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The Political Theory Implicit in Social Casework Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Alan Keith-Lucas
Alan Keith-Lucas
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina
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Extract

The political theory implicit in social casework theory can be defined, for purposes of this discussion, as the theory of the relationship between man and society on which professional social casework is consciously predicated, or that theory of the relationship which is logically implied by social casework practice. This theory is not often consciously articulated and we must look for it, therefore, in those presuppositions underlying casework theory which are frequently accepted uncritically, if not wholly unconsciously. This practice obviously cannot be carried on without basic (although perhaps not entirely conscious) presuppositions about what man is like and consequently about what society can or ought to do for him.

The presuppositions underlying social casework theory, although important in any context, have acquired a new significance to the extent that social casework has increasingly become a government function. During the past twenty years literally millions of people in the United States have been brought into a new relationship with officials of their local, state, and national governments—namely, the relationship of client and social caseworker.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 47 , Issue 4 , December 1953 , pp. 1076 - 1091
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1953

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References

1 Surprisingly, no unified count of recipients of either public or private casework services seems ever to have been made. Figures quoted here are from recent issues of the Social Security Bulletin and the Social Work Year Book.

2 See Miles, Arthur P., An Introduction to Public Welfare (New York, 1949), pp. 24–76Google Scholar, and many other sources.

3 Reynolds, Bertha C., Re-Thinking Social Case Work (San Diego, 1938), p. 7Google Scholar.

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12 Smith, A. Delafield, “Community Prerogative and the Legal Rights and Freedom of the Individual”, Social Security Bulletin, Vol. 9, no. 8 (08, 1946)Google Scholar.

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16 A Changing Psychology in Social Case Work (cited above, n. 11), p. 187.

17 Family Service Association of America, Committee to Study Basic Concepts in Casework Practice, A Comparison of Diagnostic and Functional Case Work Concepts: Report, ed. Kasius, Cora (New York, 1950), p. 13Google Scholar.

18 See Pray, Kenneth, Social Work in a Revolutionary Age (Philadelphia, 1949)Google Scholar; Aptekar, Herbert, Basic Principles of Social Case Work (Chapel Hill, 1941)Google Scholar; Robinson, Virginia, Supervision of Social Case Work (Chapel Hill, 1936)Google Scholar, and Dynamics of Supervision under Functional Controls (Philadelphia, 1949)Google Scholar, as well as the book already quoted; Marcus, Grace, The Nature of Service in Public Assistance Administration (Washington, Federal Security Agency, 1947)Google Scholar; Jessie Taft, A Functional Approach to Family Case Work, of which she was editor, and the volumes of the Journal of Social Work Process published by the Pennsylvania School of Social Work between 1939 and 1946Google Scholar; as well as articles by all the above named in the Journal of Social Casework, The Social Service Review, The Jewish Social Service Quarterly, etc.

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21 Grace Marcus, The Nature of Service in Public Assistance Administration (cited in n. 18).

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25 Major writers in this school are Hamilton, Gordon, The Theory and Practice of Social Casework (New York, 1940Google Scholar; 2nd ed., 1951); Hollis, Florence, Social Casework in Practice (New York, 1940)Google Scholar; Bertha Reynolds (see above, n. 3); Fern Lowry; Lucille Austin; and Dorothy Hutchinson. Most of the significant writing of the last three is in article form. Some writers (such as Towle, Charlotte, whose Common Human Needs, published by the Federal Security Agency in 1945Google Scholar, was withdrawn in answer to the objections of the American Medical Association) use the vocabulary of this school but are, in their underlying concepts, eclectic or even nearer to the functional point of view.

26 “The Underlying Philosophy of Social Casework” (cited above, n. 24), p. 10.

27 Ross, Helen and Johnson, Adelaide M. M.D., “The Growing Science of Casework”, reprinted in Principles and Techniques in Social Case Work (cited above, n. 24), pp. 52–3Google Scholar.

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33 Ibid., pp. 5–6. Italics added.

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38 Deuel, Elizabeth, “The Content of Child Welfare Services”, in Child Welfare at the Crossroads, U. S. Children's Bureau, Federal Security Agency, 1949Google Scholar. It is interesting to note within the U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (formerly the Federal Security Agency) the predominantly functional approach of the Bureau of Public Assistance and the equally strong diagnostic or organismic views of the U. S. Children's Bureau.

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43 Reynolds, , Re-Thinking Social Case Work (cited above, n. 3), p. 7Google Scholar.

44 Lane, article cited in n. 36.

45 Reynolds, , Social Work and Social Living (New York, 1951), p. 109Google Scholar.

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