Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Moving From Professionalism To Political Advocacy In The Human Services--How To Organize A Successful Statewide Political Effort In Youth Services, Milan J. Dluhy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current funding environment makes political advocacy on the part of social work professionals mandatory. The social work literature on political advocacy is reviewed and categorized into schools of thought. The major portion of the paper, however, presents and then analyzes a case study of a statewide youth services association in order to gain more insight into how professional social workers can develop and use more successful political strategies and tactics.

The Relative Effectiveness Of Legislative Campaigning In A School Of Social Work, L. K. Northwood, Mike Parker

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There are three interrelated strategies commonly used by social workers for coping with the conservative attack on social welfare institutions: client advocacy, electoral, and policy strategies. The paper evaluates the relative effectiveness of the policy strategy when 532 members of a school of social work were asked to write their legislators in support of progressive legislation. Five indicators of the relative effectiveness of this campaign were identified and assessed. The campaign is adjudged relatively effective from the standpoint of enlisting and motivating participants "ready for service or action' (action potential); in implementing a formal plan or organization--a "connected series of …

Symposium: The Social Security Controversy - Has The Solution Become The Problem?

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This a collection of two of four papers presented at the Annual Meeting of the society for the Study of Social Problems in Detroit, August 27-30, 1983. The theme of the meeting was "The Making of Social Problems: Social Construction and Maintenance of Social Problems over Time." This symposium sought to explore the theme by using the social security program as a framework for discussion.

Services For Battered Women, Decky Fiedler, Katharine Hooper Briar, Marianne Pierce

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Counseling, case management and advocacy services for battered women seeking legal aid broaden their resources and options for dealing with abuse. Findings from a demonstration project specify the range of needs and services mobilized to effectively aid these women with the major life adjustments they and their children face.

Anticipatory Socialization Toward Occupational Retirement, Yael Kremer, Itzhak Harpaz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The willingness of older workers to participate in a retirement planning program served as an indicator of their anticipatory socialization toward retirement. Six independent variables were introduced in order to examine their effect on the workers' attitude toward pre-retirement counseling (dependent variable). A path analysis revealed that intention to continue working after retirement had a significant negative effect on the dependent variable. The most significant positive effect was that of Educational Level. In the discussion of the findings it is shown that the desire of pre-retirees to continue working is interpreted as un-realistic anticipatory socialization, indicating their reluctance to assume …

Some Principles Of Decision Making Under Uncertainty In Long-Term Treatment Situations, Julius A. Roth

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Comparative information from field notes of four studies of long-term treatment institutions form the basis for developing propositions about decisions made under conditions of uncertainty. These propositions fall under the general rubrics of decision making when action involves danger, when decisions are made to control clients' or subordinates' behavior, and when a choice must be made between alternatives. The propositions are illustrated with examples taken from the four studies.

Income And Personal Resources: Correlates Of Psychological Adjustment To Widowhood, Martha N. Ozawa, Susan Whitelaw Downs, Daniel Frigo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study investigates factors that may determine the level of psychological adjustment to widowhood. Independent variables considered in this study are income and human capital. The population from which the study's sample was drawn consists of all nonremarried widows with at least one child receiving survivor benefits from social security in 1978 (N=3,041). The results support the importance of human capital variables for their predictive power. On the other hand, family income has not been found statistically significant. The source of data for this study is the 1978 Survey of Survivor Families with Children conducted by the Social Security Administration.

Professional Retention Of Bsw Social Workers: Planned And Actual Career Choices, Paul R. Raffoul, James G. Mccullagh

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The assumption that BSW students will remain in social work was examined with a survey of 107 current students and 177 graduates from 1977 through 1980. The findings suggest that most of the current students planned to practice social work and most of the graduates entered social work practice upon graduation. Recent graduates, however, had more difficulty obtaining social work jobs than graduates in 1977. Characteristics of social work education are not associated with retention, leading to the hypothesis that factors outside the control of social work education are more predictive of BSWS' retention in the profession.

Student Racial Atitudes And Perceptions Of Causal Events At Entry To Graduate Social Work Education, Larry E. Davis, Enola K. Proctor

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study assessed the racial attitudes and perceptions of causal events of 174 graduate students at the time of their entry to social work training. Results indicate that social work students had more egalitarian attitudes than nonsocial work students and were more likely to attribute causality to environmental or external factors. black students were significantly more external than white students in tneir perceptions of causality. Some differences in racial attitudes and perceptions of causal events were found among social work students, depending upon area of practice specialization. Student attitudes and perceptions did not differ according to geographical regions. implications for …

Slicing The Pie: Classes And The Distributive Effects Of Post-Wwii U.S.Governmental Fiscal Policies, Joel A. Devine

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Time series analysis of the relative class income distributional consequences of postwar U.S. fiscal practices reveals that governmental revenue policies have had a procapital bias while state expenditures have tended to favor labor. The net impact of these processes has served to leave the marketgenerated income distribution largely intact, despite the historically unprecedented growth of the public sector during this period. Finally, in light of these findings, the distributive impact of the current administration's fiscal program are considered.

Book Reviews, Paul Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

• Contradictions of the Welfare State - CLAUS OFFE - Reviewed by PAUL ADAMS - pp. 743
• The Rank and File Movement in Social Work - RICK SPANO - Reviewed by LESLIE LEIGHNINGER - pp. 746
• Women and Public Policies - JOYCE GELD - Reviewed by SUSAN MEYERS CHANDLER - pp. 748

Behavioral Social Work In Community And Organizational Settings, Jack Rothman, Bruce A. Thyer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Principles and methods of behavioral social work have found little application at the community and organizational levels of intervention. It is the contention of the authors that integration of such content would enhance practice at these levels. Components of behavioral community intervention are indicated and illustrated in micro/macro settings, with advantages to practice specified. Ethical Considerations in using this methodology are discussed.

Measuring Ecology In Social Work Supervision: The Relationship Between Work And Treatment Environments And The Quality Of Supervision In Israeli Public Welfare Agencies, Ron Maier, Edna Guttmann, Zvi Eisikovits

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study measures the interaction between work and treatment environments in public welfare agencies and social work supervision. One hundred and twenty-four social work students enrolled in B.S.W. studies at two Israeli universities, who were doing field work in these agencies, were randomly sampled. The work and treatment environments were measured utilizing an adapted version of a scale developed by Rudolf H. Moos. The student's evaluation of supervision was measured using a revised version of Carlton Munson's questionnaire. Supervisory variables such as administrative capability, effective use of time, and relationships were positively correlated with work environment variables such as order …

The Assimilation Of Indochinese Refugees: Social Service Issues, Mark W. Lusk

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper summarizes the recent history of the Indochinese refugee experience in the United States and factors inhibiting their assimilation. Social service practice and policy issues which have arisen during their settlement are discussed.

America's experience during the past decade with the "boat people" and other refugees from Indochina has reignited longstanding controversies regarding immigration. The exodus of the Indochinese has stimulated national interest in the growing world refugee problem and has revived the discussion regarding this country's historic role as a haven for the dispossessed. Social welfare institutions have been challenged to respond to the practice and policy issues …

Critical Criminology, Traditional Crime, And Public Policy, Ronald C. Kramer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Critical criminologists have often ignored the serious problem of traditional or common street crime. As a result, crime prevention policy has been forfeited to the political right or to those who advocate ineffective liberal reforms. This paper argues that critical criminology can make a contribution to the formulation of public policy concerning traditional crime. Recent theoretical developments within the criitical perspective on crime, as.well as a variety of supporting data, are reviewed and specific policy recommendations to reduce traditional crime are offered. These progressive recommendations constitute an important alternative to the individualistic approaches (liberal or conservative) which now dominate crime …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 11, No. 2 (June 1984)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Critical Criminology, Traditional Crime, And Public Policy - RONALD C. KRAMER
• Behavioral Social Work in Community and Organizational Settings - JACK ROTHMAN, BRUCE A. THYER
• Measuring Ecology in Social Work Supervision: The Relationship Between Work and Treatment Environments and The Quality of Supervision in Israeli Public Welfare Agencies - RON MAIER, EDNA GUTTMANN, ZVI EISIKOVITS
• Get Thee To A Shelter - WILLIAM M. EPSTEIN
• Ethnic Minority Leadership: A Theoretical Perspective - PALLASSANA R. BALGOPAL
• Understanding Gay and Lesbian Aging - PHILIP M. KAYAL
• The Origins of The Service State: On The Ironies of Intervention - TIMOTHY W. …

Get Thee To A Shelter, William M. Epstein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Psychotherapy and surrogate care, the two basic strategies for providing services to battered women, are criticized against outcome evidence of their reliability and efficacy. Surrogate care is shown to be the more desirable service approach. Some implications of this conclusion for the helping professions are enumerated.

Ethnic Minority Leadership: A Theoretical Perspective, Pallassana R. Balgopal

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although numerous approaches have been utilized to study leadership (focusing on traits, attributes, styles, roles, situations, performance, results, and so on), there is no agreement on the idal approach. The debate over this issue especially as related to the study of ethnic minority leadership continues. In this paper two major approaches - the "Great Main or Trait" and the "Times or Situational" approaches are examined, and the latter is presented as a viable theoretical framework for studying the ethnic minority leadership.

Understanding Gay And Lesbian Aging, Philip M. Kayal

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Studying the aging process of "gay men" and "lesbians" is problematic because it assumes that sexual orientation as such is a valid ontological concept and research category. As a master status, sexual orientation by itself is not a particularly useful explanatory variable. Objectivity is further limited by the sexism and homophobia of both the sociological profession and its "in-house" researchers and theoreticians. Perceptions of gay/lesbian aging are particularly colored by the heterosexist emphasis on family life. Arguments are made that institutionalization of the elderly is really the political manifestation of personal and social values which are insensitive to the needs …

The Origins Of The Service State: On The Ironies Of Intervention, Timothy W. Luke

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This essay discusses the growth of the interventionist "service state" in the United States since the 1890s. It indicates how the exhaustion of the national entrepreneurial capitalist model necessitated state management of the economy, society and culture in order to consolidate the emergence of a transnational monopoly capitalist mode of economic growth. These bureaucratic interventions, however, from the 1930s through the 1970s dangerously eroded the continuing reproduction of civil society. Hence, the new social movements of the 1960s and 1970s are discussed as popular efforts to countervail the bureaucratic logic of monopoly capital and the service state. The new social …

The Welfare Crisis Of Central America, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The crisis of Central America, fundamentally due to social injustice, is exacerbated as the Reagan administration seeks a "military polution" to political problems of the region. A humane approach to alleviating the devastating poverty of Central America necessitates reconciling two strategies of national development: a techno-economic strategy and a sociopolitical strategy. Both strategies leave important issues unresolved. The prospect of improving conditions for the people of Central America-diminishes as the region is increasingly militarized.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 11, No. 1 (March 1984)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• The Concept of Employment in Social Welfare Programs: The Need For Change in Concept and Practice - D. MACAROV - pp. 1
• Social Work Intervention With the Aged Toward a Change in the Institutionalized Thought Structure - SHIMON S. GOTTSCHALK, MICHAEL FRUMKIN, ALLAN V. KAUFMAN - pp. 24
• Long Term Care Advocacy Delivery Systems: State and Local Responsibilities - ABRAHAM MONK, LENARD W. KAYE, HOWARD LITWIN - pp. 56
• Improving The Mental Health Care Delivery System For Elderly Nursing Home Patients - RICHARD J. CASTON, SHARON KOHLS, SUSANNA BOZINOVSKI - pp. 71
• Empowerment Through The Needs Assessment …

Improving The Mental Health Care Delivery System For Elderly Nursing Home Patients, Richard J. Caston, Sharon Kohls, Susanna Bozinovski

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is well known that the mental health care delivery system for aged nursing home patients is inadequate. Based on information gained from face to face interviews and from a mail survey of nursing home personnel, the range and usefulness of the resources and services available for mental health care in nursing homes are identified. This information is then used to derive recommendations for the development of a more effective mental health care delivery package for nursing homes.

Book Reviews, Michael Reisch, Ann Withorn, Michael Hibbard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

• The Cost of Human Neglect: America's Welfare Failure - HARREL R. RODGERS JR. - Reviewed by MICHAEL REISCH - pp. 239
• Women in the Workplace: Proposals for Research and Policy Concerning the Conditions of Women in Industrial and Service Jobs - PAMELA ROBY - Reviewed by ANN WITHORN pp. 243
• Social Welfare or Social Control? Some Historical Reflections on Regulating the Poor - WALTER I. TRATTNER - Values in Social Policy: Nine Contradictions - JEAN HARDY - An Immodest Agenda: Rebuilding America Before the 21st Century - AMITAI ETZIONI - Reviewed by MICHAEL HIBBARD - pp. 245

Social Work Intervention With The Aged: Toward A Change In The Institutionalized Thought Structure, Shimon S. Gottschalk, Michael Frumkin, Allan V. Kaufman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The social problems associated with aging are viewed as derived from a series of socially defined meanings in the areas of: (1) power/authority,(2) responsibility, (3) productivity/work, (4) dependence/ independence,and (5) knowledge/rationality. A parallel series of alternative meanings is proposed which make possible the creation of alternative institutional forms which hold promise for making contemporary problems substantially obsolete. An era of post-professinalism is envisioned in which helping agents become political activists committed to social change on the cognitive, as well as the material level.

Long Term Care Advocacy Delivery Systems: State And Local Responsibilities, Abraham Monk, Lenard W. Kaye, Howard Litwin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper reports the results of a national comparative study of nursing home ombudsman programs for the institutionalized elderly. Of recent origin, patient representative programs have received little critical assessment as to their success in improving the quality of life of America's most vulnerable aged. At the same time, anticipated increases in the number of institutionalized aged coupled with current austerity measures in the health and human services underscores the present and future need to design effective and efficient monitoring/advocacy mechanisms to prevent abuses in long stay institutions. The paper focuses on a description of the current configuration of state …

Economic And Human Capital Factors In The Future Work Plans Of Young Widows, Martha N. Ozawa, Susan Whitelaw Downs

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examines the future work plans of nonremarried widows under age 55 who have dependent children at home (N=2,599). All families in this study were receiving survivor benefits from social security in 1978. Human capital resources of the widow, economic need, her age, and family situational variables were included in multiple regression analyses as possible predictors of future work plans. The results support the importance of human capital resources and age of the widow, support the importance of economic need only for widows already working, and suggest that family situational variables are less significant in predicting widows' future work …

The Concept Of Employment In Social Welfare Programs: The Need For Change In Concept And Practice, D. Macarov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social welfare and social work practice are based upon and limited by concepts concerning the role of work in society. These include coverage, vestedness, administration, and the wage-stop. As human labor becomes quantitatively less important in the technological society, and as attitudes toward work change, the role of social work should become proactive -- leading toward necessary and desirable changes, including new meanings of the concept work and new methods of distributing income, rather than continuing to attempt to shore up an increasingly outmoded systems of values and structures.

In examining the content of the major social work textbooks published …

Empowerment Through The Needs Assessment Process, Michael Hibbard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

One of the most persistent issues in social welfare planning has been the relative roles of service provision and social change. They have often been conceived as dichotomous: the assumption is that one precludes the other, on both ideological and methodological grounds. However, this division may be more the product of turf wars and fuzzy thinking than any necessary dichotomy. In this article a rationale for viewing service delivery and social change as dimensions of a single process --empowerment -- is developed. Next the needs assessment is examined as a vehicle for implementing the process of empowerment. Finally, a case …

Empathy/Role Taking: A Theoretical Model For Feminist Therapy, Michele Wilson, Gayle Twilbeck Wykle

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Feminist therapy is directed not only at individual, but also at social change. Because of this dual aim of feminist therapy, the symbolic interactionist perspective, which describes individual initiative as a source of social change, is suggested as a theoretical orientation which can provide a useful model for feminist therapy. More specifically, the empathy/role-taking model for the clienttherapist relationship is outlined here.