Is an Understanding of Sociology Important for the Practice of Social Work - Essay Example

Is an Understanding of Sociology Important for the Practice of Social Work ? “Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups, and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, as its subject matter is our own behaviour as social beings.” (Giddens, 2006:4) In the world of today, social services particularly in the field of public assistance and social security, social work and education of social work, have taken up a new meaning with increased importance and significance. “Sociology is about our lives and our own behanviour, and studying ourselves is the most complex and difficult endeavour we can undertake.” (Giddens, 2006:8). The term ‘sociology’ was actually coined by the French author Auguste Comte (1789-1857) but he originally used the phrase ‘social physics’ to refer to the field of studies. “Comte regarded sociology as the last science to develop-following on from physics, chemistry and biology- but as the most significant and complex of all the sciences.” (Giddens, 2006:12) Today, with the ever growing emphasis on social and public services; has redefined the philosophy of sociology. By focusing on different sociological perspectives, this essay will try to analyze how important sociological understanding is for social work and its practice. Social work is founded on the principles of service; be it economic and social justice, personal worth and dignity, importance of human relationships, competence or integrity. It addresses some of the most pressing issues of society like abuse and neglect, poverty, mental illness, juvenile crime and especially, family life. According to Rutter (1990) children need to have bonds in their lives as this is important for the development of relationships in later life. “Sociology demonstrates the need to take a much broader view of why we act the way we do. It teaches us that what we regard as natural, inevitable, good or true may not be such, and that the ‘given’ of our life are strongly influenced by historical and social factors,” (Giddents, 2006:4). Having an understanding of sociology and the modern theories of practice therefore, is vital because “Sociology offers a distinct and highly illuminating perspective on human behaviour. Learning sociology means taking steps back from our own personal interpretation of the world, to look at social influences which shape our lives.” (Giddens, 1993:5). And as “Our modern world is radically different from that of the past, it is sociology’s task to help us to understand this world and what the future is likely to hold.” (Giddens, 2006:10). “We also want to know why things happen, and in order to do so we have to learn to construct explanatory theories.” (Giddens, 2006:8). And “Theories involve constructing abstract interpretations that can be used to explain a wide variety of empirical situations. We need theories to make sense of facts.” (Giddens, 2006:9-10). Symbolic Interactionism In order to understand society, we must look at the day to day interaction and analyze the individual’s roles, gestures, communication pattern, environment and definitions. “Symbolic interactionism springs from a concern with language and meaning...Symbolic interactionism directs our attention to the detail of interpersonal interaction, and how that detail is used to make sense of what others say and do.” (Giddens, 2006:22-23) The social researchers make use of the symbolic perspective to understand a social issue, rather than using the functional or conflict perspective. Symbolic interactionism is a major and influential theoretical perspective in many areas of sociology. It plays a dominant role particularly in micro-sociology and sociological social psychology; as well as family individuals. Figures show that in less than a century, marriages ending in divorce have gone from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 3 (Yeo & Lovell, 2004). Symbolic interactionists argue that people’s selves are social products, but that these selves are also creative and purposive. Herbert Blumer (1969), an interpreter and a student of George Herbert Mead; was the one who coined the term ‘symbolic interactionsim’ by putting forward an influential summary of the perspective. He set out three basic premises of perspective as follows: Human beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings of the things have for them. The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction one has with one’s fellows. These meanings are handled in, and modified through, an imperative process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters. Most interactionist research uses the qualitative research method such as, participant observation to study aspects of social interaction and/or individual’s selves. Interactiionists mainly focus on the subjective aspect of social life rather than the objective or the macro-structural aspects of social systems. The reason is that the base of their theoretical perspective is on the image of humans rather than the image of society, as done by the functionalists. From the view point of interactionists, the society consists of patterned and organized interactions among individuals. “Symbolic Interactionism stresses the exchange of symbols between individuals in social interaction. Unlike other theories, symbolic interactionism emphasizes the small-scale interaction of individuals, not society as a whole.” (Giddens, 2000:26) Therefore, their research focuses on face-to-face interactions which are easily observable rather than on macro-level structural relationships; which involve social institutions. This research method shifts the attention of the symbolic interactionists away from the stable values and norms towards the more changeable and continually readjusting social processes. Emphasis on symbols, negotiated reality and the social construction of society, leads to an interest in the roles people play. This role-play or role-taking is the key mechanism of interaction because it permits the individual to take the perspective of others, to see what his actions might mean to other actors with whom he interacts. Being a social constructionist approach, symbolic interactionism helps in understanding social life, with its main focus on how reality is constructed by creative and active actors through their interaction with each other. The researchers involved with this field of sociology investigate how people create meaning during social interaction, how they present and construct self or identity and how they define situations of co-presence with others. One of the central ideas of this perspective is that people act as they do because of how they define the present situation. Structural Functionalism or Functional Perspective Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) was one of the main contributors to the development of functionalism, a theoretical approach originally pioneered by Durkheim and Comte. According to functionalist viewpoint, in studying any given society, we should look how its various ‘parts’ or institutions, combine to give that society continuity over time. (Giddens, 1993:710) He suggests that to understand the function of an institution or a social practice is to analyze the contribution it makes towards the continuation of the society as a whole. But in today’s society it is not unusual for a family to separate and then merge into different contexts or move on into other relationships (Bauman and May, 2001). In the past sociologists have referred to the family as the ‘cornerstone of society’ (Haralambos & Holborn, 1993).”The relationship between parents and children is the fundamental building block of society.” (Bilton et al, 2002:5). Functionalism firstly views society as a system – a collection of interdependent parts, which have a tendency towards equilibrium. Secondly, for the survival of a society, there are functional requirements that must be met. Thirdly, phenomena are seen to exist because they serve a function. To understand this, the best way is to use the analogy to the human body, a comparison given by Durkheim, Comte and many other functionalist authors have made. To study a bodily organ like the heart, we need to show how it relates to other parts of the body. By pumping blood around the body, it plays a vital role in continuation of life of the organism. Similarly, “Functionalism emphasizes the importance of moral concensus, in maintaining order and stability in society. Moral consensus exists when most people in a society share the same values. (Giddens, 2006:21) In the modern and more complex societies of today, the members perform various different tasks which results in the development of strong interdependence between them. Structural functionalism also took up arguments presented by Malinowski who proposed that the basic building block of a society is the nuclear family, and that clans were therefore; an outgrowth of family, and not vice versa (Bernard, 2000; Layton, 1997). Referring to family, Giddens (2000) suggests that children prosper when they are loved by reliable parents who are sensitive to their needs. The family and various parts of the society, unconsciously work towards the maintenance of the overall social equilibrium. “The concept of social structure is an important one in sociology. It refers to the fact that the social context of our lives do not consist just of random assortments of events or actions; they are structured, or patterned in a distinct way. There are regularities in the way we behave and in the relationships we have with one another.” (Giddens, 2006:8) Bowlby (1965) suggests that unhappy childhoods lead to unhappiness in people’s own marriages. Therefore, all cultural and social phenomena are seen as being functional in working together to achieve cohesion and are considered to have a life of their own. Then they are analyzed primarily in terms of the role they play and the individuals are not significant within themselves; but in terms of their status, their roles and behaviours and their position in pattern of social relations, associated with their status. “The social structure is then the network of statutes connected by associated roles.” (Layton, 1997. p.37-38). Conflict Perspective The theoretical approach, such as Marxism has its main focus on the notion that the society is based on an unequal distribution of advantages. It is characterized by a conflict of interests between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. The conflict perspective states that the organization or the society functions so that each group and its individual participants struggle so as to maximize their benefits. Sociologists suggested that problems in the family also arose because of factors relating to poverty and war (Taylor, 2000). According to the conflict perspective we also need to understand the struggle between groups such as race, gender, age, social class etc. This theory states that the power group will always try to maintain their status through exploitation, manipulation and control which inevitably results in revolutions or change in politics. “Conflict theories reject functionalism’s emphasis on consensus. Instead, they highlight the importance of divisions in society. In doing so, they concentrate on issues of power, inequality and struggle... Conflict theories examine the tensions between dominant and disadvantaged groups within society and seek to understand how relationships of control are establiched and perpetuated.” (Giddens, 2006:22) The conflict perspective attempts to refute structural functionalism. There are radical basis assumptions such as the society is eternally in conflict which can explain social change, or the moderate one which believes that custom and conflict are always mixed. The essence of conflict theory can be best exemplified by the classic pyramid structure in which the larger masses are dictated terms by the elite. “The mass of the population make up a class of wage-workers, or working class, who do not own the means of their own livelihood, but have to find employment provided by the owners of capital.” (Giddens, 1993:708) According to this theory; all major institutions, traditions and the law in societies are designed so as to support the groups which are considered to be superior, or the ones who had traditionally been in power in the society. And anything that challenges the control of the elite or the powerful is likely to be considered morally reprehensible or deviant. The conflict theory basically looks for ways to catalogue means by which the ones in power should remain in power. “Many contemporary social theories are still influenced by Marx and have developed conflict theories. The study of inequality using concepts of class is at the heart of Marx’s theory. (Giddens, 2006:26). Examples of conflict perspective are: Marxism The term Marxism is related to the sociological ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and is generally referred to the work in humanities and social sciences. The core of Marxists ideas claim that every historical period has a distinct mode of production that rests upon technological organization or particular forces of production; and distinct ways of organizing social relationships between people in the economy. This mode of production then primarily exerts influence is shaping social relations within the society in general as well as its legal, political and intellectual ideas. Feminism An intellectual and divers political movement chiefly initiated by women, seeks to re-evaluate, criticize and transform the place of women in social organizations and culture. What is common to feminism is the assumption that the culture and the social organizations have been dominated by men to the extent that women have been excluded. This exclusion has been accompanied by diverse pattern of disadvantages and devaluation that has diminished the status of women in most known societies. Feminism advocates the reconstruction of the basic intellectual assumptions of social practices and in areas of study including especially sociology, history, psychology and other social and humanistic disciplines. Postmodernism This term is used for a variety of contexts to describe social and economic conditions, movements in the arts and scholarship from the perspective, that the 20th century can be divided into two broad periods. This idea has been quite controversial among intellectuals, historian and scholars because to many of these commentators the term applies; that the modern historical period has passed. It is generally believed that the postmodern ideas have impacted literature, art, philosophy, critical theory, design and architecture, business and marketing, interpretation of history and culture, since the late 20th century. But historians and scholars most commonly consider postmodernism to be a movement of ideas arising from, but also critical of elements of modernism. Poststructuralism Poststructural concept holds that the concept of ‘self’ as a coherent and singular entity is a fictional construct. Rather an individual comprises conflicting knowledge claims and tensions like gender, profession and class etc. Therefore, one needs to understand how the work is related to one’s own personal concept of self. Thus, self study and self perception play an important role in one’s interpretation of meaning. Poststructuralism rejects the theory that the structure of a language or a culture can be mapped and argue that the meaning is rather, constantly slipping from one sign to the next. Poststructuralism has also influenced the materials theory or Marxism by providing a way to understand ideology and showing how important it is for the maintenance of any economic system. Importance of Sociology for Social Work “Sociology has many practical implications for our lives. Sociological thinking and research contribute to practical policy-making and social reform in several obvious ways. The most direct is simply through providing clearer or more adequate understanding of social situation that existed before.” (Giddens, 1993:22). Therefore, in order to understand the circumstances of the individuals, it is important for the social worker to have knowledge of sociology so as to take a wider aspect of the problems and assess the difficulties of their clients. They work in societies with complexities, change and diversity and most of the people they provide help, are the most disadvantaged and vulnerable. Sociology provides tools for questioning assumptions about why things are the way they are and why people behave the way they do. “While sociologists cannot offer prospective answers to the social problems that face us all, they do offer a way of thinking that helps us to clarify certain questions and move towards better understanding.” (Bilton 2002:20). Sociology guides social workers to help adults, children, families, groups and communities to function, develop and participate in society and “Sociology gives us an awareness of cultural differences that allows us to see the social world from many perspectives. Quite often, if we properly understand how others live, we also acquire a better understanding of what their problems are. Practical policies that are not based on an informed awareness of the ways of life of people they affect have little chance of success.” (Giddens, 2002:26). Similarly to be able to help clients; the social workers with a good understanding of policies, would be in a better position to demand social services on legal basis for them, and at the same time recognize their limitations and differences. For instance, it’s thought that legal rights for children are sufficiently comprehensive while for older people, the general attitude and legislation; appear to have significant gaps. (Panorama BBC 1, 11/02/07). But for social work, a society and its individuals, “Sociology can provide us with self-enlightenment- increase self-understanding. The more we know about why we act as we do and about the overall workings of our society, the more likely we are to be able to influence our own futures.” (Giddens, 2006:27). To practice social work and help the clients with their sociological, political and legal issues, an understanding of these policies can help social workers to access services, identify inequalities in social service provision and identify disadvantaged people. With the help of this knowledge they can look into ways to empower the service users and work with them to overcome such barriers. “Sociologists argue that our social world is being experienced as increasingly uncertain and precarious. The German sociologist Ulrich Beck calls this the ‘risk society.’ (Bilton et al 2002:10) and as social change is inevitable, sociology can help us to make sense of it all. It can open our minds and eyes and stimulate different sort of questions and ideas. Sociology is an ongoing project and an unending quest to solve and understand the intricate puzzle of social life. Conclusion There is agreement among many contemporaries that the social work in the 21st century will be strikingly different to its professional experiences in the past few decades. “The sociological imagination enables us, then, to ‘grasp history and biography and the relation between the two.” (Worsley, 1991:10). In most western countries the rise of new public management system has resulted in shifting away from the value driven aspects of human service work. Therefore, according to McDonald and Jones (2000) the social workers are increasingly required to demonstrate explicit practice competencies for human service positions. They also need to have a detailed knowledge of the practice field in which they plan to seek social work. “Social life is a puzzle, and sociologist spend their professional lives trying to make sense of it.” (Bilton et al, 2002:4). “It would be nice to think that sociologists could stop all the grief and provide everyone with the basis for a peaceful, happy life, but sadly they cannot. But if sociologists can give us better information and a fuller understanding, we will be in a stronger position to shape our own live.” (Bilton et al, 2002:5). In order to have useful collaboration the practitioners and academics need to contribute to reinvent practice theories for the emerging environments and also help in promoting a better understanding of sociology and the practice of social work. The welfare states, throughout the western world are in a state of transition. 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