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An Investigation Of The Relationship Of Organizational Structure To Job Satisfaction Within Social Service Organizations Serving Elderly Clients, Anne Marguerite Wilkinson

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the relationships between organizational structure of client serving organizations and the job satisfaction of the members. The exploration of these relationships was conducted using a three dimension model of job satisfaction and seven dimensions of organizational structure. Data was gathered using interview and survey research techniques from 428 service providers within 42 social service agencies serving elderly clients.

The Interruption Of The Developmental Tasks Through Pregnancy In The Female Adolescent, Suzanne Epstein, Kathleen Perkins

Dissertations and Theses

There is much information about the incidence of adolescent pregnancy yet little attention has been directed to how this process will interrupt the working towards or completion of the developmental tasks of adolescence. It is our belief that completion of these tasks is crucial in relation to moving into the next stage, adulthood.

Public interest and concern for the contemporary needs of pregnant adolescents and school age parents as a special group is still fairly novel. Survey findings revealed that adolescent parents still have great need for infant day care services, direct financial assistance, housing arrangements, education, and parenting education. …

Requisites For The Establishment, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Social Work Treatment Programs For Anti-Social Children, John S. Wodarski

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Requisites for the establishment, implementation and evaluation of social work treatment programs for anti-social children are reviewed. Specific items discussed are: how does one ascertain the level at which change efforts should be directed, i.e., individual, group, organizational, or societal; what is the appropriate context for behavioral change; who should act as the change agent; what characteristics should the worker possess; what are the rationale for service provided; how long should the treatment continue; how does one prepare for the termination of treatment and maintenance of behavior; what organizational factors of treatment contexts are pertinent to the constructive delivery of …

Professionalism And The Control Of Knowledge, John M. Booker, Allen W. Imershein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Madness becomes mental illness through the joint project of psychiatry and the community of consensus lent to it. The psychiatrist, like the shaman (to paraphrase Leve'-Strauss), acts through the cultural plasma of his times. And the psychiatrist provides a definition for events, making mental illness of madness, while occupying a unique position within the scheme of society.

Psychiatry has been attacked from many directions in recent years. Despite these varied challenges, however, its power appears to have abated little if at all. How can we account for this fact? On the surface one might assume that the scientific basis or …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 6, No. 3 (May 1979)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• Three Mile Island - A Personal Report - JAMES R. HUDSON - pp. 288
• Implications of Racism for Social Work Practice - SEYMOUR MIRELOWITZ - pp. 297
• Psychiatry and Society: Professionalism and the Control of Knowledge - JOHN M. BOOKER, ALLEN W. IMERSHEIN - pp. 313
• The Social Policy of Denial: Unemployment in Israel - HARRIS CHAIKLIN - pp. 326
• Requisites for the Establishment, Implementation and Evaluation of Social Work Treatment Programs for Anti-Social Children - JOHN S. WODARSKI - pp. 339
• Public Monitoring of Contracts with Nonprofit Organizations: Organizational Mission in Two Sectors - BRUCE S. …

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. …

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.

The Stable Poor And Criticism Of Poverty Area Agencies, Peter L. Heller, Maria Del Carmen Rivera-Worley, H. Paul Chalfant

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

International and cross-cultural research concerning populations living in poverty have uncovered similarities in attitudes and behaviors associated with participation in society's institutional systems. One of these similarities is that feelings of alienation are an inevitable "reaction of the poor to their marginal position in a class-stratified, highly individuated, capitalistic society" (Lewis, 1966:21). These feelings, in turn, have led poor people in general to withdraw from participation in community life, including the community's institutions charged with the task of delivering services associated with physical welfare. The central task of this paper is to report findings that suggest that the degree of …

Loneliness And Deprivation: The Case Of Roman Catholic Priests, John F. Schnabel, John P. Koval

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Using Roman Catholic Priests as a test in order to control for deprivation in relationships of intimacy while maximizing the need for social network relationships, an examination was made of their differential experience of loneliness.

The evidence suggested repeatedly that priests were more likely to experience loneliness as a serious problem when they perceived that the social network which they regarded as most significant in their lives (the Church) placed some kind of structural limitation on the extent of their involvement in it. Factors, for example, which help determine the individual priest's place in the structure of the Church are: …

Blacks And Capital Punishment: An Assessment Of Latent Discriminatory Justice In The United States, Laurence French

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A major consideration in interethnic relations is the control factor and how this is maintained in minority/ majority situations especially those occurring within heterogeneous societies. Granted numerous subtle control processes operate at both the primary and secondary levels of interethnic interaction but a critical measure of the effectiveness of minority subjugation is reflected in judicial discrimination. This formal legal control apparatus has a legal mandate to deny social members their freedom, to punish and even to execute them. In the United States the criminal justice system's avowed mandate is to provide 'equal justice' for all citizens without discrimination due to …

Professional Social Work Associations And Legislative Action 1974 To 1977, Timothy Lause

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

NASW state chapters have increasingly become involved in the pursuit of state legislative priorities. However, direct focus upon social problem concerns accounted for a minor and declining share of the chapters' foremost legislative priorities. Preoccupation with the institutionalization of professional status does not appear to be a transitional chapter concern associated only with the attainment of licensed status.

The Educational Needs Of Social Work Faculty In Medical Schools, Richard M. Grinnell Jr., Nancy S. Kyte

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite a long-standing association and promise for a closer alliance in the future, considerable ambiguity surrounds the current participation of social workers in medical education. A nationwide study was conducted to obtain a comprehensive, up-todate profile of social work faculty employed by medical schools-- their total number, demographic characteristics, department affiliations, primary specialties, methods and content areas of academic instruction, etc. An accompanying study focused on the opinions of medical school Deans concerning the present and future status of social work faculty in medical education. Attention has been given to social work education in relation to health care practice. Another …

Social Work And Criminal Justice Student Support Of Civil Liberties, David A. Fabianic

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Varying levels of support for civil liberties have been imputed to social work and criminal justice personnel. Assuming students planning to pursue these professional roles reflect attitudes in accordance with anticipated demands of the positions and the effects of preparatory educational experiences, this paper examines the levels of support for selected provisions of the Bill of Rights among social work and criminal justice undergraduate students.

Homosexuality: A Social Worker's Imbroglio, Carol Tully, Joyce C. Albro

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Few members of our society take time to put into historical context their prejudices about homosexuality. This article examines the historical context of these prejudices as well as how social workers may become co-opted by society into overlooking the social service needs of homosexual clients. How to combat institutional homophobia is also discussed.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 6, No. 2 (March 1979)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• THE PRINCIPLES OF GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY APPLIED TO THE MEDICAL MODEL. WHO BENEFITS? - James T. Decker, John R. Redhorse
• HOMOSEXUALITY: A SOCIAL WORKER'S IMBROGLIO - Carol Tully, Joyce C. Aibro
• SOCIAL POLICX AND SOCIAL WELFARE ADMINISTRATION - Bernard Neugeboren
• PROBLEMS AND ISSUES IN COMMUNITY-BASED RESIDENTIAL SERVICES AS ALTERNATIVES TO INSTITUTIONALIZATION - Anthony N. Maluccio
• ORGANIZATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE APPLICATION OF BUDGETING AND COST EFFECTIVENESS SYSTEMS TO SOCIAL WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS - Charles Cowger
• SOCIAL WORK AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE STUDENT SUPPORT OF CIVIL LIBERTIES - David A. Fabianic
• BLACKS AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: AN ASSESSMENT OF LATENT DISCRIMINATORY JUSTICE …

Problems And Issues In Community-Based Residential Services As Alternatives To Institutionalization, Anthony N. Maluccio

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In recent years there has been increasing interest in community based residential services (e.g. foster homes and group homes) as alternatives to institutionalization of people in problem areas such as mental health, mental retardation, child welfare, and aging.

A selective review of the literature was undertaken to identify key issues, problems and concepts in the use and development of community-based services. This article presents selected findings and conclusions regarding conceptualization of services, issues in service delivery, and evaluation of effectiveness. In addition, it proposes a conceptual framework useful in examining the continuum of emerging services.

Organizational Considerations In The Application Of Budgeting And Cost Effectiveness Systems To Social Welfare Organizations, Charles Cowger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social welfare organizations have distinctive organizational characteristics which hinder their adaptability to budget and cost effectiveness systems. This paper identifies those characteristics and discusses their significance.

Socioeconomic Achievement: The Case Of The Working Poor, Manuel Vaz Pato, John B. Williamson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In recent years a great deal of effort has gone into the specification of causal models describing the social mobility process, but virtually no effort has been made to specify a model for the poor, a segment of the population for which the issue of social mobility is particularly crucial. In the present study we ask whether the process of socioeconomic achievement for the poor can be described using the same model as for the non-poor, or whether a separate model is required for the poor; we conclude that a separate model for the poor is needed. The data used …

An Investigation Of Sexuality And Life Satisfaction Of Institutionalized Aged, Karla M. Baur

Dissertations and Theses

One concern of this study is sexuality among the aged, since every person, regardless of age, is a sexual being. Society, however, has been slow to recognize this fact and has not accepted sexual activity among the aged. Along with the lack of social sanctioning, elderly persons are very susceptible to the myriad of myths, half-truths, misinformation, and incomplete data which affect their attitudes toward sexuality. Furthermore, older persons are susceptible to negative stereotypes of themselves as sexual beings. However, the effect of actual sexual activity upon overall life satisfaction among the aged has yet to be determined. Because there …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 6, No. 1 (January 1979)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Special Issue: Symbolic Interaction and Social Welfare

• On the Promise of Symbolic Interaction for Social Welfare - RALPH SEGALMAN - pp. 1
• Symbolic interaction and Social Practice - HARRIS CHAIKLIN - pp. 3
• Symbolic interaction and Social Work Supervision. - CARLTON E. MUNSON - pp. 8
• Symbolic Interaction and Social Assessment. - BILL HORNER - pp.19
• "Woman as symbol and social Welfare: An Interactionist Perspective. - RAYMOND L. SCHMITT & STANLEY E. GRUPP - pp.34
• Elements of the Perpetuation of Dependency in a Psychiatric Halfway House. - DAVID R. MAINES & MARILYN A. MARKOWITZ - pp.52
• The Interpretation of Child …

The Interpretation Of Child Abuse: Bureaucratic Relevance In Urban Newfoundland, Don Handelman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The disposition of suspected instances of child abuse is accomplished by bureaucratic personnel through their interpretation of the relevancies of their organizational life-world. Three such instances are discussed: these resulted respectively in an unmodified interpretation, in a modified interpretation, and in an ambiguous interpretation. Among the bureaucratic relevancies which are discussed are, the elasticity itself of the rubric of "suspicion", the affluence of the suspected, and the nature of their support network. The reification of instances of suspected abuse is found to be related, in part, to bureaucratic contingencies which themselves are connected only tangentially to the behavioral phenomenon under …

The Social Construction Of Disability, Arnold Birenbaum

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This symbolic interactionist theory examines the structure of relationships between the disabled and the nondisabled through face-to-face interaction and the formation and participation in organizations which provide specialized services. Some propositions from Randall Collin's Conflict Sociology (1975) create a framework for understanding the behavior of the disabled. Goffman's concept of career is used to examine the conditions under which various adaptive strategies are employed by the disabled to negotiate favorable definitions of self from their social communication. Finally, a symbolic interactionist explanation is outlined to account for the active and interested involvement of the nonhandicapped with the handicapped in getting …

The "Significant Other" In Marital And Family Therapy, Nathan Hurvitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The significant other (SO) is derived from the social behaviorism of G. H. Mead which is comparable to contemporary cognitive behaviorism. The SO is defined as an analytical concept by examining interaction in social acts; it includes attributes associated with the family member's role-reciprocity, meanings, affect, self-concept and modeling; and it is associated with concepts such as transformation, attribution and social interchange. The process by which the therapist becomes an SO to the family members individually and jointly, and how he or she utilizes transformation, attribution and social interchange are outlined.

Symbolic Interactionism And Social Assessment, Bill Horner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work needs a theoretical perspective that will provide impetus to the development of its unique function: social assessment and social intervention. The images and concepts characterizing symbolic interactionism seem to have the potential of meeting this need. This paper explores the perspective with the intent of suggesting its utility for assessing and intervening in interpersonal and environmental circumstances.

Symbolic Interaction And Social Practice, Harris Chaiklin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

To make social theory useful for practice its concepts must be in a form which is compatible with the ways practitioners relate to people. Symbolic interaction has a unique contribution to make to this endeavor. Its unit of attention is interaction; what goes on between people. Facts and ideas at this level of abstraction can be used in intervention. By contrast theories of society and theories of system are descriptive. They provide useful background information for practice.

Symbolic Interaction And Social Work Supervision, Carlton E. Munson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Professions historically have been practiced autonomously, but with the proliferation of professionalism as technology advances professional practice is being conducted more and more within the confines of "organizational necessities." There is an inherent conflict between professional autonomy and organizational constraints. This conflict has created a need for theoretical formulations that mediate this situational relationship. The theoretical formulations of Mead, Cooley, Linton, Thomas, Kinch, and Blumer are used to identify a system for taking account of the individual within the organization. Using the concepts of looking glass self, self-indications, role, status, definition of the situation, the social self, scripts, and actors, …

"Woman" As Symbol And Social Welfare: An Interactionist Perspective, Raymond L. Schmitt, Stanley E. Grupp

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Symbolic interactionism is used to examine the variable and complex definitions now linked to the symbol "woman" in contemporary society. The implications of symbolic interactionism and the view of "woman" as symbol for social welfare are discussed in terms of knowledge, morality, and implementation.

Elements Of The Perpetuation Of Dependency In A Psychiatric Halfway House, David R. Maines, Marilyn A. Markowitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Halfway houses are intended as helping institutions for those who are attempting to make the transition from institutionalized mental health facilities to autonomous living in the community. In spite of the manifest goal to produce independence for its residents, however, the halfway house contributes to patterns of dependency. In addition to the network nature of mental health care, we identify three dependency-perpetuating elements: role commitments, language, and mixed messages. These elements are analyzed as both social organizational and social psychological processes, and their implications are discussed.

An Empirical Study Of The Symbolic And Objective World Of The Preschool Child: A New Methodology And Some Preliminary Findings, Don W. Malon, Roy Ruckdeschel

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper discusses the division within symbolic interactionism today into the Iowa and Chicago Schools. Taking the position that the differences are potentially reconcilable, the authors present a study which demonstrates some methodological extensions of the positivistic Iowa School in conjunction with some of the insights of Blumer's phenomenological Chicago School. The research employed a quasi-experimental design, the aim of which was to investigate the relationship between cognitive organization of behavior and conditions of age and educational program. Subjects were 117 three and four year old children observed naturalistically in three preschool programs: a Montessori Class, a Parent-Child Center, and …