Social Work Commons^™

Long-Term Trends In Public Concerns In Two Societies, Rachel Kats

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Trends in public concerns from the early 1960's to the mid-1970's are compared for Israel and the United States, relating changes in concerns to historical and social change which occurred during the decade in both societies. The analysis is based on open-ended questions regarding views of either personal or nation's future -- hopes and fears for that future -- and a Self-Anchoring Rating Scale, by which the respondent evaluated personal and nation's situation in various time perspectives. The Israeli's future perspective became centered around peace and war, removing other issues to a secondary plane of concern. In contrast, the American …

Data Needs Of Social Service Agencies: A Case Study Of Fort Worth, Texas, Rose M. Rubin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There is increasing need for social service agencies and organizations to allocate resources and to plan based on objective needs assessment. This requires greater access and use of data sources. The dual objectives of this paper are to describe and analyze the increased need for data use by social welfare agencies and to present the findings of a data needs assessment study of such organizations in Fort Worth, Texas. The results of this study were used in the planning and development of a series of free data use and data use-applications workshops for social service agency representatives and in the …

Women And Voluntary Blood Donation, Ernie S. Lightman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study explores the patterns of and motivations for voluntary blood donation by men and women in Toronto, Canada. Examining social systems with differently structured opportunities for altruism illustrates both the influence of the sex-role differential on altruism, and also the impact of these social structures upon sex-role behaviour.

Data are drawn from a postal questionnaire completed by a random sample of about 1,000 males and 850 females who had voluntarily donated blood in Toronto, at least once between June 1974 and February 1978.

The study finds men and women donate about equally in a voluntary system, in contrast to …

Current Training Needs In Public Social Services: Impact On Schools Of Social Work, David C. Pritchard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An empirically based study was designed to identify evolving training needs in public social services agencies which are in transition. The characteristics and capacity of these service delivery systems have been significantly altered by funding reductions and subsequent administrative redesign. Schools of social work preparing MSW's for future professional employment and also responsible for operating Title XX training projects need to be sensitive to emerging trends. Specific areas of skills and knowledge requiring greater educational and training emphasis were reported. Curricula planning and development needs to be responsive as social work roles and responsibilities are changing in the marketplace. Concern …

Dissemination Of Research Reports And Other Publications To Social Workers, Susan Whitelaw Downs

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The author analyzes the response of social workers to a national materials dissemination effort. The publications advocated program innovations based on research and evaluation of a demonstration project. Questions addressed are: do social workers order material based on their occupational category, and are they more likely to order materials if they also receive personal contact in the form of workshops and consultation. Other findings related to this dissemination of materials effort are also described.

Social Action Organization Participation And Personal Change In The Poor: Part I, Robert D. Herman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Evidence bearing on the hypothesis that participation by the poor in social action organizations results in personal change is inconsistent and open to diverse interpretations. This paper first reviews that evidence and then takes the first step toward a substantive reconciliation of the apparently inconsistent evidence - the development of a typology of social action organization forms. The typology, which is derived from the literature on poverty and organizational analysis, incorporates the elements of (1) inclusion of the poor, (2) resource base of organizational sponsors, and (3) output goal orientation. The typology will be used in Part I I to …

The Expanding Array Of Human Service Personnel, Edward A. Brawley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper assesses the impact upon social work and the social welfare services of the various types of personnel being produced by the expanding human service education programs that have recently appeared in colleges and universities throughout the country. It also considers some possible responses by the social work profession, by social work education, and by the social welfare field to these developments.

Racial Inequities In The Delivery Of Social Services, James D. Chesney, Rafael Jacob Engel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Data from a survey of registered social workers in Michigan indicate inequities in the delivery of social services. Providers serving non-whites tend to spend less time providing casework services and more time on providing welfare services than do providers serving whites. These interracial differences may be explained by income or employment auspice. The major racial inequity is apparent when providers serving primarily non-white clients are analyzed. White providers serving non-whites spend more time on welfare activities and less on casework services than do non-white providers serving non-whites. These differences cannot be explained by income or the providers' education and experience. …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 9, No. 4 (December 1982)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• Social Action Organization Participation and Personal Change in the Poor - Part I - ROBERT D. HERMAN
• The Expanding Array of Human Service Personnel - EDWARD A. BRAWLEY
• Racial Inequities in the Delivery of Social Services - JAMES D. CHESNEY, RAFAEL JACOB ENGEL
• Women and Voluntary Blood Donations - ERNIE S. LIGHTMAN
• Medical Democracy In A Health Systems Agency: The Role of Staff - JAMES LATIMORE
• Deinstitutionalization: A Review of the Literature With Implication for Social Work Training and Practice in Rural Areas - VICKI LAWRENCE YOUNG, JOHN S. WODARSKI, JEFFREY GIORDANO
• The Practicum Instructor: A Study …

"Medical Democracy In A Health Systems Agency: The Role Of Staff", James Latimore

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The performance of consumers or laypersons in government programs has been studied extensively, usually from the standpoint of the control exercised by providers or other professionals, or correlative, what consumers need in order to be on an equal footing with the experts. At stake is lay control -i.e., democracy. This case study of one Health Systems Agency (HSA) in contrast, focuses attention on the crucial role of the HSA staff in the democratization of health care. Outcomes, such as cost-containment and allocation of resources, can be examined in terms of the staff's interests and the constraints of its multi-leveled environment. …

Deinstitutionalization: A Review Of The Literature With Implication For Social Work Training And Practice In Rural Areas, Vicki Lawrence Young, John S. Wodarski, Jeffrey Giordano

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The manuscript reviews the social, legal, and political background of the deinstitutionalization movement, reviews successful programs for deinstitutionalized chronic mental patients in the major problem areas of socialization skills training, supportive living, interventions with families, vocational rehabilitation, and medication monitoring. Problems which prevent the successful replication of these programs in rural areas, such as differing characteristics of rural and urban clients, distance and travel, and staff attitudes are discussed. Implications for social work training and practice in rural areas include the increased need for paraprofessional staff development and supervision skills, ability to utilize and mobilize existing community helping networks, and …

Sexual Harassment Of Blue Collar Workers, Donald E. Maypole, Rosemarie Skaine

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The problem of sexual harassment in work settings has received little empirical examination to date. This study used mailed questionnaires to elicit respondents' opinions about sexual harassment and their perceptions of its incidence, scope and recourses taken by victims. Systematic samples were drawn from a blue collar union's rosters of male and female members. The findings indicated that twentythree percent of the respondents felt they had been sexually harassed (thirty-six percent of the women and eight percent of the men). Whereas the women viewed the problem in power-dominance terms, the men did not. Other findings in relation to scope and …

Scientific Ideologies And Conceptions Of Drinking Behavior And Alcoholism, Keith M. Kilty

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Conventional explanations of drinking behavior and alcoholism suffer from serious inadequacies, due in large part to their unquestioning acceptance of certain assumptions about the effects of alcohol on human behavior that are rooted in moral prescriptions. That is, most contemporary models of drinking behavior assume that the consumption of alcohol leads to the loss of inhibitions or self-control, ultimately leading to behaviors that are not predictable by either the drinker or society. This perspective has become so deeply ingrained in the social scientific literature that it is no longer even perceived as hypothetical; instead, it has taken on the character …

The Practicum Instructor: A Study Of Role Expectations, Beverly J. Hartung

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The study discussed in this paper focuses on the differences between four respondent groups in their perception as to the importance of various role behaviors of practicum instructors in social work. The population for the study was obtained from a random sample of the 84 accredited graduate schools of social work in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Significant differences in perception of role were found along with areas of agreement among the four groups.

Distributed Data Processing: A Timely Approach For Social Welfare Agencies, Sumit Sircar, Dick Schoech, Lawrence L. Schkade

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Centralized management oriented information systems in state social welfare systems are evolving. Due to decreasing computer hardware costs, computing power can now be distributed throughout a social welfare system to locations where it meets worker and manager data processing needs most efficiently and effectively. To distribute computing power yet maintain one integrated organizational computing system requires an understanding of distributed data processing (DDP) and its implications for an organization. This article explains the DDP concept through its historical development, illustrates the types of DDP available to an agency, and discusses the major pitfalls in moving into a DDP environment. It …

The Conservative Program Is A Women's Issue, Mimi Abramovitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Conservative program strikes deeply at the institutions that support the economic independence and security of women. This paper reviews social welfare budget cuts, the relaxation of affirmative action and workplace health and safety rules, and the social issues agenda of the New Right for their impact on women's economic, social and political status. It describes how the Reagan Administration's economic recovery program victimizes women, especially minority women. Not only is the "feminization" of poverty intensified, but women are sent from the paid labor market back to unpaid labor in the home, aided and abetted by the social issues agenda …

Defeating The Era: A Right-Wing Mobilization Of Women, Barbara Ehrenreich

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In an irony that feminists and their liberal supporters have yet to fully grasp, the opponents of the Equal Rights Amendment celebrated its defeat as a "great victory for women' and as a "great achievement by women." The ERA had been a major--perhaps the major--goal of the American feminist movement for ten years. It would have rendered unconstitutional dozens of arcane state laws which limit women's property rights during and after marriage. It would have strengthened women's position as wage-earners--helping open up higher-paying, traditionally male jobs, and providing a wedge against all the subtle, informal mechanisms of wage discrimination. It …

The Hyde Amendment: Its Impact On Low Income Women With Unwanted Pregnancies, Marjorie R. Sable

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Hyde amendment, which has been in effect since 1977, restricts federal funding of abortions for Medicaid-eligible women "except where the life of the mother would be endangered if a fetus were carried to term." It has virtually eliminated federally financed abortions and the undue hardships it places on poor women foreshadow contemporary developments in abortion politics today for all women.

Book Reviews, Paul Terrell, Robert E. Wood, Jim Baumohl, Sara Rosenberry

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book Reviews

• Poverty in America by RALPH SELIGMAN and ASOKE BASU
• Social Development: Conceptual, Methodological and Policy Issues by JOHN F. JONES and RAMA S. PANDEY
• Single Rooms: Stories of an Urban Subculture by ELLIE WINBERG and TOM WILSON
• The States of Welfare: A Comparative Analysis of Social Policy by JOAN HIGGINS

Women, Conservatism, And Social Welfare, Kristine Nelson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The timing of this special issue is particularly fortunate, coming as it does during a period of reassessment and retrenchment in the women's movement. The attacks of the New Right, the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, and the growing maturity and sophistication of the women's movement, have spurred an intense reexamination and reanalysis of basic tenets and strategies. The articles in this special issue, although broadly diverse, reflect this effort to come to a deeper analysis of women's oppression and of effective ways to overcome it.

Some Thoughts On The Patriarchal State And The Defeat Of The Era, Zillah Eisenstein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

What does it signify politically--that is what does it tell us about the relations of power of the 'state' in 1982--that the Equal Rights Amendment has not been ratified? It tells us that the patriarchal foundations of the state, even when narrowly defined in terms of the law, remain necessary to those in power. Or (at least) that those in power, particularly in this case state legislators as well as President Reagan, think that the political system of capitalist patriarchy cannot abide women's (legal) equality.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 9, No. 3 (September 1982)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Women, Conservatism and Social Welfare Introduction - KRISTINE NELSON
• Some Thoughts on the Patriarchal State and the Defeat of the Era - ZILLAH EISENSTEIN
• Defeating the ERA: A Right-Wing Mobilization of Women - BARBARA EHRENREICH
• The Conservative Program Is A Women's Issue - MIMI ABRAMOVITZ
• Defeminizing Social Policy - DAVID STOESZ
• Conservative Policies and Women's Power - KRISTINE NELSON, ARNOLD S. KAHN
• Working Women's Marginalization in Denmark: Traditional Assumptions and Economic Consequences of Social and Labor Market Policies - JENNIFER G. SCHIPER
• Our Own Worst Enemies: Women Opposed to Woman Suffrage - JEANNE HOWARD
• The Hyde Amendment: …

Defeminizing Social Policy, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social policy initiatives by the evangelical right and neoconservative movements are reversing liberal programs that have benefited women. This represents an attempt to defeminize social policy. Essential to this transformation are theoretical interpretations of economics and sociology which, combined with religious conservatism, portend the restoration of patriarchal culture. The ideology guiding the defeminizing of social policy is so pervasive as to suggest that regaining ground lost will be exceedingly difficult for those promoting social services for women.

Conservative Policies And Women's Power, Kristine Nelson, Arnold S. Kahn

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The recent setbacks imposed on the feminist movement by the forces of the New Right have led women to an increased understanding of the importance of power in maintaining male dominance. Although men exercise power over women in a variety of ways, a review of the findings of social psychology indicates that almosL all types of power derive from men's activities in the public sphere. The exercise of power has become a part of the male gender role and a primary source of men's identity and self esteem. The feminist movement's challenge to men's exclusive hold on the public sphere …

Working Women's Marginalization In Denmark: Traditional Assumptions And Economic Consequences Of Social And Labor Market Policies, Jennifer G. Schirmer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although it cannot be said that women's marginality in the labor market in Denmark from the 1960s to the present was 'planned' in any formal sense, the premise behind social and labor market policy measures, such as daycare and maternity leave, that women primarily serve as part-time service workers to increase economic growth, indicates a form of assumed and prescribed secondariness for women. By engaging the market and the family on strictly traditional terms, the social policy and labor market measures enacted to encourage women's entrance into the labor force in the late 1960s serve to institutionalize women's marginality within …

Our Own Worst Enemies: Women Opposed To Woman Suffrage, Jeanne Howard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Opposition by women to a movement which identifies itself as for women is not new. In the late 19th and early 20th century female anti-suffragists organized to oppose "the burden of the ballot." The writings of the "antis" (as the female anti suffragists became known) demonstrate an allegiance to class over gender, a sense of powerlessness beyond traditional roles and a fear of change. Exploring this early anti movement may give us a better understanding of the women opposed to the contemporary woman's movement.

In Defense Of Institutionalization: A Rape Crisis Center As A Case Study, Barbara Levy Simon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The prevailing wisdom of both the social science literature and of social movement activists postulates that the institutionalization of social movements is a conservatizing tendency. "The iron law of oligarchy," Robert Michels' concept, is invoked as the rule of thumb for social movement transformation.

From my participant observation study of STOP, an urban rape crisis center, I have drawn different conclusions. In that case study, it appears that institutionalization undermines oligarchy and conservatism, rather than contributing to them.

Employing Oberschall's resource mobilization theory of social movement development, I suggest that institutionalization fosters social change efforts at STOP by ensuring organizational …

Social-Emotional Keys To The Division Of Power, Philip Lichtenberg, Carol Roman Reimert, Susan S. Levine

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social organizers concerned with facilitating the reallocation of power must not overlook psychological issues. Within groups, power hierarchies are a function of individual methods of coping with social-emotional interactions. Clinical insights suggest that both empowered and disempowered people participate in the process of establishing and maintaining this hierarchial structure.

Eroding Filial Piety And Its Implications For Social Work Practice, Pei N. Chen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A pilot study was conducted in the Asian American communities on practitioners' assessment of the effects of compliance/non-compliance with the value of filial piety and its impact on Asian American adult children, aged parents and practitioners themselves.

Eighty-two practitioners in six cities returned mailed questionnaires. Since filial piety was an emotionladen topic, projective technique was used in questionnaire design. Practitioners were asked questions regarding a hypothetical case.

The findings demonstrated a gradual shift of filial responsibilities to health/social service providers with concomitant affective conflicts on the part of Asian American adult children, aged parents and practitioners themselves. With greater understanding …

Three Models Ofsocial Planning For Human Services In Energy-Impacted Communities, Bernie Jones, Janet Benson Jones

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Human service workers encounter many challenges as they face energy boom town situations in the Western United States. Currently, they respond following one of two models, corresponding to the role reserved for human services in the conservative laissez-faire and liberal enlightened capitalism models of American corporate behavior.