Social Welfare Commons^™

Social Welfare Agencies And Social Reform Movements: The Case Of The Single Parent Family, Michael J. Smith, Beth Moses

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

To a greater extent than before, social welfare agencies are emphasizing social change over direct services. A social reform movement is a mechanism by which societal and institutional change may be accomplished. The relationship between social welfare organizations and social movements has not been clearly defined. The sociological theories of Smelser, Turner, Killian and others on collective behavior and social movements provide a useful knowledge base for welfare organizations and professionals espousing social reform goals. The single parent family population is discussed as a group with the potential to generate into a social reform movement.

Specifying Sociological Options And Social Welfare Strategies, Thomas M. Meenaghan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As a profession, social work applies knowledge constructs from various social sciences. In this article attention is given to the relation between sociology and social work. The specific areas reviewed include conceptions of the social arrangement, the role of complex organizations, and social change theories. Each of these three broad areas have internal variations which have implications for sociology, social work, and attempts to integrate the two.

Social Polics And Social Welfare Administration, Bernard Neugeboren

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Effective administration of social welfare programs requires the integration of knowledge of social policy with the understanding of the theory and practice of management and administrative decision making. This integration of substantive knowledge of social policy with administrative practice is needed to avoid overemphasis on means to the detriment of the goals of social programs. This paper discusses a policy analysis framework in relationship to a model of decisionmaking which includes rational and non-rational elements. Principles of policy formulation (major system change) is applied to specific issues in social welfare, i.e. should social services be directed at changing the individual …

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.

Natural Language Processing And Computer Use In Social Work, Roger A. Lohmann, Jay Wolvovsky

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Can computers do social work? Can social workers do computers? This article seeks to outline a text-oriented approach to answering these questions through an approach labeled Natural Language Processing.

Geronomie And Social Policy, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Does qualitative sociology have anything positive to offer those who seek personally and professionally adequate resolutions of the troubles and social problems of old age? The purpose of this review essay is to examine a sampling of recent books published in social gerontology with regard to: 1) formulations of the problems of geranomie - rolelessness, loneliness, social isolation, etc.; and 2) general solutions to these problems.

Some Observations Of The Swedish Psychiatric System, Gunnar Robert Almgren

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this report is to introduce the reader to the system of psychiatric services in Sweden. The format of this report is a brief summary of the economic, political and value context of the Swedish welfare state, a review of the essential services available to the Swedish citizen under present Swedish social welfare policy, and then an overview of Sweden's psychiatric system. The overview of the system itself includes a discussion of general characteristics as well as an examination of the system as it operates in one particular region.

Stressful Life Events : A Comparative Study Of Native American And Urban Samples, Sandra Ketcher

Dissertations and Theses

The subject of this paper is an extension of the work done Holmes and Rahe on the development of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale or SRRS and of the study, “Individual Perception of Stressful Life Events: A Comparison of Native Americans, Rural, and Urban Samples,” conducted by Dr. Liberman and Joel Frank. This study will compare those two samples with a sample of a selected Pacific Northwest Indian tribe served by an Indian Health Service facility.

“The Stressful Life Events: A Comparative Study of Native American and Urban Samples” study is a singular component of a total effort on the …

The Transition: An Historical-Materialist Perspective On Social Welfare And Social Work Practice, Thomas Keefe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

From an historical-materialist perspective American society is in a transition to a new structural form--a new order. The future of social welfare and social work practice is intimately bound to the nature and outcome of this transition. Moreover, the transition has economic and ideological characteristics that hold important implications for changes in the ways social workers view their clients and conduct their practice. Employing an historicalmaterialist analysis, this article will discuss the nature of the societal transition and its implications for social welfare and social work practice.

The analysis will be prefaced with a synopsis of basic concepts and assumptions …

Some Critical Questions In The Political Economy Of Social Welfare - The Carter "Welfare Reform" Proposals, L. K. Northwood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The purpose of this paper is to discuss President Carter's welfare reform proposals, appropriately titled, "The Program for Better Jobs and Income." If these proposals are adopted by Congress, they will guide the Administration in its stance toward and its work with the lowest income sectors of the nation: the welfare poor--those who cannot work and must be supported by the government, and the working poor--those who are able to support themselves, but whose yearly income is less than the poverty level.

Consequently, the paper starts with an analysis of what the government documents have to tell us about the …

The "Science" Of Social Policy: Max Weber Revisited, Asoke Basu

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Science documents two sources of knowledge--sense and reason. Further, according to Kant, "The nature of the outer empirical world is not known, what becomes known is that which is perceived." Human constructs represent outer reality. They do not express reality directly as it is in original nature. The aim of the social scientist can never be to eliminate the relative perspective of social reality. It is to understand and explain it within a larger cultural framework. The nature of this task brings the social scientist "close" to defining the social reality within a broader cultural praxis. Any policy--essentially, a set …

Symbolic Interaction And Social Planning: Perspectives From The Early Years, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The principal thesis of this paper is that the inadequacies of recent efforts at social planning are essential failures of theory, rather than failures of practice. Economic, land use and social welfare planners it is suggested have all shared a common unwillingness or inability to abandon commitments to an essentially utilitarian rhetoric of reasoned behavior, wherein means are matched with ends, persons are viewed as essentially self-interested and goal-directed rational problem solvers operating on schedules of goal attainment known or predictable by the planners. Symbolic interaction theory has resources to revitalize planning theory. Selected publications by John Dewey, G.H. Mead, …

The Effectiveness Of A Family Service Center As Evaluated By The Clients Served, Sue T. Burnett

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a small family counseling center as evaluated by the clients themselves. A questionnaire, designed and used by the National Family Service Association of America in 1970, was utilized as the measure for evaluation. A total of 46 clients comprised the sample group representing 25% of the population receiving questionnaires. Descriptive case data were collected and analyzed on the total population and compared to the sample. Results showed a marked deficiency in the number of minority and low-income groups both in requesting services and responding to the questionnaire. Agency services …

Social Control Or Social Wage: On The Political Economy Of The "Welfare State", Paul Adams

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Discussion between liberal apologists for the "welfare state" and their radical critics has tended in recent years to focus on the question of "social control." In this area the corporate liberals and social democrats (the "welfare statists") are weak. They talk of the "welfare state" as if, at least in principle, it represented the collective assumption by society of responsibility for the basic needs and dependencies of its members. Insofar as "social control" is relevant for them, it has to do with society's exercise of restraint over the selfish pursuit of private profit.1 Radical critics of the "welfare state," on …

A Political Economy Critique Of The American Welfare State, Gerben Dejong

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Despite its rapid expansion over the last decade, the American welfare state appears unable to remedy many of the social problems it has been designated to solve. In many instances, the welfare state has become as much a part of the problem as the solution. Unfortunately, most proposals to reform the welfare state do not go beyond the liberalconservative conception of the welfare state as a backup to the capitalist market system. This conception of the welfare state is part of a larger comitment to a free market-pluralist ideology that singles out certain social phenomena as problematic and limits the …

Dying And The Social Responsibility Of Institutions, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Contemporary American society has established a comfortable reliance upon a large network of total and quasi-total institutions for dealing with certain life threatening events and socially disruptive conditions As a consequence these institutions have become primary locales for dying. It is the principal argument of this paper that although a large proportion of all deaths now occur in institutions, they are generally harsh and unsympathetic in their handling of dying, and particularly insensitive to the social and psychological needs of surviving significant others in the period immediately following a death. It is suggested that along with accepting the responsibility to …

Determinants Of Old Age Assistance In The American States, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

A large body of research evidence has accumulated in the past two decades dealing with the question of variations in state-level public expenditures in the United States. Variations among the states in public welfare expenditures are the most outstanding exception with regard to the explanation of state governmental expenditures. This study explores the reasons that public welfare is so unlike other public expenditures, outlines the principal findings of other studies bearing on this question, and reports findings explaining at least part of the observed variations in the expenditure patterns.

A Moment Of Truth In The Warfare-Welfare Debate: The Transfer Amendment, Elizabeth Holtzman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The controversy over the budget is much more than a debate about how much should be spent in 1977 on the military, or social programs. It is more than a struggle between two branches of the federal government--the legislative and the executive-- over which body should determine the national priorities. Ultimately questions are raised about the viability of the democratic planning process in the warfare/welfare state, and how the people--the governed--can be adequately represented in the process. All of these issues are touched on explicitly or implicitly by Congresswoman Holtzman in the debate (although, to be sure, she was most …

Eighteen Leading Social Critics Comment: What Is The Real Threat To World Peace And Social Security?, Kenneth A. Kirkpatrick, Lawrence K. Northwood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

What is the real threat to world peace and social security? Is it the prevalent ideology of violence, aggressive nationalism, and militarism? Or is it the maldistribution of resources, technology, and social welfare benefits? How much of itsnational budget must the U.S. allocate to military expenditures? How can the national budget priorities be changed so there is a more realistic funding of social programs? Do we face as great a threat of nuclear annihilation in the '70's and the '80's as we did in the early '60's?

These are some of the questions the editors asked of 96 "experts" on …

The Military Establishment And Social Welfare: Past, Present (And Future?), George W. Ayers

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As we move toward the decade of the eighties we are becoming increasingly aware of the difficulties and realities of economics on a national level. More and more we, as a people, are faced with difficult choices concerning the services that we either demand of our government or which government deems it necessary to provide.

Although it is an oversimplication, our Constitution mandates that government always follow to some degree a "guns and (not or) butter" philosophy in its preamble provisions dealing with "common defense" and "general welfare." We have though paid dearly, in economic terms, for attempting to follow …

Human Security Or National Defense: The Question Of Conversion, Bruce Birchard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

How can we convert the enormous human, financial and technological resources currently committed to military illusions of "national security" to programs and institutions which provide real human security? That is the central question of this paper.

Economic Conversion, Productive Efficiency And Social Welfare, Lloyd J. Dumas

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Traditional economic theory holds that there is a tradeoff between inflation and unemployment, and that accordingly price stability (i.e. 0% inflation) can only be achieved at the expense of increased unemployment, while full employment (corresponding to an unemployment rate of about 3%)' requires acceptance of an ongoing inflation. In 1960, the noted economists Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow published an analysis of annual data for the per d 1933-1958, from which they quantitatively estimated this tradeoff. It was their rough estimate that the elimination of inflation would require acceptance of a 5%-6% rate of unemployment while the achievement of full …

Social Welfare As A By-Product: The Effect Of Neo-Mercantilism , David Macarov

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries mercantilism was a predominant philosophy, theory, or guide to action in many western countries. Emphasis on measures leading to national wealth was pronounced--in some cases, almost exclusive--and the results for social welfare were marginal programs at best, and anti-welfare programs in some cases. In contradistinction to individual needs or aspirations, considerations of national wealth and power were paramount to the point that, in Britain at least, it seemed that here was "nothing to fight for, nothing to support, nothing to augment but.. .commerce." Whether national wealth was seen as leading to national iower, or …

Introduction: Warfare-Welfare As A Serious Social Problem For Study And Action, Lawrence K. Northwood

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Throughout the Journal reference will be made to "The Warfare/Welfare State." When the term is used by the editors it refers to activities and programs in the public (governmental) sector having to do with the growth, development, and interrelationship of two of the major institutional complexes of society, the military and the social welfare.

There are two major reasons for the term:

First of all, it signals the findings of current research, that nations having large military budgets also have large budgets for social welfare. Both welfare and warfare seemingly are necessary components of the modern industrial state.

Second, it …

The Political Economy Of Social Welfare: A Perspective, Christopher Rhoades Dykema

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Social welfare in the modern United States is an aspect of the legitimation and accumulation functions of government. It is legitimative in that it works to ameliorate the economy's disastrous human consequences. It fulfills the accumulation function by maintaining and enhancing conditions for the profitable conduct of commerce.1 These two basic functions can obviously be discharged in various ways and the social service worker's traditional commitment has co-existed with greater and lesser degrees of contentment with the nature of the existing society. Conscientious workers have always recognized that their role -- as mediators between individuals and organized society -- necessarily …

The Conservative Program For The Welfare-Warfare State: The Response To The Korean, Algerian, And Vietnamese Wars, Clarence Y.H. Lo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper explains why the leaders of conservative political parties were so successful in the aftermith of limited wars. Conservative parties are those parties whose constituency is large and small business, managers, upper income professionals, and some white collar workers and farmers, exemplified by the Republican Party in the United States, the Gaullist Party in France, the Christian Democrats in Germany and Italy, and the Conservative Party in England. Conservative political leaders rose to power because they addressed the problems intensified by limited wars-- budget deficits, political stalemate, and inter-imperialist rivalries-- and, to some extent, enacted short term solutions--budget cuts, …

Social Welfare And Some Implications Of Non-Violence, Mulford Q. Sibley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A new journal has made its appearance. It is called Soldier of Fortune and is devoted to the concerns of "professional adventurers"--that is, to those who would like to become hired violent fighters in various parts of the world. The journal opens its columns to their advertisements: "Ex-marine seeks employment as mercenary, full-time or job contract, prefers South or Central America but all offers considered." "Experienced mature fighter/seeks assignment anywhere.... " In defending his journal from the charge of encouraging brutality, the founder says: "After all, booze is brutal, cars are brutal, sex is brutal. There's a need for guns …

P.W.D. Supplementary Public Water Supply Schemes, J E. Davis

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Shallow wells and soaks with very limited yields were the principal water sources for the early settlers.

Hundreds of such wells were constructed by the Public Works Department in remote areas.

In the early 1930s major development of water supplies from rock catchments was begun in the central wheatbelt.

After the war, larger and more effective earth moving equipment became available. The Public Works Department rehabilitated many old excavated dams as well as constructing new ones.

Roaded catchments were also developed during this post-war period. many farmers took advantage of Public Works Department technical advise and hired a P.W.D. grader …

Social Wolk In Relief And Rehabilitation After Wars, At Home Aid Abroad, Walter A. Friedlander

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the United States after the wars of the 19th. century, particularly after the Civil War, no professional social workers existed who could have cared for the wounded soldiers and civilians or for the disabled veterans. But in Europe, during the war of France and Italy against Austria, in 1859, the foundation of some services for the wounded soldiers of the three involved nations were laid by a Swiss banker, Henry Dunant of Geneva who arrived by accident on the evening of the bloody battle in Solferino (Italy) and started to help bandaging some of the bleeding victims of this …

Understanding The Health And Social Service Needs Of People Over Age 65, Laurence G. Branch

Center for Survey Research Publications

The complexity of the issues involved with providing appropriate health care and social services from the appropriate setting to people over age 65 can hardly be overstated. One of the present debates in the field focuses on the value of institutions as the customary setting for providing health care; the arguments are based on considerations of economic efficiency and the recipient's quality of life. Some of the debators suggest deinstitutionalizing as many of the health care recipients as possible, while simultaneously upgrading the quality and quantity of home based support services. The logic of deinstitutionalization is often buttressed by claims …