Social Work Profession : The Elizabethan Poor Law And The Industrial Revolution

The origins of the concept of social welfare are undetermined, however, during the 1800’s, the United States began establishing and reforming social welfare programs funded by the American tax dollars to assist the poor, disabled, and elderly. As time has progressed, more and more citizens have become dependent on social welfare, causing its virtuous purpose to become muddled amongst a sea of outstretched hands. The Italians knew what they were talking about; public money is like holy water, many see it as an unalienable and natural right bestowed upon them by God. But like public money, as the pool of holy water sits

Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work’. Social work origins arise from the effects of a change to an industrial sociality and increasing impact and focus upon poverty. However it is argued that current social work practice, as illustrated by the broad definition of social work by the IFSW, finds itself expected to address wider social issues such as racism, sexism, and discrimination relating to physical or mental ability. Furthermore social work itself has changed from its origins of a charity style response to social problems of poverty. Banks (1995, p1) argues that the changes to social work have introduced different roles for different purposes of ’redistribution of resources to those in need... social control and rehabilitation of the deviant’ Banks further argues that as social work changes, the emphasis is less upon a helping relationship and more on the distribution of resources and on social control.

According to (Dulmus & Sowers, 2012, p.106), the history of social work is one of an old religiously grounded ethos of offering, aid and comfort. This shows that social work has been around for quite a long time, helping the unfortunate and it has developed more throughout these past centuries. The profession was largely shaped by Westerns idea and events. (Chenoweth &McAuliffe, 2015, p.32). The ideas and events included could have been war, poverty and other social reforms. That is when social welfare was needed to give aid and help solve these issues. Social work largely expanded in England in the 16th during the Elizabethan poor laws and later on in America between 17 and 18th century (Dulmus & Sowers, p.6). This essay is going to focus on how social work has evolved or changed for the better from the 1960s till present.

Social work takes its values from various sources, including – Kantian, Utilitarian, Common Morality and Professional Codes of Conduct. Both the Kantian and Utilitarian theories cannot provide social work practice with a complete set of values and ethics. Both the theories have their limitation and strengths. Kant saw the world in black and white, even if a lie could prevent a greater evil the act of lying is fundamentally wrong. Utilitarian theory justifies actions by the end justifying the means. Social work concerns “respect for the person”, this idea originates from Kant, an eighteenth century German philosopher. Beauchamp (1996) defines the principle as a fundamental standard of conduct on which many other standards and judgements depend, a principle that provides an essential norm in a system of thought or belief. Common morality is the idea that all humans have an inbuilt awareness of certain moral norms e.g. murder is wrong, stopping a child running into the road is right. Western philosophy has been debating ethics and morality for thousands of years and still has not formalised a definition for them, so how can anyone truly understand? Furthermore, if the greatest philosophers throughout history have been debating ethics and morality, how can the common man truly understand it?

Early social work focused on individuals and casting blame on them for their circumstances. Social workers had good intentions, but believed poor people were poor because of some failing on their part and often held a moralistic view that they were better than those they were helping. Social work has always had some type of organization behind the

1.Evidence an understanding of the nature of social work in contemporary society. Relate to how social works deal with the demand of care and control

Social workers fulfill a unique role in policy creation because that is a time for them to advocate for the oppressed or individuals who are attempting to cope with the stresses of everyday life. Most social workers have the opportunity to work hands on in the field with clients during some point in their career, and during that time they are able to get a clear understanding of the problem the client is experiencing. In The Other America, Harrington makes mention of the poor and how they lost their connections to the world; that clearly depicts the importance of the social workers’ involvement with the creation of policy (Harrington, 1962). Since those living in poverty have been referred to as “politically invisible,” social workers are

This act set up local 'parishes' that were responsible for taking care of the poor in their own district. However, the government provided no funds to facilitate this program?the parishes were responsible for levying and collecting taxes to finance their programs. Though it would be considered a very primitive form of welfare by today?s standards, it was a large step toward government-mediated welfare compared to the English system 250 years before that. In 1349, Parliament forbade charity on the grounds that it might encourage laziness. Since then, public attitudes have changed about the responsibility of the citizens and the government to provide for the assistance of the needy. Limited federal assistance was given to war veterans and their families beginning during the Civil War, but large scale assistance to the general needy community was not available for almost 75 more years (Komisar 48). A large contribution toward the assistance of the poor in the United States came during the Progressive movement around the turn of the century. Activist groups championed not only workers rights in the form of unions, but also the right of every citizen to have access to decent living conditions (Komisar 67).

Different attitudes to social welfare reforms from the 19th century onwards depended on what lifestyle a person was living in. If a person was wealthy, they enjoyed an easy life. However, on the other hand, if the person was poor then that would make their life harder and difficult to live. Any able-bodied poor person able to work did not receive help from the authorities. They only entered the workhouse because they were desperate. People within the workhouses lived in terrible conditions, overcrowded, poor hygiene. Another name given to the workhouse was ‘’the slums’’ (Tom, 2016). Strict rules were put into place. If rules were broken severe punishment would follow. Inmates of the workhouse were treated harshly. They all worked long hours

They provide welfare because of the law through statutory legislations and welfare provisions which are based together. Social work is theory and practical based. This can be done in a professional and non professional way. Professional people are qualified, trained and have research based knowledge. Such as social workers, community mental health nurse, psychiatrist. Which are all regulated to a registered body.

The journey towards the attainment of the Bachelor of the social work degree has been an enlightening and educational experience, as the individual is exposed to the realities of many social and political issues in the society. As a student, I ventured into the degree, with minimal insight as to how the degree can influence and shape the way I perceive the social world, and the way I relate these matters to myself. However, throughout my endeavour, which encompasses years of theoretical studies, and two intensive placements at two drastically different organisations, I believe I have accumulated the bare minimal knowledge to possess a solid foundation about the unfairness and inequality that people in disadvantaged conditions face. Social workers are predominantly found in welfare organisations which Howe (as cited in Limber, 2015) suggested largely influences the practice, direction and values of the social worker, and impacts on their ability to act autonomously (Lymbery, 2015). During my placements, there was a dominant theme that frequently stood out and enticed my attention. This was the accepted practice of focusing on the individual’s problem, as opposed to the social problems that existed and the lack of acknowledgement about the social restrictions of the human agency that limited self-determination. The realization that organisations were managed this way was important in ensuring that I made a proactive effort to understand and untangle the reasons behind such

Social policy was introduced in the early 19th Century, post war. At this time, William Beveridge introduced the idea of a Welfare State to address poverty. He released a report for social reform known as the ‘five giants’ within society: squalor, disease, ignorance, idleness and want. The welfare state brought many positive improvements in Britain and Government passed reforms to address the poverty levels, introducing “cradle to grave “support. The National Health Service was set up which gave free health care to all and laws and Acts were put in place to help the young, the old, the sick the unemployed and the working class in times of need. The five issues raised by Beveridge

Now this work will attempt to examine the different approaches that feminists apply to social work. According to Collins English Dictionary, “social work” means “social services that give help and advice to the poor, the elderly, and families with problems.” (www.collinslanguage.com). It is very hard to define social work as its work is so varied and sparse within society today. Feminist social workers tend to work more with women and help them to understand and alleviate their problems. Dominelli (1997: 246) postulates “ I define feminist social work as a form of social work practice which takes gendered inequality and it’s elimination as the starting point for working

Social work laws and provisions, have set how social workers practice today. The foundation of social work has so many contributors, but one of the first laws to contribute to the welfare of individuals was The Poor Law Act 1601. Under the provisions of this act, it enabled parishes to offer two forms of relief. This then enabled people to receive; if deemed eligible under the criteria 's: indoor relief and outdoor relief. The act was later amended in 1834.

The history of social welfare begins during colonization. Although there was not social work, there was some form of public assistance. Public assistance during colonization consisted of Early American Poor Laws. During this time the poor were referred to as “paupers” because they were unemployed and were required to wear P’s so they could be identified. The belief during this time was that it was the relative’s