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Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 10, No. 4 (November 1983)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction - MICHAEL REISCH, STANLEY WENOCUR
• The Social Work Service Commodity in the Inflationary 80's - HAROLD LEWIS
• Reaganomics and the Welfare State - MIMI ABRAMVITZ, TOM HOPKINS
• Reagan, Pickle and Pepper: The Benefit Reduction Versus Voluntary Approach to Encouraging later Retirement - ERIC R. KINGSON
• The Politics of Mental Health After Care - STEVE ROSE
• Seven Voices From One Organization: What Does It Mean? - JANICE PERIMAN
• A Note On Voethogenic Harm: The Politics of Science and the Professions - WARREN C. HAGGSTROM
• Alienation Among Social Service Workers and Integration Into the Social Services - JOHN …

Reaganomics And The Welfare State, Mimi Abramovitz, Tom Hopkins

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Supply-side tax and spending policies have intensified poverty, unemployment and inequality, especially for women, minorities and organized labor. At the same time Reaganomics is shrinking and weakening the welfare state. To better understand and resist this conservative assault it is necessary to demystify the "economics" and "politics" of supply-side doctrine. This paper (a) defines the basic assumptions of supply-side economics; (b) identifies some of its problems and contradictions; (c) discusses its impact on the welfare state; and (d) analyzes it as part of a broader plan for coping with the current economic crisis. It argues that the supply-side tax cut …

Reagan, Pickle And Pepper: The Benefit Reduction Versus Voluntary Approach To Encouraging Later Retirement, Eric R. Kingson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The degree to which benefit reduction and voluntary approaches to encouraging later retirement maximize four different and often conflicting policy objectives is assessed as are costs and benefits of these approaches to healthy and unhealthy older workers, minorities and women. While both approaches encourage later retirement, there are clear differences in the approaches in terms of meeting the goal of financing Social Security versus adequacy and social equity

Introduction, Michael Reisch, Stanley Wenocur

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The field of political-economy dates back at least as far as Adam Smith over 200 years ago. The early political-economists made the first systematic attempts to examine the interconnections between the emergence of the new industrial system -- which changed the way in which resources were produced and consumed -- and the advent of bourgeois democratic states -- which made critical decisions as to how those resources were to be distributed. Although the study of political-economy throughout the 19th century implied no particular political ideology, by the 20th century it came to be associated with radical critiques of society, especially …

The Social Work Service Commodity In The Inflationary 80'S, Harold Lewis

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The decade ahead is going to be dominated by economic issues. All signs point to continued Inflation, continued high levels of unemployment, cyclical troughs and declining peaks in the overall economy, energy shortages and Increasing financial pressures, particularly on those families living on minimal or below-poverty level budgets. Stresses In management of basic requirements for maintenance of health, housing, education and transportation %III burden middle income, blue collar and the working poor family. In this context, funding of social services will be tight, relative to need. It seems useful, for these reasons, to place our discussion within an economic framework, …

The Politics Of Mental Health After Care, Steve Rose

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Essential to the development of a positive practice in mental health after-care is a precise formulation of clients' needs. Clarity about a statement of needs provides added information about anticipated obstacles to meeting those needs, both at the client and systemic levels. To accomplish this preliminary task, it becomes necessary to create what we refer to as a "problem definitional" level of theory. Problem defining theory mediates between more global theory, which establishes a larger context for understanding the broad policy issues and direct implications,* and the articulation of practice theory.

A Note On Voethogenic Harm: The Politics Of Science And The Professions, Warren C. Haggstrom

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study had 27 psychiatrists watch a half hour film of a third year medical student talking with a patient. They were all psychiatric faculty in the UCLA School of Medicine and were trying to create a criterion for use in examinations within the School. The film was such that they could see the patient from the perspective of the interviewer.

Alienation Among Social Service Workers And Integration Into The Social Services, John F. Longres

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study is concerned with objective alienation experienced by social service workers. To help understand this phenomenon, a Marxian sociological perspective will be used.

The Social Work Profession And The Ideoloqy Of Professionalization, Stanley Wenocur, Michael Reisch

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The phenomenon of professionalization has been an exceptionally powerful force in Western industrialized countries for more than a century. "The professions are as characteristic of the modern world as the crafts were of the ancient," said Stephen R. Graubard in the preface to The Professions in America (1963). Talcott Parsons (1968) declared that "The development and increasing strategic importance of the professions probably constitute the most important change that has occurred in the occupational system of modern countries." Dry statistics alone bear out these views. In the United States "professionals" increased in the population from 859 per 100,000 in 1870 …

Seven Voices From One Organization: What Does It Mean?, Janice Perlman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It would be trite to say that citizen action means different things for different people; a cliche to say that it means different things simultaneously for the same person: yet both are overwhelmingly true. Listening carefully to the members of citizen action groups -- not the organizers, staff, or wellknown leaders -- but simply the members, reveals the entire gamut of understanding and confusions; gratifications and frustrations; of hopes and fears.

The mini-portraits presented below represent a cross section, members of a single citizen action organization at a single point in time. Exploratory interviews with members of similar groups in …

Book Reviews, Mike Parker, Gary Freeman, Martin B. Tracy, Michael Reisch, Kathryn B. Ward, Steve Burghardt, Patricia Morgan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

BOOK REVIEWS

• The Assembly Line by Robert Linhart - Reviewed by MIKE PARKER
• The Crisis In Social Security: Economic and Political Origins by Carolyn L. Weaver - Reviewed by GARY FREEMAN
• The Political Econany of Aging: The State, Private Power and Social Welfare by laura Katz Olson - Reviewed by MARTIN B. TRACY
• The Other Side of Organizing: Resolving the Personal Dilemmas and Political Demands of Daily Practice by Steve Burghardt - Reviewed by MICHAEL REISCH
• The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism by Zillah Eisenstein - Reviewed by KATHRYN B. WARD
• Setting National Priorities: The 1983 Budget edited by Joseph …

The Non-Orthodox Cancer Therapy Movement: Emergent Organization In Health Care Crisis, Joseph Behar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The ideology and organization of the non-orthodox cancer therapy movement are analyzed as social constructions in an area of professional ambiguity and failure. The movement articulates, integrates, and orders the personally and socially disabling consequences of health care failure in cancer. The protest activities of the movement are characterized by political opposition to medical "orthodoxy" and "monopoly." The challenges of the non-orthodox movement are generally ineffective, non-legitimated, or coopted. Yet, in providing conceptual and organizational frames for the disordering consequences of medical failure and in establishing a politically polarized deviant position in relation to conventional practice, this movement socially organizes …

Ideology In Social Welfare Policy Instruction: An Examination Of Required Readings, Paul Lyons

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A national survey of required readings in social welfare policy courses indicates that a liberal, pro-welfare state ideology is predominant. Such an ideology rests on the concepts of modernization and industrialization within a structural-functionalist methodology. This predominant model of social welfare policy suggests the inevitability of the welfare state while effectively excluding serious consideration of both conservative and socialist alternatives.

The Use Of Telephone Surveys In Human Service Needs Assessment - An Idea Whose Time Has Come?, Lawrence L. Martin

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article explores the potential use of telephone surveys for the conduct of human service needs assessments. After reviewing relevant literature bearing on the subject of telephone surveys, a theoretical telephone survey human service needs assessment of Maricopa County, Arizona is compared with an actual human service needs assessment using the traditional personal survey approach. The results suggest that the two approaches produce similar findings at the aggregate data, or community, level but that the underrepresentation of certain target groups of interest to human service administrators (e.g. low-income and ethnic minorities) may cause disaggregation problems. Methodological techniques to deal with …

Client Privacy And Social Work: A Comparison By Agency Function, Linda R. Hogan, Mary Ski Hunter, M. Coleen Shannon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study examines the effect of agency function or purpose on the handling of client privacy issues in social work agencies. Practitioners working in public and private agencies were compared. The data revealed that, more than those in private agencies, social workers in public agencies: (1) thought that their work would be more affected if they could not rely on outside sources for information about clients; (2) were more often requested to supply information about clients to outside sources; and (3) were more likely to reveal information about clients as a form of ethical dilemma resolution. It is suggested that …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 10, No. 3 (September 1983)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Social Action Organization Participation and Personal Change in the Poor: Part II - ROBERT D. HERMAN
• Ideology In Social Welfare Policy Instruction: An Examination of Required Readings - PAUL LYONS
• Client Privacy and Social Work: A Comparison by Agency Function
• LINDA R. HOGAN, MARY SKI HUNTER, M. COLEEN SHANNON
• Case Law and Social Welfare: A Framework for Analysis - JAN L. HAGEN
• The Coordination Dimensions Scale: A Tool to Assess Interorganizational Relationships - STANLEY BLOSTEIN
• The Non-Orthodox Cancer Therapy Movement: Emergent Organization in Health Care Crisis - JOSEPH BEHAR
• The Use of Telephone Surveys In Human Service …

Case Law And Social Welfare: A Framework For Analysis, Jan L. Hagen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper illustrates an approach for analyzing case law within the framework of social welfare programs and policies. Drawing on a framework first developed by Burns and later expanded by Gilbert and Specht, selected court decisions related to income maintenance are categorized on the basis of four parameters: basis of social allocation, the nature of social provisions, the structure of the delivery system, and the method of financing. Unlike the legal framework typically used to analyze court decisions, an assessment of court decisions along the parameters of social welfare policies and programs highlights the court's role and its importance in …

The Coordination Dimensions Scale: A Tool To Assess Interorganizational Relationships, Stanley Blostein

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article describes a tool--the Coordination Dimensions Scale (CDS)--for use by human service organizations in assessing the viability of a coordinated relationship. A working definition of coordination is presented, followed by a description of the components of coordination: types, structural forms, medium, and auspices. Based on this framework, the writer presents fifteen Dimensions of coordination, each of which is placed ol a scale-- the total is the CDS Score--which can be used to provide structure to the decision-making process. Suggestions are made for use of the CDS in assessing an existing or proposed coordinated relationship.

The Wife Of The Alcoholic; Sexist Stereotypes In The Alcoholism Literature, James T. Decker, John Redhourse, Roberta D. Green, Richard Starrett

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Current alcoholism literature, alcoholism education, and alcoholism treatment suggests that the wife of the alcoholic is every bit as sick (physically, mentally, and spiritually) as her practicing alcoholic husband. How did we come to this view of the wife of the alcoholic?

This paper will review 1) how the wife of the alcoholic has been regarded over the years; 2) how these portraits of the wife of the alcoholic that appeared in the scholarly literature have influenced current thinking and treatment, and 3) how this body of literature and the popular concepts of the wife of the alcoholic that evolved …

Social Welfare And Family Support: The Nigerian Experience, Christopher P. Ekpe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The African family has been the basic structure that performed the functions of a social system even before contact with European and other white cultures. These included not only the organization of behavior and economy, the preservation of culture, the realization of political goals, the control and integration of the members but also the provision services classified today as social welfare.

However, sweeping changes have been taking place in the African family and these have seriously affected its function as a social system. The roles of men and women, religion, education, in short, the African culture itself has been experiencing …

Constitutional Dilemma And Social Welfare Policy In Canada, Angela W. Djao

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The Canadian Constitution is usually interpreted as giving the provinces primary jurisdiction over social welfare. However, the federal government utilizing other powers provided in the constitution has expanded its role in legitimating the social order by promoting social integration and providing the disadvantaged groups with minimum social security. Thus social welfare is administered by both levels of government. Yet the fact that no mandatory obligations are imposed on either level of government has led to the development of social welfare policy in Canada in a fashion that resembles a crazy patchwork quilt. This is shown in a review of the …

Notes On A Forgotten Black Social Worker And Sociologist: George Edmund Haynes, Iris Carlton-La Ney

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper highlights the career of Dr. George Edmund Haynes, a pioneer sociologist and social worker. It places Haynes in a historical context examining his professional contributions during the early 1900s. Haynes' professional activities reflected the Progressive Era's emphasis on scientific research and social justice. Although he received some recognition as a sociologist and social worker, his contributions were relegated generally to the periphery of both the discipline of sociology and the field of social work.

Social Action Organization Participation And Personal Change In The Poor: Part Ii, Robert D. Herman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In Part I (Herman, 1982) evidence bearing on the hypothesis that participation by the poor in social action organizations results in personal change was reviewed and found to be inconsistent and open to diverse Interpretations. In Part I It was observed that not all socizi action organizations are al ike and, thus, that participation is also of varied kinds and extents and may have different consequences for personal change. A typology of social action organizations forms (developed in Part I ) is used here to comparatively classify information on organizational characteristics and personal change drawn from eleven case studIes. The …

Work-Related Perceptions Of Social Workers Versus Administrators: More Grist For The "Is Social Work A Profession?" Mill, Robert A. Snyder, Jane M. Ridolphi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The work-related perceptions of 683 employees of a federally funded public assistance agency were examined by occupational classification. The results show that persons employed as social workers report distinctively different patterns of attitudes and values than do those employed as administrators. These distinctions were most dramatic for the younger members of each group. The overall results fail to refute previous predictions of an evolving anc critical duality in the field of social work.

The Local Impact Of The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942, Michael W. Sherraden

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The success of Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) has been well documented. The program was productive in conservation work and popular wtih the general public. For the most part, CCC camps were welcomed by nearby communities. Most scholarly work on the CCC has focused on policy developments in Washington and, in many of these accounts, the popularity of the CCC has been described in terms of agrarian values such as tree planting and healthy outdoor living. In contrast, this study focuses on the local level, looks at concrete variables directly related to camp-community relations, and concludes that acceptance of …

Book Reviews, Asoke Basu, Kristine Nelson, Dan La Botz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

BOOK REVIEWS

• Letter From An Author - ASOKE BASU
• The Limits of Reform: Women, Capital and Welfare by Jennifer G. Schirmer - Reviewed by KRISTINE NELSON 542
• Marxism and Domination: A Neo-Hegelian. Feminist, Psychoanalytic Theory of Sexual, Political and Technological Liberation, by Isaac D, Balbus - Reviewed by DAN LA BOTZ 534

The Intersection Of Political Culture And Fiscal Federalism: State Block Grants In Alabama, David Sink, Michele Wilson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Political culture and intergovernmental relations together shape specific policy actions of a state government within the constraints of its economic condition. Although financial resources provided a state government strongly influence the level of its policy outputs, the political and administrative dynamics appear to affect the exact nature of that policy. A case study of state block grant implementation in the state of Alabama provides an opportunity to observe these variables in action. In particular, the prominent role played by the executive branch appears to have influenced strongly the decisions made concerning social services, health policy, and community development.

Social Work Pac's And State Social Work Associations Purpose, History, And Action Strategies, Gary Mathews

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social work as a profession has only recently become politically active. One consequence of this interest in the political process has been the proliferation of political action committees as creatures of the National Association of Social Workers and its state chapters. Social work PAC's are a key ingredient necessary to enable the profession to influence public policy. Perhaps because political action committees are new to NASW, or perhaps because NASW is new to politics, very little has been written about the history, purpose or strategic implications of these committees.

This paper will trace the development and operation of PAC's and …

Welfare Spending In The American States: A Comparative Perspective, W. Joseph Heffernan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The federal-state system of welfare is the result of a compromise between the desire for national standards and the opportunity for each state to have its own adaptation. As a compromise, there is a constant tension in the system. During the 1970's, there was a pressure toward federalization, but the states have preserved their diversity. The Reagan Administration has clearly indicated a desire to "return" greater freedom to the states to chart their own course. The purpose of this paper is to identify variations among the states in such a way as to identify those states with consistently "high" or …

Policy Traditions In American State Politics, Robert L. Savage

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An examination of the states across a wide range of policy innovations during three historical periods reveals policy traditions having distinctive geographic limits roughly conforming to major regions commonly recognized in American politics. Only two of these traditions, the "Southern Parochial" and the "Northeastern Bureaucratic," persist across time and even these have been weakened. This provides some evidence that while multilinear evolution along regional lines will continue to contribute to differences in policy values among the American states in the foreseeable future, sociocultural integration is the stronger dynamic in American political development, especially since about 1930.