Social Work Commons^™

Determinants Of Primary Group Assistance During Unemployment, Martin D. Hanlon

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In recent years much research attention has been given to the role of primary groups in ameliorating stressful life events. However, little is known about what factors determine the amount of assistance people receive from relatives and friends during a situation of crisis. This is the focus of the present study. The data base is a sample of public sector workers who were involuntarily laid off from their jobs.

The data revealed that respondents received considerable assistance from parents and friends--the two primary group types included in the analysis--during the period of unemployment. Objective economic deprivation, indexed by the difference …

Organizational Resistance To Serving The Disadvantaged: The Case Of A State Employment Service, Ronald Randall

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Maintaining the commitment of public agencies to serve the disadvantaged persists as one of the most vexing problems in public affairs. This study places in an historical perspective the commitment of the Wisconsin State Employment Service (WSES) to serve the disadvantaged during the late 1960s and the retreat from this emphasis in the 1970s. The WSES displays a tradition of tension between operating-level employees who aspire to serve a job-ready clientele, and top decisionmakers who, from time to time, sense a need for direct service to the disadvantaged. The study suggests that effective service to the disadvantaged depends upon continuous, …

Child-Care Usage Patterns As Estimates Of Child-Care Need, Nancy Hendrix

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Child-care utilization studies are often used to estimate the need for future child-care. The author stresses the limitations of the use of past patterns to judge future needs. Specifically the article focuses on the reliability and validity of measures of usage and satisfaction with various child-care modes, errors in study design, lack of conceptual clarity, and problems of the correlation of child-care modes and other variables.

Child Abuse In A Small City: Social Psychological And Ecological Correlates, Robert D. Gingrich, James R. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Child abuse has become a growing national concern. Its current status can be linked to the research by Kempe who identified the "battered child syndrome". Two models of explanation have been advanced; a medical and a social psychological. This study of 134 cases of child abuse in a small city employes the social psychological model and tests the hypothesis that social isolation is correlated with child abuse. Support for that hypothesis leads to an elaboration of the dynamics of social isolation with an emphasis on the absence of other persons with children from the milieu of the child abuse perpetrator …

Disabled Women: Sexism Without The Pedestal, Michelle Fine, Adrienne Asch

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The position of the disabled woman in current U.S. society deserves political, theoretical and empirical attention. In this paper we have delineated the economic, social and psychological constraints which place her at a distinct disadvantage, relative to disabled men and nondisabled women. We evaluate the ways in which having a disability is viewed as an impediment to traditional or nontraditional sex role development. The construct rolelessness is introduced, defined and examined. We conclude with reconmiendations for needed research and policy.

Women And Chronic Renal Failure: Some Neglected Issues, Nancy G. Kutner, Heather L. Gray

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It has been assumed until recently that chronic renal failure is more prevalent among men than among women, but data now indicate that at least half of all renal patients are women. The literature continues to focus on adjustment problems of male patients, especially sexual adjustment and job-loss problems, and to assume that women can adjust more easily because of their ability to maintain the homemaker role. However, women patients whose work status is that of homemaker are found to have the highest depression scores, and job loss results in low satisfaction for those who have held meaningful outside jobs. …

Multiple Minority Groups: A Case Study Of Physically Disabled Women, Mary Jo Deegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In general, disfranchised Americans are becoming increasingly aware of their social restrictions and limitations on opportunities. As a result there are now minority groups who have identified their shared problems only within the last twenty years,and these groups are rapidly changing the nature of minority relations. In particular, people with newly defined multiple minority statuses are beginning to articulate their specialized interests and establish new relations with both the dominant majority and the minority groups to which they belong.

Physically disabled women are one such group. As women and as disabled people, they are members of two separate minority groups. …

Women And Disability: The Double Handicap, Nancy Brooks, Mary Jo Deegan

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

During the 1970's a social movement arose to address the concerns of people with disabilities. Action groups pressed for reforms in architectural barriers, educational and employment opportunities, deinstitutionalization, and legal protection of civil rights. Although accurate demographic information is lacking, estimates indicate that approximately one in ten Americans has a disability or chronic disease and would be affected by the changes brought about by the disability movement. These people experience serious limitations in major activities such as housework, employment, or education. Yet external restrictions imposed by negative attitudes impose greater handicaps by preventing full social participation of this stigmatized group. …

Social Justice And Rationing Social Services, Claudia J. Coulton, Marvin Rosenberg

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper discusses the ethical implications of different mechanisms used by social agencies to ration scarce social services. Mechanisms such as "queing," "creaming," and "triage" are discussed from the perspective of two theories of social justice; i.e., John S. Mill and John Rawls. The purpose of the paper is to encourage more explicit examination of the assumptions that underlie the distribution of social services. It is the authors' contention that the present decision making process is almost entirely based on intuition, political expedience, and tradition, and that systematic ethical analysis would give stronger justification to rationing decisions.

The Self Disclosure Of Clinical Social Workers, Herman Borenzweig

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

My interest in this study arose from what I believed to be the discrepancy between the conventional wisdom about self disclosure and its occurrence in the practice of clinical social work. Bradmiller'sI study, one of the few studies about self disclosure in the practice of social work, found that persons with masters degrees in social work (MSW's) disclose significantly more to their colleagues than do undergraduate social work majors. The MSW's in Bradmiller's study self disclosed to clients at a lesser rate than they did to other target persons. Bradmiller2 interprets her study, " ...... most simply as an indication …

The Invisible Isolation Of Deaf Women: Its Effect On Social Awareness, Gaylene Becker, Joanne Jauregui

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The place of deaf women in relation to society is discussed, and the formative experiences that shape their personal development are described. Deaf women's needs are delineated, and suggestions are made for providers to meet these needs.

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 8, No. 2 (July 1981)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• INTRODUCTION: Women and Disability: The Double Handicap - NANCY BROOKS & MARY JO DEEGAN
• Disabled Women: Sexism Without the Pedestal (#4) - MICHELLE FINE & ADRIENNE ASCH
• The Invisible Isolation of Deaf Women: Its Effect on Social Awareness - GAYLENE BECKER & JOANNE JAUS EGUI
• Assertiveness Training for Women with Visual Impairments - CYNTHIA KOLB
• Multiple Minority Groups: A Case Study of Physically Disabled Women - MARY JO DEEGAN
• Benefits for the Disabled: How Beneficial for Women? - ELIZABETH A. KUTZA
• Women and Chronic Renal Failure: Some Neglected Issues - NANCY G. KUTNER & HEATHER L. GRAY …

Assertiveness Training For Women With Visual Impairments, Cynthia Kolb

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An assertiveness support group was designed for five women with visual impairments who were attending college. The purpose of the group was to apply concepts underlying assertive behaviors (Phelps & Austin, 1975) to effectively managing psycho-social factors related to adjustment to a disability (Wright, 1960; Donaldson, 1980). Issues such as developing assertive responses other than eye contact, defining a sense of personal power in handling dependency related to the presence of an impairment and identifying strategies for dealing with the stereotypes of others were discussed. Although no formal measurements of the group's effectiveness were made, verbal feedback from participants at …

Benefits For The Disabled: How Beneficial For Women?, Elizabeth Ann Kutza

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The social and economic consequence of disability is of increasing interest in American society today. The numbers of persons reporting disabling conditions is rising, as is the number of persons qualifying for public disability benefits. This article examines the impact of current United States disability policy on disabled women, and concludes that the major programs - disability insurance, supplemental security income, workers' compensation, vocational rehabilitation - because of their relationship to labor market participation, disadvantage women. Women not only receive fewer, but less generous benefits. Explanations of this outcome, and implications for future policy are addressed.

A Peer Counseling Training Program For Disabled Women: A Tool For Social And Individual Change, Marsha Saxton

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article presents a description of a successful peer counseling training program for disabled women, offered in a community-based self help organization. The program provides both training in peer counseling skills, and a personal growth experience. It was carried out in a group context specifically designed for the needs of women with disabilities. The counseling approach, the training format and curriculum, and the evaluation procedures can all serve as a basis for agencies interested in developing similar programs.

Toward A Model Of Factors Influencing The Hiring Of Women With A History Of Breast Cancer, Nancy Mccharen, Jo Anne L. Earp

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Whether surgical treatment for cancer which results in the removal of an external part of the body is viewed by employers as a medical disability that interferes with the performance of job-related functions, or fits a more stereotypic definition of a physical handicap that might even prevent an employee from being hired, has not been adequately studied. To identify factors which influence employers' decisions to hire women who have had breast cancer, a model of factors influencing the decision to hire was developed. A random sample of personnel directors from an industrialized North Carolina county was surveyed. A majority had …

Like Other Women: Perspectives Of Mothers With Physical Disabilities, Susan Shaul, Pamela Dowling, Bernice F. Laden

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article is based on interviews with ten women, ranging in age from 19 to 45 and living in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. Their disabilities are neurmuscular or musculoskeletal and include spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, post-polio and spina bifida. Their children range in age from 11 months to adulthood. The article focuses on specific issues and concerns regarding early childhood ranagement, and includes some discussion of pre-natal and cbstetrical care. Cann misconceptions concerning motherhood and disability are also discussed. men with disabilities also have special concerns as parents. Although their concerns are not addressed in this …

A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Marital Abuse, Suzanne K. Steinmetz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A brief history of marital violence and statistics from recent studies are presented. Marital abuse data from six societies: United States; Canada; Finland; Israel, with city and Kibbutz sub-samples; Puerto Rico; and Belize (British Honduras) with sub-samples of Spanish speaking, Creoles and Caribs are compared. In general, similarities were found between political/civil profiles of violence and marital violence score within each society. The percentage of husbands and wives using abuse was also similar for each society. The major exception was Puerto Rico, where almost twice as many husbands were reported to have been violent. The percentage of husbands and wives …

The Changing Family And Family Policy, Ronald J. Mancoske

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The concern for the loss of family functions ii, the process of social change has led some to call for a family policy to support the family to cope with stress in meeting its basic functions. Change in functioning of the family is inclusive of various spheres: economic, status giving, educational, religious, recreational, protective and affectional. These changes are seen as indicative of the decline in the family. This view is moderated by the spectrum of change in the family interactions. Support for family policy is essential though it can not be developed on the idea of the perilous decline …

Humanism And Social Work Paradoxes, Problems, And Promises, Norman Goroff

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Although social work is viewed as a human service profession, with the implicit assumption that it is humanistically oriented, an examination of some of the theoretical orientations, practice settings and practice methodology will reveal a number of paradoxes, problems, and potential promises. I do not claim to provide more than a sampling, to provide a more exhaustive analysis would require considerably more time than is available.

Applied Sociology, Social Engineering, And Human Rationality, John W. Murphy

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

At this time social planning has come to be synonymous with technical forecasting. Because of this trend, the methods used by social planners are those of positive science. These methods, however, are not self-reflective, and are therefore naive about the epistemological assumptions which they inadvertantly advance. As a result of this epistemological naivete, many times the social planner is guided by methodological assumptions that are totally incongruent with the social world to which they are to be applied. This type of social forecasting is referred to as irresponsible social planning, in that it is not sensitive to the needs and …

Heritage And Politics Of Poverty And Inequality For Rural Women, Edith A. Cheitman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the course of researching the subject of this paper I requested a computer literature search. Using sociological, economic and psychological data bases and a comprehensive list of descriptors, I was able to retrieve only five references. Of those, only one was of significant value to me in dealing with the specific issues involved in the oppression of rural American women.

The paucity of material available through so-called "legitimate" channels was, for me, a telling point. The worst kind of oppression and inequality occurs to groups that are, in effect, "invisible". If no one has identified rural women as an …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 8, No. 1 (March 1981)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Table of Contents

• Humanism and Social Work Paradoxes, Problems, and Promise - NORMAN GOROFF
• Applied Sociology, Social Engineering, and Human Rationality - JOHN W. MURPHY
• Heritage and Politics of Poverty and Inequality for Rural Women - EDITH A. CHEITMAN
• Social Welfare: Context for Social Control - PHYLLIS J. DAY
• Social Values in Social Work: A Developmental Model - DAVID BARGAL
• Social Work Response to Problems of Occupational Health - JOANNE JANKOVIC & DAVID DOTSON
• Welfare Reform and the Possible Demise of White Paternalism and Black Flight in Mississippi - LEWIS WALKER & CHESTER L. HUNT
• Child Health and Developmental Problems …

Social Work Response To Problems Of Occupational Health, Joanne Jankovic, David Dotson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

An emerging area of concern for social work professionals is occupational safety and health. This article explores problems of the workplace with a specific focus on Brown Lung disease, or byssinosis. The authors present a model for field practice whereby students develop skills in organization, self-help group development and systems change strategies, thereby moving from a traditional methods model of practice to one that is focused on social problems.

Making It Legal: A Comparison Of Previously Cohabiting And Engaged Newlyweds, Ingrid Moeller, Basil J. Sherlock

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In view of the recent emergence of cohabitation as an alternative form of courtship, it is important to determine its possible effects on the subsequent marital union. Are the premarital experiences, marital goals, patterns of marital power and levels of conflict discernably different for those who have lived together before marriage? Comparing cohabitors with noncohabitors , we attempted to pursue this question in a sample of 139 recently married, nonparental, college matriculating, young adults using a lengthy focused interview.

Largely due to parental pressures "to make it legal", both cohabitors and noncohabitors moved towards matrimony with equal speed, marrying at …

Poor Urban Blacks And Community Participation, Charles Stevens

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This research elaborates the concept of community participation utilizing activities that reflect the experiences of poor urban Blacks. The residents of a low income housing development are studied with emphasis on how these people involved themselves in community affairs and how they interact with other tenants in their day to day activities. It is largely a descriptive study, in that it attempts to uncover and explain styles of participation that are not generally counted as meaningful participation. Therefore criteria for participation is defined in a manner to include some informal activities and other activities which seem to correspond to the …

Boom Town Victims: Social Work's Latest Clients, Joseph Davenport Iii, Judith Ann Davenport

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The current energy crisis appears to be presenting social work with a new breed of client as the profession moves into the decade of the 1980's. This new clientele - the boom town victim - may be an individual, a group, an entire community or even a geographical region. Accordingly, an effective response to these victims may well require the entire repetoire of social work's helping functions (e.g., clinical, research, community organization, social planning, social action, policy formulation). Since the energy crisis gives every indication of not only continuing, but intensifying, it behooves the social work profession to devote more …

Tommy - The Story Of An Oppressed Family, Karen N. Bianco

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Tommy was unhappy. He loved his Mommy and Daddy, but he thought that they didn't love him. Everytime he walked into a room where his Mommy and Daddy were, they would yell at him. Tommy didn't pick up his dirty clothes. Tommy didn't feed his dog. Tommy tore his dungarees. Tommy wasn't nice to his baby sister.

Social Welfare: Context For Social Control, Phyllis J. Day

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Because human service professionals are uncritical concerning the latent functions of their organizations they may be unaware of their power as agents for social control. The paper discusses values, attitudes, and education supportive of such control, the permeation of social programs into heretofore private areas of human life, the power inherent in new techniques of social persuasion, and the centralization of that power because of expanded government funding and accountability requirements. As public assistance programs contain civil disorder among the poor, so other social welfare programs insure conformity and control the alienated of all levels of society.

Social Values In Social Work: A Developmental Model, David Bargal

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The article suggests a five stage model which describes the development of social values in the socialization to social work and other human service professions. The five stages of development include the following: antecedent factors, anticipatory socialization, professional training period, performance in a professional organization and the crystalization of a professional worldview. The main thrust of the paper is the idea that the professional person develops himelf for a very long time before reaching professional maturity. This development represents a constant dialogue between the persons background factors needs and motives and the institutional and organizational contexts he encounters in his …