The Purpose of Social Work as an Activity in Modern Society - Case Study Example

Introduction In this modern world with technology growth social work has held its importance. “It has been followed since long. Even today the importance hasn’t declined”. The meaning has “widened and it includes a lot many thing then charity. This has helped people”. With vast “increase in population especially in developing countries the importance has grown”. (Pollack, 2006) Today “more and more people are working for society. Social work has also helped to improve the condition of children who are malnourished and suffer from abuses”. Even “the recent terrorist attacks have laid the importance of social work as more and more people get affected due to it and they need some external factors to help them”. (Pollack, 2006) Even the break in disease has increased the importance of social work in modern times. Definition Social work is “the application of social theory which helps to improve the lives of people, groups and societies related to them”. (Wikipedia, 2009) It can also be said a social science. Some also consider it a profession. Here, “the person tries to improve the condition of human beings and help people to fight problems that arise and tries to solve those problems”. (Wikipedia, 2009) Here people try to solve issues of every person. It is done at every level. In the modern society the importance has grown. Today in this world with increasing population the importance has grown. As population has grown more children are unnourished. This has caused more people to work for their benefits. With more people being poor the need for social work grows. Here “the workers are concerned with social problems, the reasons why those problems arises, the solutions to the problem and the impact it creates on human beings”. (Wikipedia, 2009) Social work thus “helps to meet the needs of human especially the need for food and shelter and also gives empowerment to people who are weak and vulnerable and live in poverty”. (John, 2009) Here, the workers “look for the benefit of the people and the society as a whole”. (John, 2009) It thus improves the living. People are benefitted. The society gains as problems are fixed. History Social work has been done for a long time. Today, the importance has increased. People even in the medieval period did charity, Today it covers a larger area. Even all religion promotes it. Earlier, Charity was what defined it. Today, it covers a broad area. Here “instead of just doing charity social workers try to eradicate the problem and find reasons and solution for that problem”. (Wikipedia, 2009) Literature Review A research was done which shows that “both the social workers and the non social workers skills and competency are the same when the deal with impoverished children”. (Perry, 2006) This shows “that anyone can do social work. No formal education is required for it”. (Perry, 2006) It all depends how one works. Both have shown the same response. Another research has “laid the importance of health care especially for children as children are more prone to health problems and come up with high quality health care process in the modern society”. (Gallagher, 2002) They have also laid importance “on the different sections of society to come up like the role women can play, the role the society has, how the government can function to stop child labour and abuses and different ways which needs to be taken in this modern society to solve the problem of health”. (Gallagher, 2002) Another research shows “the importance of manpower management for social work”. (Wong, 1985) Here it highlights the fact that “social work in Hong Kong was hampered due to shortage of people willing to work for the well being of the society”. (Wong, 1985) This created lot more people to suffer. This calls for ‘an urgent measure for more people to treat this field as a profession and utilize their knowledge for the well being of people all around the world”. (Wong, 1985) This calls for more people to treat this field seriously. “In today’s time it is more required. More people are facing grim situation. Poorer are being suppressed. Especially the children have to suffer. It calls for more people to take this field and work for betterment”. This will “help to improve the quality of life and make people prosper” Importance Social work is done for a long time. In this modern age the importance has grown. Social work is important because “Developing countries have vast population. Most of them are poor. This has led to under nourishment. Children are sufferers as a result. So society needs to come up with more programs to develop them and help them grow”. This can also be seen from the following graph In Rupees This shows the earnings in poor countries which do not live them enough. The amount they earn is not sufficient for food. So they suffer from health problems. This increases the importance of social work as it will help mankind. “The increase in abuse and neglect of children in developing countries with increasing cases every year” (Philip & Vecchiolla, 2005) has laid importance on social work. This has led to “more children suffering from disorders which has hampered their growth process and called for new initiative in this direction”. (Philip & Vecchiolla, 2005) The increase in terrorist activity is another reason. “This has rendered thousands homeless. They are in search for food and shelter i.e. basic necessities of life. It is important that government and the public come up with ways to help them”. ‘This has increased the pressure on nongovernmental organisations” The spread of epidemic is another reason which has laid the importance of social work. “With new disease breaking everyday and the cost of treatment being very high is causing millions to die. Steps need to be taken in this direction so that utmost care is provided to them”. It is helpful to people as ‘it helps people who have gone through stress and suffered in life which is increasing every passing day as violence, family problems are on a rise. This has increased its importance as a lot many people are going through it.” (John, 2009) Objective Social work aims to achieve a lot for society. It follows certain principles. It works towards the good. Some of the objectives which they try to achieve in the process are Service: “Social service needs to be provided to all irrespective of the caste, creed or colour. It is important that social workers treat all people equal and work for their benefit especially children as they face a lot of hardships”. (John, 2009) Social Justice: “Social service provided should be justified. It should be par treatment for all. The NGO’s and social working group should work in tandem and ensure that children are made to go to school and child labour should not be allowed. They should ensure that justice prevails for all” (John, 2009) Dignity and worth of a person: “While providing social service it is important that people and children are not looked down. They should be treated with respect. It should not be such that the morale of the child is hurted which hampers his growth”. () Importance of human relationship: while providing social work it is important that “a good relationship is developed. This will help to find out the causes of such problem and measures can be taken to remove those. It will also help to develop the child as he will feel good and will know that there is someone to take care of him especially the orphans”. (John, 2009) Integrity and Competence: “It is important that the social workers who are a part of the organisation who are helping the needful children are competent in dealing with them. This will ensure that there is better understanding and he will be able to handle the situation in hand better”. (John, 2009) Thus in this modern world it is important organisations work to help children. They are the future and measures need to be taken to improve their quality of life. Social Welfare In this modern era the role of social work has multiplied. This is more with the case of children. Today, more and more children are “victims of the atrocities of society and this has hampered the process of growth especially in developing countries where the poorer section comprises of majority of people who are under nourished and have different kind of disease”. (Elizabeth, 2005) This has made different “non-governmental organisations to come up with different programs”. It’s important to “guard the children and ensure that services are provided to vulnerable children, protecting them from neglect and abuse, addressing their health problems and also providing guardianship”. (Liederman, 1995) This has led to “coming up with different programs by different organisations for the well being of society. All this together are directed towards the society”. Many a new different programs are there. Some of them are Out of Home Care: This is a program for children “who are orphans and do not have parents so for them all necessary requirements are made such as kinship care, residential care, family foster care and so on”. (Elizabeth, 2005) “These types of program are followed by many organisations in different name. The purpose is the same to ensure proper bringing for children in this modern time so that they are equipped with all the techniques and skills to live in this modern world”. Permanency Planning: This considers “the out of home care where children are provided the necessary skills to develop themselves and to be able to deal with the modern times. Here all the required skills are developed in an individual thus ensuring a safe and matured life for children so that they can live life on their own and be able to face the modern society”. (Elizabeth, 2005) These are a few programs. Many such are in place. Most government and non government are working towards it. They are working for “growth of society and this is helping people to improve the quality of life”. In modern times the pattern has changed. But, the objective is same. It still needs that more ways need to be developed. More programs need to be placed. Government role has increased and they need to work more. Growth The “increase in population and concern has made more people take it as a profession”. (Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2007) This has made “more people take it seriously and it is the need of the hour for modern society as more and more people are facing the problem’. (Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2007) The growth can be seen from the following table Thus we see the growth in it. We see more people getting into it. This shows the importance it is gaining in modern society. This is also helping the society as better knowledge is there. This has increased growth and more people are getting into it and this has increased the importance of social work. Criticism Despite providing benefits to mankind there has been failure. “There has been occasion when it has been criticized. This has called for an urgent need to look into it. It has also laid the importance of coming with methods which reduce it. It will thus help to increase the efficiency of social work. This would also make more people come towards it”. Some of the failures or criticism raised against social work is Firstly, “organisations which has been working for the welfare of the society and doing social work has come under intense scrutiny as they are using the money in it for purpose other than protection of society”. (Wikipedia, 2009) This has raised alarms. Secondly, “there have been reports of misconduct by violating the law by depriving a person of life, property and basic amenities. This has maligned the image of workers and is a failure as the code of ethics set for them has been violated”. (Wikipedia, 2009) Conclusion Thus, “we see that social work has become very important in today’s time. Still, there are some criticisms like the money is laundered for some other purpose. With increasing poverty in spite of all measures adopted highlights the need to come with better methods”. Today there is an urgent need to come up with more programs. This will help the overall society. It is the need of the hour to come with more programs. This shows the importance social work has in modern times but still ways need to be found out to improve it. Reference Elizabeth J, 2005, “Child welfare”, National association of social workers, Washington, USA Bureau of Labour Statistics, 2007, “Occupational outlook handbook”, UD department of labour, US Gallagher E, 2002, “health enterprise in modern society”, Journal of Science and medicine, Volume 6, Issue 5, Kentucky, USA Perry R, 2006, “do social workers make better welfare workers”, Research on social work practise, Volume 16, Number 4, Florida State University Philip r & Vecchiolla F, 2005, “Child welfare and social work”, Allyn & Bacon, Springfield College, Massachusetts Pollack D, 2006, “Child welfare”, Social works and counts, Taylor & Francis Group, Rout ledge John, 2009, “Code of Ethics”, National Association of Social workers, Washington Liederman D S, 1995, “Child Welfare”, Encyclopaedia of social work, Volume 1, Issue 19, Washington, USA Wikipedia, 2009, Wikimedia Foundation Inc, a non profit organisation Wong M F, 1985, “Social work manpower in Hong Kong”, Asian Journal of Public Administration, Hong Kong Read More