Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Continuum Theory For Social Work Knowledge, Yair Caspi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Relativist approaches, to knowledge, suggested by some social workers as alternative to the predominant scientific logical positivistic approaches to knowledge, suffer from serious flaws. Between the poles of objectivism and relativism exists a third and more useful approach to knowledge in social work. This approach is presented and developed based on recent sources from the philosophy of knowledge, the philosophy of science, and metatheoretical developments in the social sciences. A continuum theory of knowledge, between objectivism and relativism, is suggested for social work. The continuum theory narrows the gap between research and practice and between the scientific side and the …

Housing Affordability, Stress And Single Mothers: Pathway To Homelessness, Elizabeth A. Mulroy, Terry S. Lane

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Examining the research literature in housing, planning, and the social sciences, this paper argues that the housing crisis of the 1980s spawned a new environmental stress, housing affordability, which has had devastating consequences for economically vulnerable single mothers and their children. A conceptual framework is developed that depicts how the housing affordability dilemma generates a pathway to homelessness beset by four pinchpoints: a resource squeeze that precipitates loss of permanent housing; residential mobility that destabilizes families; discrimination in the housing market that constrains housing choices; and multiple stressors that demoralize a fragile family system. Implications of these findings are discussed, …

Asset-Based Social Welfare Policy: Homeownership For The Poor, Alice K. Johnson, Michael Sherraden

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Asset-based social welfare policy is an emerging theme in public policy that focuses on accumulation of wealth rather than on levels of household consumption. In this paper, housing policy is used to illustrate asset-based policy for the poor. Rather than increasing income-based rent subsidies, asset-based housing policy would promote homeownership. Homeownership has played a critical role in the upward mobility of immigrant groups (Bauman, 1987) and the exiting of families from public housing (Fuerst & Williams, 1983). U.S. public policy promotes homeownership for the nonpoor, and we spend quite a lot of money on it. But for the poor, we …

Correlates Of The Elderly's Participation And Nonparticipation In The Supplemental Security Income (Ssi) Program: A New Evaluation, Namkee G. Choi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper analyzes the economic and sociodemographic factors associated with the elderly's participation and nonparticipation in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Unlike the previous findings based on the early phase of the program, this analysis found that the amount of benefit is no longer a significant predictor of participation for couples and individuals receiving support and maintenance. Level of education and housing status are now found to be consistently significantly associated with participation of all or most filing units. The paper concludes with a discussion of policy recommendations for more aggressive outreach efforts.

Federal Relief Programs In The 19th Century: A Reassessment, Frank M. Loewenberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The American model of the welfare state, incomplete as it may be, was not plucked out of thin air by the architects of the New Deal in the 1930s. Instead it is the product and logical evolution of a long historical process. 19th century federal relief programs for various population groups, including veterans, native Americans, merchant sailors, emancipated slaves, and residents of the District of Columbia, are examined in order to help better understand contemporary welfare developments.

Primary Prevention Of Child Abuse: Is It Really Possible?, Mary K. Rodwell, Donald E. Chambers

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite the growing interest in child abuse and its prevention, to date no systematic research has been conducted to determine the usefulness of instruments used to identify and predict abuse or neglect. The present study is a review and analysis of predictive instruments of abuse or neglect with the goal of identifying the predictive efficiency of the instruments. Analysis reveals a variety of problems with predictive efficiency, particularly as predicting individual risk of abuse or neglect relates to primary prevention. Implications of the findings and suggestions for practice are discussed.

A Response To The Rejoinder By Darlyne Bailey & Pranab Chatterjee, Thomas Packard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

I appreciate the thoughtful and important comments made by Darlyne Bailey & Pranab Chatterjee regarding my article on organization development and community development. I find myself agreeing with them almost totally, and will briefly comment on some of their points to help clarify where we are and may not be in agreement.

The Battle For Benevolence: Scientific Disciplinary Control Vs. "Indiscriminate Relief": Lexington Associated Charities And The Salvation Army, 1900 - 1918, Karen Tice

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This historical case study explores the conflicts that emerged between the Scientific Charity Organization movement and the evangelical Salvation Army. At issue were two sets of reform styles, each legitimated by distinct sources of authority. The Salvation Army's practice was anchored in a religious understanding. Scientific Charity, battling for hegemonic control, espoused a rising positivistic worldview and championed disciplinary techniques for sorting the poor into binary categories of worthy and unworthy. This study illuminates the changing nature of social relations between charity workers and recipients and the construction of professional welfare methods.

Daily Life Of The Oldest Old, Margareta Carlsson-Agren, Stig Berg, Claes-Goran Wenestam

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this study was to investigate how very old persons-a representative sample of 129 noninstitutionalized 85-year-old Swedish persons with different patterns of adjustment-may live and experience daily life. The analysis of in-depth interviews showed that better adjusted participants enjoyed their freedom as retirees to form daily life at their own choosing. Within patterns of poorer adjustment, daily life was more influenced by other conditions than by the individual's preferences. It was common to construct personal time-tables for keeping up self-control and regardless of the level of activity, most participants thought that time passed quickly. It is argued that …

Organization Development And Community Development: True Soulmates Or Uneasy Bedfellows?, Darlyne Bailey, Pranab Chatterjee

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Our paper is written to express both strong dissent from and partial support of Dr. Packard's article "Organization Development Technologies in Community Development: A Case Study." Beginning with a summation of the article, this paper introduces the main area of contention, provides a vignette to illustrate key points and concludes with affirmation of the need for reconciling the differences between organizational development (OD) and community development (CD) as two systems of planned change.

Organization Development Technologies In Community Development: A Case Study, Thomas Packard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Organization development (OD) consultation technologies have been increasingly used by social workers in a variety of practice settings. Organization development is typically used in formal organizations, and there have been few reported applications in community development. This paper discusses the value of such applications and describes examples in a case study. Similarities between community development and organization development are presented. Technologies used are reviewed, followed by cautions and recommendations for further research

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 19, No. 2 (June 1992)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGIES IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT - Thomas Packard
• ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: TRUE SOULMATES OR UNEASY BEDFELLOWS? - Darlyne Bailey & Pranab Chatterjee
• A RESPONSE TO THE REJOINDER - Thomas Packard
• THE SEALED ADOPTION RECORDS CONTROVERSY IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE - E. Wayne Carp
• THE BATTLE FOR BENEVOLENCE - Karen Tice
• PROFESSIONAL ROLE ORIENTATION AND SOCIAL ACTIVISM - Linda Cherrey Reeser
• HELEN HALL (1892-1982): A SECOND GENERATION SETTLEMENT LEADER - Janice Andrews
• DAILY LIFE OF THE OLDEST OLD - Margareta Carlsson-Agren, Stig Berg
• and Claes-Goran Wenestam
• THE WITHERING OF COMMUNITY LIFE AND THE GROWTH OF EMOTIONAL …

The Sealed Adoption Records Controversy In Historical Perspective: The Case Of The Children's Home Society Of Washington, 1895-1988, E. Wayne Carp

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

I would like to thank Charlie Langdon and D. Sharon Osborne, past and present Executive Directors of the Children's Home Society of Washington (CHSW), for permission to use the CHSW's case records, and Randy Perin, Supervisor of the CHSW's Adoption Resource Center, whose enthusiasm for this project has been inspirational. I am also grateful to Roger W. Toogood, Executive Director of the Children's Home Society of Minnesota (CHSM), and Marietta E. Spencer, Program Director, Post-Legal Adoption Services, CHSM, for permitting me access to the Society's case records. I would also like to thank Paula Shields, George Behlmer, Ruth Bloch, Clarke …

Professional Role Orientation And Social Activism, Linda Cherrey Reeser

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article examines the effects on social action of the client, bureaucratic, and professional role orientations of social workers. A national survey was conducted of 682 social workers who were members of the National Association of Social Workers. Systematic sampling was used and the questionnaire was self-administered. A bureaucratic orientation is not supportive of activism; a client orientation encourages activism; and a professional orientation-taken alone-is neither conservatizing nor reinforcing of activism. However, an orientation to the profession when coupled with a client orientation intensifies the activist effects of a client orientation for practice groups within social work. Possible explanations for …

Helen Hall (1892-1982): A Second Generation Settlement Leader, Janice Andrews

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Helen Hall, settlement leader and second generation social worker, was a prominent social reformer for over fifty years. Her professional life spanned a period of early social work where her activities occurred along side those of first generation social workers, and continued through the depression, the war years, into the 1950s and the settlement movement's increasing attention to juvenile delinquency, and finally into the turbulent 1960s when her activities overlapped the modern generation of social workers. Despite her widespread work in national affairs and neighborhood concerns, her leadership in the National Federation of Settlement, her extensive writings and studies, Hall …

The Withering Of Community Life And The Growth Of Emotional Disorders, Thomas F. Maher

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The architecture of this essay is as follows: I begin by assaying the communitarian crisis of the modern western world. Second, I offer a brief narrative of the social and cultural variables that foster rootlessness and social disintegration in much of urban industrial life. Third, I state a strong case for how this same process may be systematically undermining the nuclear family as a life-long community, threatening the dependence of children on care-giving adults, and, thereafter, the psychological development of children.

Organic Communities, Atomistic Societies, And Loneliness, Ben Mijuskovic

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The article distinguishes two models of human organization, the organic community and the atomistic society. It maintains that the organic paradigm stresses (a) the ideal unity of the whole; (b) organic or intrinsic relations; (c) living or dialectical processes; (d) the image of "members"; (e) the mutual interdependence of the members; (f) a role perspective; and (g) dynamic or natural functions. By contrast, the atomistic construction emphasizes (a) the value of individual freedom; (b) external connections; (c) mechanical or causal explanations; (d) the metaphor of "parts"; (e) the independence of the parts; (f) a rule orientation; and (g) a formalistic, …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 19, No. 1 (March 1992)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• INTRODUCTION: AMERICAN SOCIAL POICY AND TIE REAGAN LEGACY - James Midgley
• SOCIETY, SOCIAL POLICY AND THE IDEOLOGY OF REAGANISM - James Midgley
• CHANGES IN PROPERTY, INCOME INEQUAIITY AND THE STANDARD OF LIVING DURING THE REAGAN ERA - Robert Plotnick
• INCOME MAINTENANCE PROGRAMS AND THE
• REAGAN DOMESTIC AGENDA - Howuard Jacob Karger
• AMERICA'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: THE REAGAN LEGACY - Terri Combs-Orme and Bernard Guyer
• THE REAGAN LEGACY: UNDOING CLASS, RACE, AND GENDER ACCORDS - Mimi Abramovitz
• UNHOUSING THE URBAN POOR: THE REAGAN LEGACY - Beth Rubin, James D. Wright, and Joel A. Devine
• THE FALL OF THE …

The Reagan Legacy: Undoing Class, Race And Gender Accords, Mimi Abramovitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The impact of Reaganomics on women, workers, and person of color is explored by looking at structural forces in the political economy that encourage business and government at one time to support and another time to undermine the welfare state. The expansion of the welfare state from 1935 to the mid-1970s meshed well with the needs of profitable production, political legitimacy and patriarchal control. With the economic crisis of the 1970s, the welfare state became too competitive with capital accumulation and too supportive of empowered popular movements and had to go. Women, persons of color, and the poor ranked high …

America's Health Care System: The Reagan Legacy, Terri Combs-Orme, Bernard Guyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Because of the dominance of the private sector in health care in the United States, health conditions are not as susceptible to changes in public policy as they are in other Western countries. however, the elderly and young children are directly affected by the federal government's health care policies and while both groups were the focus of major changes introduced by the Reagan administration, these changes were opposed buy Congress. Nevertheless, changes in health care funding and administrative arrangements have had a negative impact on the needy and, in addition, they have been exacerbated by the Reagan administration's wider social …

Introduction: American Social Policy And The Reagan Legacy, James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

With the retirement of Ronald Reagan from active political life; the long term effects of his policies and programs need to be addressed. This introduction to fire special issue on The Reagan Legacy and the. American Welfare State draws on the findings of the various contributors t"' provide an overview of the impact of Reagan administration's policies on various facets of the welfare stale, and an assessment of their likely longer term effects.

Society, Social Policy And The Ideology Of Reaganism, James Midgley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The complex historical and ideological themes which formed the basis for Reaganism in the 1980s are based on economic individualism, traditionalism and authoritarian populism. By creating an ideological formation which appealed to a wide constituency, right-wing activists sought to reverse the centrist consensus liberalism of the New Deal. These ideas also informed the Reagan administration’s social policies and, although not implemented as intended, have had a major impact on the American welfare state.

Changes In Poverty, Income Inequality And The Standard Of Living During The Reagan Years, Robert D. Plotnick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The record of economic well-being in the 1980s belied Reagan's claim that Americans would be better off if they scaled back the welfare state and cut tax rates. Though the standard of living rose, its growth was no faster than during 1950-1980. Income inequality increased. The rate of poverty at the end qf Reagan's term was the same as in 1980. Cutbacks in income transfers during the Reagan years helped increase both poverty and inequality. Changes in tax policy helped increase inequality but reduced poverty. These policy shifts are not the only reasons for the lack of progress against poverty …

Income Maintenance Programs And The Reagan Domestic Agenda, Howard Jacob Karger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Income maintenance programs are a key feature of the American welfare state. The impact of the Reagan administration’s social welfare policies are examined in this article, which also speculates about the long-term effects of his successes on the future of income maintenance programs. Specifically, this article provides a brief historical background of income maintanence programs, examines Reagan’s ideological and strategic approach to deconstructing the welfare state, evaluates the domestic successes of the Reagan administration, and explores the long-term impact of Reagan’s policies on the future of income maintenance programs.

Unhousing The Urban Poor: The Reagan Legacy, Beth A. Rubin, James D. Wright, Joel A. Devine

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Reagan era was characterized by the popularity of individual level explanations and market based solutions for a range of social problems, including homelessness. We argue that such an approach was inadequate and may, in fact, have toorsened the housing situation. We claim that homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem linked to two key trends of the 1980s: the increasing rate of poverty and the declining supply'f low-income housing. Market approaches to housing policy have resulted in housing policies by default: gentrification, condo conversion and displacement as well as tax policies that explicitly favor the nonpoor. Those policies gehred towards …

The Fall Of The Industrial City: The Reagan Legacy For Urban Policy, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Reagan presidency reversed a half-century of federal aid to cities. Poor minority comnnunities were particularly hard-hit, since this was accompanied by a white flight to the suburbs and the replacement of better paying industrial jobs requiring little education with poorer paying service jobs requiring iore education. Meanwhile wealthy communities prospered. To address urgent social problems, urban politicians are advocating strategies such as industrial policy, public entrepreneurship, and guerrilla welfare.

Social Work And The Reagan Era: Challenges To The Profession, Karen S. Haynes, James S. Mickelson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A priority item on the Reagan administration’s social policy agenda was the creation of a charity model of welfare, in which well-meaning volunteers provide services to the deserving poor and for-profit enterprises cater to the middle and upper class. This model was implemented because human service budgets of public agencies were slashed and subsidies for the not-for-profit sector. This reduction resulted in substantial unmet needs for social services, which have not been adequately addressed.

The authors contend that the profession of social work was not as directly affected by these changes as may be surmised since professional social workers did …

The Place Of Science In Social Work, Ann Weick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A narrow concept of science has reduced rather than enlarged the scope of human inquiry. This paper considers the principles of quantum physics and the philosophy of Wilhelm Dilthey as two different ways of creating approaches to research more consonant with social work practice.

Technological Fix: Altering The Consciousness Of The Social Work Profession, Dennis Saleebey

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work, like other professions, seeks a jolt of technology and technical sophistication into its theoretical and practical repertories. Such efforts have, thus far, ignored the considerable ethical and axiological freight that "Techne" brings with it. Ironically, many of the implicit values of techniques subvert the unique and defining values of the social work profession. This paper offers a cautionary note and a prescription for avoiding the "technological fix."

Rationality In Social Work: A Critical Examination, Shimon S. Gottschalk, Stanley L. Witkin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper critically examines the definitions and criteria for rationality in social work in light of western philosophic tradition. Rationality in social work is seen as instrumental (means-oriented) and individualistic rather than substantive (ends-oriented) and social. A set of criteria which expand the basis for making rationality claims in social work is suggested. These additional criteria aim to serve the valued social justice ends of social work practice.