Social Work Commons^™

Marginal And Non-Marginal Persons In The Professions: A Comparative Study Of Recruitment In Law, Medicine, And Social Work*, Pranab Chatterjee

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A sample of students from the Schools of Law, Medicine, and Social Work of a Midwestern University (N=1,319), which consisted of all students enrolled in these schools for over a given number of years, suggests that there are at least three discernible types of marginality which are related to the status of the given professions. Such marginality may depend on one or more of the following: class origin, academic performance, and sex roles. The students of social work are high in both class- and role- marginality, but are favorably comparable to law students in performance-marginality. The study suggests that prestige …

A Theory Of Decision-Making, A. K. Basu

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In a separate article, it has been stated:

The kinds of theories which social scientists have been able to construct have largely been dependent on the level or the degree of inference which the researchers have been able to draw from observations or experimental designs (which may or may not reflect the empirical world), and the assumptions upon which these inferences rest (Basu and Kenyon, 1972.425).

Notably, in the past three decades the eventual "success" of a theory has been tested on this basis. A major underlying premise in the ideographic science has been that cause and effect represent the …

Delinquency Theories, Group Composition, Treatment Locus, And A Service-Research Model For 'Traditional' Social Work Agencies, Ronald A. Feldman, John S. Wodarski, Norman Flax, Mortimer Goodman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Summary

Rehabilitative endeavors within correctional institutions have failed because of overpopulation, high costs, labelling and stigmatization of inmates, low transferability of treatment changes to the outside community, and deviant peer group composition. Community treatment programs have fared little better because they also entail client stigmatization and typically are conducted within the context of deviant peer groups. Consequently, in order to enhance the rehabilitative potential of community treatment, subsequent efforts should be conducted within "traditional" agencies and within pro-social peer groups. The emphasis upon "pro-social" rehabilitation environments does not posit any particular assets and/or liabilities of a given socio-economic stratum, thus …

Social Welfare Texts: A Study In The Sociology Of Knowledge, Leslie Leighninger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Do existing social work texts contribute to a student's recognition of professional values and issues and of the implicit ideological bases for these? The following study contends that they do not, and that their failures are quite similar to those found by Mills in his examination social pathology texts.

The books examined here are all designed to be used in basic undergraduate and graduate courses on the structure and function of social welfare institutions. The survey includes both widely adopted books and recent texts in the field. The books chosen for this study appear, in …

Professional-Bureaucratic Conflict And Intraorganizational Powerlessness Among Social Workers, Edward J. Lawler, Jerald Hage

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Since Max Weber's classic writings on bureaucracy, the relationship between professionalization and bureaucracy has been a central focus of organization theory and research (e.g., Parsons, 1947; Goulduer, 1954; Blauner, 1964; Blau, 1968, Meyer, 1968b; Blau and Schoenherr, 1971). Some research suggests that professionalization and bureaucratization are alternative or conflicting modes of organization (Udy, 1959 ; Stinchecombe, 1959; Litwak, 1961; Burns and Stalker, 1961; Thompson, 1961; Hall, 1963; Rage, 1965). While other research suggests that professionalization and bureaucratization are actually congruent because structural accommdation minimizes dissension between professionals and bureaucrats (e.g., Blau, 1968; Meyer, 1968b; Kirsch and Lengermann, 1972). However, the …

Reported Ill-Health And Life Cycle Among Welfare Mothers, Robert Lejeune

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

A person's presentation of self, as Goffman uses that depends phrase, in part on the expectations of others, and also, no doubt, on the power which these others have over the person. Thus it happens very frequently that persons, particularly of low status or stigmatized positions, are called upon, as a conscious or unconscious technique of survival, to present to others negative featureS of the self; to resort to what Goffman has called "negative idealization." (Coffman 1959; 39-41; 1963). These considerations have direct bearing on the role of welfare recipients in American society. Welfare clients, …

Maternity Homes: The Case Of A Dying Institution., Samuel O. Miller

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

The checkered career of a major social welfare institution appears to be near its end. Maternity homes as the major service to unmarried mothers face an uncertain future, with few indicators of a reversal in this current trend. The provision of social services as an expression of society's conern for the problems of unwed mothers has invariably been accompanied by a dynamic combination of deep feelings of prejudice and ambivalence. However, the current uncertainty of their status; the confusion in attitudes and conflicting opinions about the value and purpose of homes for unmarried mothers are …

Change And Social Organization, Alan M. Cohen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Organizations continually adapt to external organizational imperatives such as technology, population, knowledge and values. The increasing rate and intensity of these imperatives necessitates fhanges in services irrespective of the organization's formal intentions to change. It is suggested that organizational characteristics amenable to handling change do not occur randomly. Six organizational characteristics are discussed. It is emphasized however, that these six organizational characteristics are not in themselves, sufficient to insure the successful implementation of change. A changing relationship between individuals, as well as a process of routinization must also be dealt with if the imperative for organizational change is to be …

Ideology, Sociological Theories, And Public Policy, Norman Goroff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

It is important that my basic assumptions about social theories be made explicit at the very outset.

1. Every social theory has implicit, if not explicit, assumptions about the nature of man/woman.

2. Every social theory has implicit, if not explicit, assumptions about the nature of society or the collectivity.

3. Every social theory has implicit, if not explicit, assumptions about the relationship of man/woman to society or to the collectivity.

These assumptions in the theories are not empirical but normative and hence social theory is ideologically based. The fact that the social theories are …

Adolescent Pregnancy And Poverty: Implications For Social Policy, Clara L. Johnson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text document:

Adolescent pregnancy, per se, has been devoted little consideration by clinical observers and empirical researchers. For the most part, such pregnancies have received attention only insofar as they have occurred without the moral and legal sanctions of matrimony. This concern with illegitimacy has had the effect of blinding theorists and researchers to a whole segment of the adolescent pregnant population--the married teenager. Further, the adverse effects of adolescent pregnancy have been shrouded by moral precepts.

From existing evidence there appears to be no doubt that the married teenage girl is an integral part of the …

The Sociology Of Client Alienation In Relation To Societal Structure, William D. Poe, Jerry H. Borup

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

STUDY DESIGN

The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between client alienation and efforts by the social work profession to intervene in behalf of the welfare poor. Specifically, this investigation focuses on the ideas, proposals, and studies that have appeared in the social work literature that would indicate efforts by social workers to increase or decrease client alienation. Social work is practiced primarily in agency and organizational settings. Attention will be given to the nature of these structures to determine how they affect client alienation and prevent social workers from relieving alienation. The dimensions of client …

Communalities And Strains Between Sociology And Social Work, Ralph Segalman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Despite the seeming Intolerance between the discipline and the profession, and the seeming communications gaps between each of the four models in each of the fields, It is clear that each of the models serves a purpose In the discipline, In the profession and in society. If the social distance between these models can be bridged and If increased tolerance for the seeming mutual incongruity of concepts and behavior is achieved, we may yet be successful in making Sociology and Social Work as useful, relevant and necessary as was manifested In their original purposes posed …

Social Work, Social Welfare, And The American Family, Ronald A. Feldman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The following discussion proceeds from two basic premises: (1) that the family constitutes one of the most basic units of social structure in contemporary American society, and (2) that the social work profession represents a major, if not the primary, institutional mechanism for coping with the myriad of social problems encountered by American families. The former premise is readily substantiated in view of the observation that the vast majority (over 9O%) of American men and women are married at least once in their lifetimes. However, since family units oftentimes experience severe difficulty in performing key functions and, indeed, in maintaining …

Factors Leading To Client Degradation In Welfare And Public Housing, Elizabeth D. Huttman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Degradation and humiliation are the consequences of using many social services In our society. Added to this is classification as a non-normal or a failure because one turns to a government source for help. The person is stigmatized for use and the agency is negatively labeled by both non-users and users.

While these public opinions stem partly from a long-held philosophy regarding the role of social services and the nature of the poor, these attitudes are reinforced and strengthened by specific policies and practices in the administration and structuring of the programs. Comparisons between services …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 1, No. 1 (Fall 1973)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

• From the Chairman – Norman Goroff
• From the Editor - Ralph Segalman
• Social Welfare Texts: A Study in the Sociology of Knowledge – Leslie Leighninger
• Communalities and Strains between Sociology and Social Work – Ralph Segalman
• The Sociology of Client Alienation in Relation to Societal Structure - William D. Poe, Jerry H. Borup
• Marginal and Non-Marginal Persons in the Professions: A Comparative Study of Recruitment in Law, Medicine, and Social Work – Pranab Chatterjee
• Implications of Family Development Trends for Social Welfare and Social Work – Ronald A. Feldman
• Delinquency Theories, Group Composition, Treatment Locus, and a Service-Research Model for …

Creating Accountable Public Bureaucracies, James R. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

During the past several decades there has been a persistent and constant trend in our society that has not gained the prominence it deserves. This trend has been the continuous growth in the autonomy and power of public bureaucracies. The community power literature, for example, has systematically ignored public bureaucracies in its search for the power structure of cities (Aiken and Mott, 1970). The reasons why public bureaucracies have been overlooked by these researchers stem from a number of theoretical and methodological shortcomings that need not concern us here. The point, however, is that we …

Theoretical. Perspectives On The Analysis And Development Of Social Policies, David C. Gil

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the introduction:

The development of social policies, in American and in many other societies usually proceeds in fragmented fashion in relation to different substantive issues such as economic security, housing, education, physical and mental health, social deviance, child and family welfare, aging, intergroup relations, etc. The fragmentary-nature of processes of social policy formulation reflects their political nature and their roots in conflicts of real or perceived interests among diverse social groups. Were existing processes of policy development to result in social orders in which all members of a society could lead meaningful and satisfying lives, there would be …

Research Data As Aides In Formulating Agency Policy, Ludwig Geismar, Isabel Wolock

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Much is being written these days about the role of evaluation in the formulation of social policy. While few writers question the need for basing policy on systematic evaluation a good deal of the literature appears to focus on the obstacles in Larrying out as well as applying evaluative research. By contrast, the number of studies which in the eyes of critics measure up to minimum standards of scientific adequacy appears to be exceedingly small. Regardless of the problems inherent in the use of research data for policy formulation, the dearth of good studies constitutes …