Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Few Parting Words, Norman N. Goroff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The publication of this issue brings to an end thirteen years of my involvement with this Journal as Managing Editor, Publisher, and Editor. Ralph Segalman and I put the first issue together in the backyard of my house in West Hartford in 1972. The issue was printed in 1973 and marked the beginning of an adventure that has lasted all these years. We advanced the money to pay for the printing of that first issue. The subscriptions that came in enabled us to pay back the advances and to be self-supporting.

Social Workers' Satisfactions: Methodological Notes And Substantive Findings, Y. Meller, D. Macarov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The use of instruments derived from industrial research to investigate the work satisfactions of social workers can lead to distortion of results. Responses from ninety-one social workers in nine agencies indicates sources of satisfactions and dissatisfactions not present in industrial settings, and -- in contradistinction to the "dual-factor" or "bipolarity" theory -- both satisfactions and dissatisfactions arising from the same source in some cases.

The most important factors affecting workers' satisfactions were the ability to achieve results, their relationships with clients, their relationship with members of multidisciplinary staffs, and presence or absence of sufficient time and resources.

The "higher order" …

Social Service Needs Of Migrants In Limbo: Israelis In New York, Josef Korazim

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This is an exploratory study about the social service needs of Israeli migrants in New York City. A structured, face to face interview schedule was administered by the author to a sample of 86 intact families. The families were found to be mostly undecided regarding their stay in the United States. Their state of "limbo" was reflected in specific patterns of utilization of general and ethnic social services, and in six major areas of concern and needs: (1) a sense of social isolation; (2) the wives' low level of adjustment; (3) emotional stress due to the families' hesitancy to stay …

Holidays As Multiple Realities: Experiencing Good Times And Bad Times After A Disabling Injury, Mary Jo Deegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Holidays are idealized as times of celebration. They are embedded in cultural symbols, family patterns, and lived experience. Because all holidays are not good times, however, the lived experience of holidays is considerably more complex than its symbolization. This ambivalence is dramatically deepened for recently disabled adults who view holidays as a specially strained time of remembrance. Past holidays are often idealized in a new way as one's biography is placed into a new embodied reality. Simultaneously, holidays remain days when one is supposed to celebrate, and often denote some celebration for the injured. The resulting experience is a melange …

A Perspective On Differential Services In Counseling: Altruism And Likeness, James Latimore

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In this exploratory study using a small sample, an attempt is made to understand the differential services provided by vocational counselors in a non-profit agency, a setting in which a strong identification with clients is encouraged. The services are measured and the unequal measures of service are related to the degree to which the client is seen as an image of the counselor in certain respects. Counseling is viewed as an altruistic occupation and the differential services are analyzed in this context. In general, it is suggested that the differential counseling and psycho-therapeutic services noted by other writers all reflect …

Restraint Economics And The New Right: A Structural Analysis Of The Political Economy Of Social Services Cutbacks, John Butcher

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Restraint by government in the area of social service spending in the 1980's has become an issue of grave concern for social service practitioners, planners, and administrators. The emergence in North America of neo-conservative economic policies has engendered a body of critical and provocative literature which examines the effects of "restraint economics".

Recent work in geography has sought to locate the supply-side trend within a framework of macro-level processes. These suggest that a declining public commitment to maintaining the social safety net is linked to broader structural changes in the workplace and spatial shifts of capital and industry (Dear & …

Children's Violence To Single Mothers, Larry R. Livingston

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A survey of 151 mothers to determine characteristics of violence experienced from their children. The survey assessed the length of time they had been single parents, the age and sex of their children, the frequency and types of violence they experienced, and the influence of violent adult modeling upon the children's violence.

Findings indicate that 29% of the mothers had been assaulted by their children. The violent families contained more children than the nonviolent families, and the violent children's ages were more closely-spaced. Battered mothers also reported greater modeling of violence (the children seeing an adult striking their mother) than …

Focal Point, Volume 01 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This is the first issue of a bulletin published by the Portland State University Research and Training Center to Improve Services for Seriously Emotionally Handicapped Children and Their Families.

The specific thrust of this initial publication is to introduce you to the center and its primary activities. There are three major center projects: Families as Allies, Youth in Transition and Therapeutic Case Advocacy. Each of these projects is described in separate articles in this issue of the newsletter. In addition, we have a lead article by Thomas Young titled "Re-Thinking Emotional Disturbances in Children." This article should be thought provoking …

Neighborhood Criminals And Outsiders In Two Communities: Indications That Criminal Localism Varies, Daniel Baker, Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

Most research on the mobility of criminal offenders examines distance travelled. This paper examines instead whether neighborhood boundaries are crossed. Comparisons of two neighborhoods in Dayton, Ohio, indicate community variations in criminal mobility. Juveniles from poorer, more transient neighborhoods are surprisingly less likely to stay in the neighborhood to commit their offenses than were adults.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 13, No. 3 (September 1986)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Symposium on Community Organization

MICHAEL REISCH, STANLEY WENOCUR - Co-Editors

• Introduction - MICHAEL REISCH, STANLEY WENOCUR - pp. 445
• Community Empowerment As A Non-Problem - JOHN L. RUSSELL-ERLICH, FELIX G. RIVERA - pp. 451
• Community Work Practice and Client Empowerment Under Conservative Conditions: From Observed Practice to A Theory of Societal Context - RALPH E. WOEHLE - pp. 466
• Community Organization: A Survival Strategy For Community-Based Empowerment-Oriented Programs - STEPHEN M. ROSE - pp. 491
• Recruitment and Retention of Organizational Participants: What's Happening Out There Now? - JACQUELINE B. MONDROS, SCOTT M. WILSON - pp. 507
• People Learning To Help …

Introduction, Michael Reisch, Stanley Wenocur

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

One of the few promising developments within social work during the current era of Reaganomics has been the revival of interest in community organizing strategies and methods. During he 1970s, most of the vitality in the community organizing field came from outside social work--from the grassroots community groups Harry Boyte described in THE BACKYARD REVOLUTION, from raining schools like the Midwest Academy and the Industrial Areas foundation, and from social movement organizations among women, minorities, gays, the elderly and the disabled. Now, in response o the pressures of severe resource cutbacks, shifts in national ideology and culture, and a less …

Community Empowerment As A Non-Problem, John L. Russel-Erlich

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is not much fun to be a radical any more -- as a student, a teacher or a community activist. Often it seems as if there are too many battles and not enough time to begin to fight them. The privileged position in which many on the left found themselves in years past has given way to the treatment usually accorded persons with serious contagious diseases. Feeling unappreciated, unneeded and unwanted, we have tended to become a bit cranky and hypercritical. In our frustration, we have fallen prey to an isolation that encourages us to think only of people …

Community Organization: A Survival Strategy For Community-Based, Empowerment-Oriented Programs, Stephen M. Rose

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work as a profession and social workers as individual professionals often labor within the constraints of structural ambiguity. The historical emergence and location of the profession within the structure of a political economy whose normal functioning simultaneously creates the miseries of the profession's clients and the funds to serve them, poses a series of contradictions internal to the field and to most of its practitioners. The central expression of this conflict is hidden or mystified in social work education, thus preserving the legitimacy of the social structure while delegitimating or invalidating its oppressed populations. This process occurs through the …

People Learning To Help Themselves, Carl Tjerandsen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

When the preparation of a final report of the Emil Schwarzhaupt Foundation was first envisaged, it was assumed that it would deal primarily with education for citizenship and, hence, would be primarily of interest to civic educators. However, because so much of its grant program involved efforts to form community organizations or to use other kinds of groups (e.g. 4-H club groups or boys clubs) as vehicles within which certain behaviors might be changed, it became evident that other kinds of professionals such as social workers or community health educators might find the experiences of its grantees to be useful. …

Recruitment And Retention Of Organizational Participants: What's Happening Out There Now?, Jacqueline B. Mondros, Scott M. Wilson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This is a study on some initial research relating literature to actual practice in social action organizations. Our concern is to learn what are social action organizations of the 198 0s doing to recruit and maintain their membership and how this relates to the literature on recruitment and retention. We will review the literature, describe the methodology and report the findings, and then attempt to connect the findings and the literature.

Revival Of Welfare Reform, Seung Ja Doe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is a well known fact that poverty is prevalent among single mothers and children. Currently, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program fails to provide for all children and single mothers in need of public assistance. Previous attempts to "reform" the welfare system have been unsuccessful. However, in the time when the poor's right for social welfare is increasingly threatened, ideas for welfare reform need to be revived. The author advocates for a threedimensional agenda for welfare reform: universal assistance to families with children, reinforced support for children with absent parents, and targeted employment programs for single …

Collective Mobility And Fragmentation: A Model Of Social Work History, David Wagner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The author utilizes recent sociological approaches to professionalism in order to develop a dynamic conceptual model of the history of Social Work. Professionalization is understood as a social movement or "collective mobility project" of the lower middle class which has been the dominant force in Social Work for a century. This social movement seeks control and expansion of professional markets for services and recognition and sanction from elites. In each period of history, however, Social Work professionalizers have had to struggle against popular unrest and elite criticism aimed at the field. Challenges to Social Work professionalizers and their basic paradigms …

Community Work Practice And Client Empowerment Under Conservative Conditions: From Observed Practice To A Theory Of Societal Context, Ralph E. Woehle

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The thesis of this paper is that community work can be understood in relation to the larger structure of society. Community work is seen in terms of observations on cases previously reported. These observations suggest a political model of community work. In that model, goals are short term task goals of program development aimed at social problem or disadvantaged groups. The model assumes conflict among groups which can be dealt with politically. Client systems are different than constituent systems in that model, and clients are weak participants in community work. Non-client voluntary associations can nonetheless influence program decisions. These model …

Examination Of The Basque Collectives: Lessons From One Of The World's Most Successful Community Organization Efforts, Charles H. Frost

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The system of Basque collectives is recognized as the world's most effective worker owned system (Henk & Logan, 1982). It is a direct result of the community organization effort of Father Jose Maria Arizmendiarreta, who created an extremely progressive agenda under Spain's repressive Franco regime. Father Jose Maria's work will be explored in this paper and principles extracted that are important lessons for community organization teachers and practitioners.

The potential values of worker ownership have long been recognized; the ability of community organizers, however, to realize this potential has generally fallen far short. The worker owned enterprises in the Basque …

Experiences Of Women Activists: Implications For Community Organizing Theory And Practice, Cheryl Hyde

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The field of community organizing would be wise to heed the words of Abigail Adams to her revolutionary husband, John. Contributions of women activists have been virtually ignored by the field of social work. Consequently, social work has a diminished knowledge base and has alienated large numbers of talented women. Ironically, both the past and the future of community organizing are tied intimately with the action of women. Foremothers include Jane Addams, Dorothea Dix and Lillian Wald. Current trends suggest that "women's issues," such as poverty, the family and reproductive rights, will be on national, state and local agendas for …

Building Citizen Support For Planning At The Community Level, Barry Checkoway

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Planning practice is changing. Previous years of economic growth contributed to an increase in federal, state, and local planning agencies, in addition to regional and special purpose bodies with territorial or functional responsibilities. In times of growth, planning was viewed by many as a type of urban engineering and applied social science characterized by objective fact-finding and the so-called rational model. Leading texts emphasized technical research methods and "hard data" analysis, while government guidelines described scientific application of facts (Krueckeberg and Silvers, 1974; Spiegel and Hyman, 1978). Planners were akin to technical experts who analyzed data for other people who …

Electoralism, Mobilization And Strategies For The 80s: An Assessment Of Organizing Trends In The Mid-Decade, Steve Burghardt

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Community organizers in the United States have two tasks today: a short-term defensive one of holding back the rightward assault against both the social welfare state and the working class in general; and a long-term, mobilizing task of building a constituency strong enough to transform the welfare state itself. We cannot lose sight of this latter goal, for the method and objectives we set for ourselves in the short-run will greatly determine the feasibility of our long-term goals.

This is no small matter, for the assault on the welfare state is as fundamental to the restructuring of class and social …

The Influence Of Rev. Jesse Jackson's Candidacy For President On Pluralistic Politics: Implications For Community Action, James Craigen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This essay addresses the significant changes in power relationships brought about by the candidacy of the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson for President of the United States. Specifically, it will attempt to focus on themes or issues reflecting the impact of his entry into the contest for the Democratic nomination as a viable Black candidate in November 1983, and the consequent redefinition of power relationships which occurred not only within the Democratic Party, but between Blacks and Whites, Blacks and Jews, Black elected and appointed officials, and his effort on relative deprivation among the people in the Rainbow coalition that he …

Peer Reinforcement For Social Work Training: An Evaluation, Robert W. Weinbach, Karen M. Kuehner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Techniques for peer reinforcement of social work training programs appear to be a promising complement to educational supervision. The authors conducted a quasi-experimental evaluation of its effectiveness for reinforcement of learning, of interviewing skills. Subjects were income maintenance workers in a large state public welfare agency. Findings indicated that peer reinforcement may have resulted in knowledge retention and use of skills which were superior overall to those demonstrated among trainees denied access to peer reinforcement techniques. Interpretation of findings and productive areas for future research are suggested.

The Sociology Of Alcoholism Counseling: A Social Worker's Perspective, Katherine Van Wormer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An occupation - alcoholism counseling - strives to gain professional status. Still a field largely dominated by counselors who derive their status more from personal attributes - the fact of being recovering alcoholics - rather than from achievement of impersonally applied standards, chemical dependency counseling is in a state of flux. This sociological analysis examines recent developments in the field. Special emphasis is on roles for social workers.

A Commentary On Unicorns And Efficiency, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The issue of efficiency in human services parallels in many respects the principle that unicorns should receive fair treatment. People have paid lip service to the idea that human services should be delivered efficiently for most of the last century. Yet, in all of that time there has not been a single study published showing clearly whether a particular instance of service delivery was, or was not, efficient.The underlying issues involved in defining and measuring efficient service delivery are complex and difficult and administrators, boards and other stakeholders have typically done little more than pay lip service to the idea.

Review Of Books By Vinter & Kish And Lauffer, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

During a decade of great changes in the organization and management of human service organizations, these authors have attempted to explain the changes that are occurring and offer guidance for how to deal with them for harassed and overworked human services managers and students.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 13, No. 2 (June 1986)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• The Anatomy of "Burn-Out": The As Antidote - NORMAN N. GOROFF
• Love Paradigm
• Determinants of Knowledge About Social Security: A Study of Nonremarried Widows Caring For Children - MARTHA N. OZAWA, WILLIAM T. ALPERT
• Income Tax and Inequality: What Constitutes Welfare State Expenditure? - GORDON W. TERNO ETSKY
• Factors Contributing to Coalition Maintenance - MARIA ROBERTS-DeGENNARO
• On the Dialectics of Social Theory And Action: A Synthesis of Six Models of Community Engagement - DREW HYMAN
• Role-Set Diversity: Benefits or Strain? - MARILYN GAIL MORGAN, ALFRED DEMARIS
• Retirees As Technoguides: A New Role As Shapers And Makers of …

Prison Education, Joseph Behar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

College level education is provided by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to inmates on site at the Riker's Island Correctional Facility in New York City. This undergraduate satellite program is examined in relation to the opportunities for de-institutionalization, re-socialization, and possible effects on "prisonization." The conditions and potential of "education behind bars" for rehabilitation, student development, and personal reorientation are discussed through an analysis of the emergence of an innovative instructional environment not directly controlled by the official nor subcultural systems of the institution. In this context, the educational uses of the "sociological imagination" become part of a …

Computer Use In Social Services Network Newsletter, Dick Schoech

Computer Use in Social Services Network

No abstract provided.