Social work simple terminology: complex realities - Essay Example

 “Social work” simple terminology: complex realities. Simplicity of terminology has come due to the way it has been used in our daily life whereas complexity is attributed to the dynamism and complexity of human behavior not only individually but also as a group and human behavior due to or towards surroundings. Therefore, social work is far more than doing one or more actions which give a “feel good” hunch. International Association of Schools of Social Work and the International Federation of Social Workers define social work as “a profession which promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work”. The dominance of human factor is evident in the definition. The most difficult thing is that all the factors on which social work are dependent are unpredictable, fluid and living (living in a sense that they keep on growing in different direction and ways). To elucidate the point further let us analyze the definition more critically. First part of the definition says “a profession which promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well being”. Here it is to be realized that our world is not composed of homogenous societies in any aspect whether we talk of wealth, development or adaptability to a change. The divide is not only between the societies but it is within also within societies. Therefore, it gives a complex working operational ground to social workers to promote social change, solve problem in human relationships and empowerment and liberation of people. Resultantly no one method or theory or approach can be taken as antidote. Adding to this complexity is the fact that this working ground is always evolving and changing thus adding difficulties in implementing task of a social worker. The second aspect of the definition is of “utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems”. The application of these theories adds another dimension to the complexity. These theories are formed over a period of time to guide practice however; most of them are based on the present situation and does not take into account the time span between the formulation of theory and its availability for practical application. Therefore, changes which occur in that time span are not catered for. To put it simply the theories are present oriented with past experience but seldom are made by predicting future state. In the above mentioned complex situation it will be next to impossible to set an all encompassing theory or approach. However, “the theory developed should meet the following 4 requirements (UNESCO 2000) :- 1. Social workers need to understand a number of issues related to the field of human relationships. Theory provides the system of rules, assumptions, and the logical bases for these issues. 2. Social workers work with doctors, sociologists, teachers, and other professionals. The contribution of social workers will be ignored if they cannot show a theoretical understanding of their field. 3. Social workers, like counselors, constantly find themselves faced with the need to predict. Reliable prediction is rooted in social work theory. Theory facilitates the capacity to predict. 4. Theory provides a framework for general ideas. It permits a broad and cohesive view of complexities that may be involved in any given human interaction.” Theories can be used to organize our assumptions and guesses into hypotheses, that can be tested and proved valid, or invalid. This is an important step in the scientific method. In fact, theories arise from experience. Once a theory is formulated, it leads to practical applications. Due to multifarious dimensions of human interactions the theories so developed, keeping in view above 4 points, will be many. Therefore, a set of theories will be developed according to the aspect being taken care of (or interested in) by the group formulating the theories. The theorists who are concerned with the ecological system and its relationship with the humanity will come up with the theories of social work naming “Ecosystems, Community Work; Strengths Based Approach and Attachment Theories (Munford R et al)”. On the other hand if the theories are to be originated from psychological and sociological point of view than “Psychoanalytic Theory, Humanistic Theory and Cognitive Theory (UNESCO 2000)” would emerge. Similarly, social work may adopt many approaches according to the specialization or emphasis of the one who formulates. For example if we talk of a more intimate application of the theories it will be along four major approaches. They are the “case work approach, institutionalization, the group work approach, and the community work approach(UNESCO 2000).”. However, Payne (1997) describes three different approaches to social work. These are: “Individualism-reformism, Socialist-collectivist For Payne and Reflexive-therapeutic (Thompson N. 2000)”. On the whole if we talk of approaches in general these can be categorized as Social Work with “Individuals, Social Work with Groups and Community Organizations (Hick S.2000)”. The close scrutiny of these approaches indicates that their domains do overlap and often are reinforcing. Foregoing in view, it is not possible that we encompass the entire “Theory” or “Approach” aspect in this paper. However, for the purpose of proceeding further the realization of this fact is enough that these theories and approaches domains are complex and overlapping but reinforcing rather than canceling or negating each other. Therefore, social work theory and practice has to be contemplated and conceptualized in this perspective. With the vastness of the social work so conceived it is interesting to know that how to derive the knowledge to cover such a vast operational filed. It is evident that such a vast knowledge base will be difficult to assimilate in totality. “Knowledge for social work has to be spread across theoretical, factual and experiential (Trevithick. P (2004)”. Till the time the knowledge spectrum does not cover all the streaks of knowledge the result of social work will leave much to be desired. Nature of Social work on ground requires interaction with many other professions of the services. This will entail that social worker has to be well conversant with them so that he can guide and steer the client correctly. “More recently, service user activism and social work discourses have emphasized the importance of user involvement, partnership, participation, rights, and, perhaps most significantly, empowerment. The contemporary use of the term ‘service user’ as opposed to ‘client’ symbolizes this change in emphasis (Thompson and Thompson, 2001)”. It’s not only the social worker but the ones working on social theories have also to be well conversant in this matter. To summarize, then, “social work ‘shares’ with other professional groups in the human services (Thompson and Thompson, 2001): 1 A humanitarian or compassionate approach; 2. A professional knowledge base; 3. A set of skills; 4. Practice based on values” The entire operational ground of social worker, complexity of which has been deliberated above, has to be understood to operate in social work sphere effectively. For this “system theory” can have an effective application in social work. The system theory is defined as “transdisciplinary study of the abstract organization of phenomena, independent of their substance, type, or spatial or temporal scale of existence. It investigates both the principles common to all complex entities, and the (usually mathematical) models which can be used to describe them (F.Heylighen 1991).” In general terms, general system theory is “(to) put on guard against the strong tendency to ascribe phenomena to a single causative factor (Gabrielle, 2004)”. We should understand that societies are complex systems for which simple cause and effect logic does not apply. It is therefore imperative that we study the social work approaches and formulate theories for social work while taking into account the complexity of our operational ground through system theory. Since system theory take the operational ground for social workers (i.e. individuals, communities or groups) as systems it will be necessary for social work theories and approaches to take it into account when dealing with a particular problem. Each system will be made of subsystem and each subsystem will comprise certain elements. At times to bring out a change the action has to be taken along elemental level which will then ripple up to subsystem and system level OR the change is carried out at system level which trickle down to subsystem and elementary level. More over the interconnectivity within all the tiers of a system make it a very sensitive matter. It is through the analysis of the system that one can understand the effect of the action done on the system. Hence, the importance of system theory in social work has been and will always be tremendous. We can refer to “Pincus and Minahan’s book (1973) described by Pyne(1997,pp 139-141) the earliest attempt at applying ideas and concepts from system theory to general social work practice. The approach include:- 1. The recognition of the influence systems in the life of people. 2. The identification of three kinds of system that contribute to people’s well being, namely informal or natural systems (family, friends, neighbours colleagues), formal system (community org, unions, professional association) and societal systems (government departments, hospitals schools) 3. The conceptualization of the four basic systems in social work practice (change agent, client, target and action system) 4. Clearly identified stages and methods of systemic practice (Robyn et al).” It will be more illustrative if we see that how the system theory applies to deal with the social work issues of individuals and families. The only difference in the application of any theory of social work to be applied to individuals and families is of the scope. Rest all are commonalities. What we mean by this is that if there is a problem with an individual then because of his influence in the family any action done for him should take into account the effect on the family or the assistance required by the family. Similarly, if the family is going through a situation where social work assistance is required it has to be at the individual level as individuals constitute the family. Therefore, family should be taken as a system whose subsystems are the individuals of the family and they are interconnected. The application of theory will be the same but the understanding, scope and approach will be different. With the above discourse we have treaded across the entire spectrum of social work. However, much more can be viewed in this context to understand the complexity of the issue. Few important points have emerged after contemplating about social work which is mentioned in points form for easy understanding:- 1. Living in an information age where change is a rule than an exception the social work has crossed into new dimensions of complexity. 2. Social worker has to be well equipped with the knowledge of the theories and practical information / experience being gained continuously to keep updated about the future trends. 3. Theories has to be futuristic rather than based on past experience as the ground realities are always in a flux towards new situation and not towards the past. Future prediction by adopting methods like “consensus of experts, mathematical equations, computer simulation, content analysis, scenarios, analogies and comparisons, trend analysis or combining the methods (Macrov D eta l 2001)” should be more often adopted. 4. The operational ground of social work, irrespective of the perception / direction social work is being carried out, should be taken as a system. The actions should be contemplated and results judged, assessed and predicted in the realm of system and not in isolation i.e. effects on a subsystem only. This implies that social work should always start with a system or system of systems analysis. 5. Whenever work is done in a complex system it will take time to get results. Therefore, the theory and approach of social work should not only be sustainable but should be flexible to be steered as per the changing environment / situation. 6. Remember, good work not necessarily reap good result in the short run but most of the time good work’s good result come after a long sustained effort. Complex systems are no different provided the effort is in the right direction. 7. Keeping in view the complexity of the social work any particular theory or approach cannot be termed as right or wrong. It will always be the combination of different theories which will be applicable to pay the full dividends of social work. However, a particular theory may be preferable in a particular situation. We know that life is not that simple. What all is happening around us can not always be categorized in black and white, in fact , there is a big grey ground in which most of our life’s events fall into. Social work is to be done in this big grey ground to give it more whitish tinge and aborting its drift towards black complexion. References Adams, R., Dominelli, L.&Payne, M, Social Work Theories, Issues and Critical Debates, Macmillan, 1998,Y. F.Heylighten C. Joslyn ( Nov 1, 1992) Principia Cybernetica Web, What is System Theory [On Line] Available: (10 Mar 07) Hick S, 1998, What is Social Work Practice [On Line] Available: Munford R, Nash M, O’Donoghue K. Social Work Theories in Action Jessica Kingsley Publishers (pp 15 &33) Macarov D, Baerwald P, 2001, The Future of Social Work Theory and Practice [On Line], IUC Journal, Available: www.bemidjistate.edu/SW-JOURNAL/issue03/articles/macarov.html 7 Mar 07 Meagher G, Nigel P, 2004, Modernizing Social Work and the Ethics of Care, Published in Social Work & Society Stepney, P & Ford, D, Social Work Models, Methods and Theories: A Frame work for Prcatice, Russell House Publishing 200,Y. Trevithick .P (2004) Practice Terminology and Its Confusions [On Line] Available: 9 Mar 07 Thompson N and Thompson S, 2001, Empowering Older People: Beyond the Care Mode”, Journal of Social Work 1(1) (pp 61-76) Thompson N, 2000, Understanding Social Work: Preparing for Practice: NewYork: PALGRAVE UNESCO SWAZILAND, Feburary 2000, Social Work, Printed in France Read More