simultaneously proven flexible enough to accomodate the majority of "problem cases" on an individual basis and in the process served to minimize potential social unrest and dislocation. Unlike their American counterpart, research has verified that …

Russia And America Compared: How Heavy Is Our Welfare Burden, David Makofsky

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A non-Western comparative model, totalitarianism, has conventionally been employed to describe qualitative differences between the United States on one hand, and the nations of the Communist world on the other. This paper explores welfare-related aspects of Communist (USSR) - Western (US) differences: First, the quantity of welfare and second, the mode of welfare distribution. In measuring the volume of welfare as the proportion of the state welfare expenses to the GNP or NMP respectively, the Russian proportion from 1958 (USSR l8.S8,, U.S. 10.6%) until the latest available comparative figures (USSR 23- 24%, US 15.2%) remains substantially greater. In terms of …

Three Strategies For Reducing Involuntary Segregation, Juliet Saltman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The involuntary aspects of residential segregation in this country are examined, a conceptual model of involuntary segregation is presented, and four causative factors of involuntary segregation are noted. These four factors are the targets of three recent corrective strategies which have been used in an attempt to reduce involuntary segregation. The three strategies -- fair-share plans, exclusionary zoning lawsuits, and community housing audits -- are reviewed and analyzed in terms of their potential success in reducing involuntary segregation. Though no single strategy would be sufficient, all three strategies in combination may ultimately achieve a reduction of involuntary segregation in our …

Observations On An Emerging Profession, Lincoln J. Fry, Jon Miller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examines the ranking that rehabilitation counselors received from their colleagues and clients in an alcoholism rehabilitation organization. The findings suggest that organizational power was the major determinant of the favorable ranking rehabilitation counseling received from colleaguest legitimacy appeared to accrue from power, not the reverse. Occupational visibility appeared to account for client ranking while knowledge that a powerless client group was controlled by others was found to be an important dimension of rehabilitation counselor standing with clients. One implication of the study is that the immediate social environments of occupations provide a meaningful place to begin to document …

Is Criminology A Policy Science, Robert F. Meier, Gilbert Geis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The question posed in the title is discussed in view of selected evidence from the criminological literature. Criminology's status as a policy science, based largely on the ability of the discipline to present coherent, empirically-based recommendations for the reduction of crime, is evaluated. The review leads to disappointing conclusions with respect to the usefulness to policymakers of the present knowledge base in criminology.

A Disarmed World: Problems In Imaging The Future, Elise Boulding

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

One of the major handicaps to scholars, activists and would-be policy makers associated with the post-World War II peace research and peace action movements has been the inability to construct coherent and believable images of a post military industrial United States society. Even at the height of the economics of disarmament studies in the 1960s the most that economists could demonstrate was that disarmament could take place without severe economic dislocations, and that resources released from arms could be used for improving the global standard of living. The new peace research movement was also producing books in the sixties showing …

Which Side Are You On?, Olga J. Northwood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A poem by Olga Northwood.

Forward To Our Origins: Social Work Skills And Political Action In The Current Crisis, Bertram A. Weinert

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The last decade of the 19th century and the years prior to World War I was an exciting and fruitful period in United States history. It was a time of unrest, but characterized by vigorous discontent, not cynicism or despair. There was an aggressive optimism that fostered confidence in social action, even to the belief that poverty could be abolished. The failure to achieve that goal remains our burden today, but to have begun the struggle then was a significant step. It was the developing profession of social work that initiated that battle against poverty.

Introduction: Warfare-Welfare As A Serious Social Problem For Study And Action, Lawrence K. Northwood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Throughout the Journal reference will be made to "The Warfare/Welfare State." When the term is used by the editors it refers to activities and programs in the public (governmental) sector having to do with the growth, development, and interrelationship of two of the major institutional complexes of society, the military and the social welfare.

There are two major reasons for the term:

First of all, it signals the findings of current research, that nations having large military budgets also have large budgets for social welfare. Both welfare and warfare seemingly are necessary components of the modern industrial state.

Second, it …

Eighteen Leading Social Critics Comment: What Is The Real Threat To World Peace And Social Security?, Kenneth A. Kirkpatrick, Lawrence K. Northwood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

What is the real threat to world peace and social security? Is it the prevalent ideology of violence, aggressive nationalism, and militarism? Or is it the maldistribution of resources, technology, and social welfare benefits? How much of itsnational budget must the U.S. allocate to military expenditures? How can the national budget priorities be changed so there is a more realistic funding of social programs? Do we face as great a threat of nuclear annihilation in the '70's and the '80's as we did in the early '60's?

These are some of the questions the editors asked of 96 "experts" on …

Sex Roles And Work Roles In Post-Industrial Society, Diane Barthel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is argued that one of the reasons for the slow change in work and sex roles, despite policies designed to encourage such change, Is an inadequate understanding of the process of industrialization and Its Impact on women's status. This impact has been both increasingly to favor money as the sole criteria for status and to force a separation of the home and the workplace. Both of these factors have had an adverse impact on women's status which the growth of technology, expansion of education, and increased control over fertility have not been able to counteract. The limitations of current …

Third World Women, World Population Growth: A Case Of Blaming The Victim, Elizabeth W. Moen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines the provisions of the 1974 United Nations World Population Conference pertaining to the status of women, wherein it is assumed that if the status of women is improved and they are educated and employed, fertility will decline. It is concluded that these assumptions do not have very sound theoretical or empirical bases, and that the possibility and probability of implementation in the near future is slim. It is hypothesized that the Conference World Plan of Action will do little to raise the status of women or reduce population growth because it is a product of sexual politics.

A Comparison Of Defense And Welfare Spending In The United States And The United Kingdom, 1946-1976, James L. Clayton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

One of the most important and absorbing questions of our time is whether governments should extend or retrench their efforts toward assisting people who do not seem to be able to make it on their own. Those who believe that governments should expand their programs to help the needy argue that a compassionate and affluent society has both the ability and the responsibility to do so; those who believe that governments have already pushed too far and too fast argue that the advance of the welfare state must be halted. Closely related to this basic disagreement is the question whether …

The Conservative Program For The Welfare-Warfare State: The Response To The Korean, Algerian, And Vietnamese Wars, Clarence Y.H. Lo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper explains why the leaders of conservative political parties were so successful in the aftermith of limited wars. Conservative parties are those parties whose constituency is large and small business, managers, upper income professionals, and some white collar workers and farmers, exemplified by the Republican Party in the United States, the Gaullist Party in France, the Christian Democrats in Germany and Italy, and the Conservative Party in England. Conservative political leaders rose to power because they addressed the problems intensified by limited wars-- budget deficits, political stalemate, and inter-imperialist rivalries-- and, to some extent, enacted short term solutions--budget cuts, …

Human Security Or National Defense: The Question Of Conversion, Bruce Birchard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

How can we convert the enormous human, financial and technological resources currently committed to military illusions of "national security" to programs and institutions which provide real human security? That is the central question of this paper.

Economic Conversion, Productive Efficiency And Social Welfare, Lloyd J. Dumas

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Traditional economic theory holds that there is a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment, and that accordingly price stability (i.e. 0% inflation) can only be achieved at the expense of increased unemployment, while full employment (corresponding to an unemployment rate of about 3%)' requires acceptance of an ongoing inflation. In 1960, the noted economists Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow published an analysis of annual data for the per d 1933-1958, from which they quantitatively estimated this tradeoff. It was their rough estimate that the elimination of inflation would require acceptance of a 5%-6% rate of unemployment while the achievement of full …

The Soft Spot: How To Attack The Pentagon, Marion Anderson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Have you been wondering why al I the ideas you learned in Economics I haven't been working? Why the forecasts made at summit meetings of economists seem to go wrong? Why the U.S. economy, in utter disregard of all the rules of classical economics, suffers rising inflation and rising unemployment at the same time?

Well, there are reasons. Reasons that establishment economists have not wanted to face, and sti I I refuse to face, because the great myth of the last three decades would then be exposed. The myth is that we are so rich, so productive and so favored …

Social Welfare As A By-Product: The Effect Of Neo-Mercantilism , David Macarov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries mercantilism was a predominant philosophy, theory, or guide to action in many western countries. Emphasis on measures leading to national wealth was pronounced--in some cases, almost exclusive--and the results for social welfare were marginal programs at best, and anti-welfare programs in some cases. In contradistinction to individual needs or aspirations, considerations of national wealth and power were paramount to the point that, in Britain at least, it seemed that here was "nothing to fight for, nothing to support, nothing to augment but.. .commerce." Whether national wealth was seen as leading to national iower, or …

The Individual And The Society: A Needed Reexamination Of Social Legislation And Policy, Ralph Segalman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The pervasive and often destructive effect of Ill-planned social policy (or the lack of effective social policy) is evident In terms of Increasing societal dysfunctionality and lowered quality of life for most people. Almost all social Interventions involve a variety of rights In conflict. Actions by the government to support or protect any one group must necessarily be at the expense of others. In the defense of the rights of individuals and groups the social objectives and social effects of such interventions have been generally Ignored. The problems of design of social policy derive from one-sided or parochial views of …

Government Spending And Welfare Employment, Martin D. Lowenthal

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

One of the persistent issues which welfare policy makers and analysts confront in western industrial nations, particularly in the United States, is the appropriate relationship between public assistance payments and employment. There is a great deal of debate over whether welfare recipients should work or be required to take jobs and whether the government should emphasize training or placement services or create jobs directly. Relatively little concern and attention have been given to the 'roblem of the number of jobs that are actually available in the private sector for recipients who want to work. Although the federal government will plan …

The Interests Of Children And The Interests Of The State: Rethinking The Conflict Between Child Welfare Policy And Foster Care Practice , A. Pare, J. Torczyner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The social welfare literature -- whether embodied in the ideology of the profession, claimed in its social policy, substantiated through empirical research, or espoused in practice -- suggests that children should not be removed from their natural hones as a solution to economic woes or to the unavailability of social support services. This apparent convergence of ideology, policy and practice -- buttressed by social values which recognize the importance of family life -- would suggest that few children, if any, would enter foster care because of inadequate income or the absence of social services. Yet, in 1977, between one quarter …

Problems Of Advocacy, Robert J. S. Ross

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The recent past has seen the erosion, and among some, the rejection, of social science neutrality and professional detachment. Among the typical expressions of a new professionalism is the underdog advocate, who wishes to lend his or her skills to the cause of less-than-equal groups in the society. The paper analyzes the problems confronting such advocates. The first is the discrepancy between career routes and success behavior on one hand, and the needs of poor people on the other. The second is the difficulty encountered by middle strata professionals in cross-class and cross-cultural communication, including their own ignorance of the …

A Classification Scheme For Medical Expenditures, James Veney, Arnold Kaluzny

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Medical care represents a significant portion of society's response to problems affecting social welfare. While the problems surrounding medical care are complex, a major part of these problems can be attributed to the fact that medical care expenditures are viewed indiscriminately without regard for the nature of the expenditures themselves. This paper presents a framework to differentiate various types of medical care expenditures. The paper argues that medical care expenditures can be classified as either instrumental-consummatory or as external-internal relative to the medical care system. The consequences of this classification and some conclusions which may be drawn from it are …

Community Control Of Urban Schools - Lessons From The Suburban Experience, David W. O'Shea

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Community control of inner-city schools first was proposed by parents in the Harlem section of New York City in 1966. The proposal aimed at improving the quality of public schools serving low income minority youngsters by providing for school accountability to parental representatives. In practice, the two cities that have tried to provide some measure of community control - New York City and Detroit - have utilized for this purpose decentralized sub-districts based upon the suburban school district model rather than upon the original school staff accountability model. It is argued here that while suburban districts do facilitate community control, …

A Moment Of Truth In The Warfare-Welfare Debate: The Transfer Amendment, Elizabeth Holtzman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The controversy over the budget is much more than a debate about how much should be spent in 1977 on the military, or social programs. It is more than a struggle between two branches of the federal government--the legislative and the executive-- over which body should determine the national priorities. Ultimately questions are raised about the viability of the democratic planning process in the warfare/welfare state, and how the people--the governed--can be adequately represented in the process. All of these issues are touched on explicitly or implicitly by Congresswoman Holtzman in the debate (although, to be sure, she was most …

New York City And The Economic Crisis, Joseph Harris

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The crisis of New York City and the crises affecting many hundreds of other cities, counties, school districts, and other local and state governments are not accidents. They are a direct result of the neglect that social welfare receives at the hands of a government interested only in furthering the profits and position of the monopolies. Some people call the U.S. government a "warfare/welfare" state. I prefer to call it a state dominated by the giant corporations which control the economic and hence the political life of our nation. As long as federal policy continues to stress profits before people, …