diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-25 06:35:54 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-25 06:35:54 -0800 |
| commit | 13c1be1f7772642766f63b36217ee6e8e77d3cc3 (patch) | |
| tree | 40c3f69359b8c03b06ea14af0852a43ae36a8b88 | |
| parent | 590aa57e1e3b746f83e23e6837457c1a1a199c2b (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/69557-0.txt | 3559 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/69557-0.zip | bin | 70900 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/69557-h.zip | bin | 249759 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/69557-h/69557-h.htm | 5285 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/69557-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 179067 -> 0 bytes |
8 files changed, 17 insertions, 8844 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1f4500 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69557 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69557) diff --git a/old/69557-0.txt b/old/69557-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8978d2c..0000000 --- a/old/69557-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3559 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of A definition of social work, by Alice -S. Cheyney - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: A definition of social work - A thesis in sociology - -Author: Alice S. Cheyney - -Release Date: December 16, 2022 [eBook #69557] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Charlene Taylor, Carla Foust and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL -WORK *** - - - - - - Transcriber’s note - - On Page 87 the line: “Settlement work, educational and - vocational guidance.” is missing a corresponding number. - - - - - UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - - - A DEFINITION OF - SOCIAL WORK - - - ALICE S. CHEYNEY - - - A THESIS - - IN SOCIOLOGY - - PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN - PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR - THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY - - - PHILADELPHIA - 1923 - - - - - COPYRIGHT 1923 - BY - ALICE S. CHEYNEY - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Chapter Page - - I. WHY THIS DEFINITION IS ATTEMPTED 5 - - II. THE CHARITABLE ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK 8 - - III. THE SCIENTIFIC ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK 16 - - IV. THE TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE - OF SOCIAL WORK 27 - - V. THE TESTIMONY OF THE TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR - PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORKERS 47 - - VI. THE ANSWER TO ITS CRITICS 55 - - APPENDIX 81 - - BIBLIOGRAPHY 89 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -WHY THIS DEFINITION IS ATTEMPTED - - -What social worker has not been asked to define social work and found -himself at a loss? It is easy to describe his own particular tasks but -it is not easy to characterize the profession as a whole or to say why -its very diverse phases are identified with one another. Why should we -apply the term “social work” to hospital social service and probation, -but not to nursing and interpreting, services which seem to stand in a -similar relation to medicine and the courts? - -Definitions of social work are not yet to be found in dictionaries -or encyclopedias. A certain amount of characterization appears in -current literature, by implication or by mention of one feature here -and another there. Some general descriptions say of it things which, -though true, do not distinguish it.[1] Probably no strict definition -is possible. The field of social work is constantly extending; its -functions are multiplying by geometric progression; its means are -undergoing continuous adaptation and in all its phases it shades off -into other kinds of work or attracts allied work to its own likeness. -The inconvenience of this state of affairs is a constant subject of -complaint and for at least three reasons we badly need some sort of -definition. - -In the first place whenever we talk without first agreeing on -the meaning of terms we are wasting time and giving unnecessary -opportunity for bad blood. The term “social work” is now used in -several entirely different senses. One man, in using it, is referring -to a characteristic technique, which to him is its distinguishing -feature, such, for instance, as social case work; another is thinking -of a certain function in social economy, for instance, the relief -of distress; a third is designating a policy in social reform, a -temporizing policy, for example. So long as this latitude of use -continues we will talk at cross purposes whether in discussion of -specific ways and means or in the evaluation of social work as a factor -in human affairs. Any definition would make it easier for us to agree -or explicitly disagree on what we mean by social work. - -In the second place while the nature and purpose of a calling are -perceived cloudily or not at all it does not manifest the coherence -and momentum which inspire constructive work. Its followers are in -danger of floundering among isolated tasks or finding their sense of -continuity and purpose in the mere observation of correct procedure. -Social work while feeling an implicit affinity in its many forms, -often seems to suffer from lack of any essential principles or any -demonstrable obligation or responsibility, other than those incumbent -on the community as a whole. The process of definition offers a means -of bringing to light any principles or responsibilities especially -pertaining to it. - -Thirdly social work now suffers unnecessarily in reputation and support -(even among its own practitioners) for disappointing demands which -would never have been made were its nature better understood. Every -undertaking has its limitations and when known and understood they -constitute no reproach. But the preoccupations and aspirations of -social work are such as to tempt its proponents to enlarge on infinite -possibilities, forgetting in their enthusiasm to state that these -possibilities can only be realized if the ministrations and advices of -social work are accepted in many places where it has no enforceable -influence. The limits set to any single line of human endeavor working -by itself are very narrow, and for social work, as for other things, -they are in practice promptly reached. Social work when it stands -thus at the end of its powers seems to have betrayed the confidence -placed in it. A limiting definition would show that the fault lies not -in social work but in unreasonable expectations. Such a definition -would be its best defense from antagonistic critics and disappointed -followers. - -Yet “social work” in spite of all uncertainty does stand for something -real. Annually there meets a National Conference of Social Work with -2637 individual and group memberships representing 46 States, the -District of Columbia, Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines and Canada and -6 foreign countries.[2] There has lately been formed an American -Association of Social Workers[3] composed of master workmen in its -several lines, who must qualify in terms of preparation or experience -and who are associated for the purpose of maintaining a high standard -of work. All this indicates that there is a general concept of social -work, and if there is such a thing it must be amenable to some sort of -description or analysis. Though water-tight definition seems impossible -it is frequently not necessary. If any characteristics can be found -which appear in all the forms of social work and not in activities -unrelated to it they will at least serve the three practical purposes -for which definition is so urgently needed. - -Materials for analysis are not wanting. Social work has had its -national conference for fifty years, its magazine for thirty-six[4] -and its schools for twenty-five[5] and the conference reports, -the magazines and the school curricula constitute a competent -body of evidence that can be consulted either in cross section -or in chronological perspective. If we forego expectation of a -precise and all-mentioning definition and adjust our demands to the -practicabilities of the case we may hopefully challenge these compact -sources of information, together with the dispersed literature of the -subject, with observation and experience to stand and deliver a working -definition. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] For examples see Appendix I. - -[2] Conference Bulletin, published by the National Conference of Social -Work, Nov., 1922, Vol. 26, No. 1, 25 E. 9th St., Cincinnati, Ohio. - -[3] 130 E. 22nd Street, New York. - -[4] “Charities,” which has since become the “Survey,” was first -published in 1887. - -[5] The New York School of Philanthropy opened its full term winter -course in 1904; a summer school had been opened in 1898. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE CHARITABLE ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK - - -The “charities directories” of New York[6] and Philadelphia[7] offer -the most inclusive available lists of the various types of social work. -For present purposes it will be sufficient to review them by groups. -Duplications, omissions, and extraneous inclusions (all legitimate for -the purposes of the directories) make the figures of agencies of each -type inaccurate but they serve to show the multiplicity as well as the -range of social work undertakings. - - New Philadelphia - York - Agencies having to do with health 412 224 - Child welfare agencies 233 147 - Settlements, social centers and housekeeping centers 227 608 - Relief societies 180 102 - Societies for civic and economic betterment by means - of surveys, investigations, education of the - public, etc. 157 369 - Adult homes 136 112 - Agencies for obtaining or providing employment 123 46 - Special educational opportunities, agricultural, - musical, etc. 118 71 - Philanthropic agencies with a predominantly - religious 96 191 - Agencies interested in naturalization, colonization, - and work for immigrants 91 28 - Correctional and protective agencies 81 54 - Societies serving special groups 81 60 - Negroes 29 36 - Soldiers, sailors, or their dependents 25 10 - Clergymen 8 - Medical men 7 - Indians 5 - Artists 4 - Firemen 3 - Recreational facilities 63 88 - Banking, loan and saving societies 23 10 - Of which burial societies are 10 4 - Milk stations, diet kitchens and lunch rooms 20 23 - Conferences and federations which include - social work agencies 12 20 - Legal aid societies 11 2 - Societies for the protection of animals 9 14 - -In cross section no obvious, no easily discernible bond appears among -these diverse agencies. An eleemosynary purpose, the first suggestion -of most laymen, is indignantly repudiated by the modern social worker -and can be, in many cases, categorically disproved. All are benevolent, -but so also are educational, religious, artistic and other undertakings -not commonly considered social work. - -It is a standing rule of science that if you can see nothing crosswise -you must try squinting lengthwise. If a present form will not -answer your questions look back along its history and consider its -origin--study its evolution and genetics. Such a policy with respect to -social work brings us promptly to a strong clue. - -The interests of social work have wandered far from those of -old-fashioned charity and “mere charity” has now a bad name, but we -of this generation knew social work before it came of age and when we -hear it repudiating charity we recognize the act of a thankless child -denying an unfashionable parent. The oldest of the schools was called -until 1919 the “New York School of _Philanthropy_” and the same word -appeared in the names of the Chicago school and others. The “Survey,” -the accepted general organ of the profession (if it is a profession), -was until 1905 published as “Charities” and for three years more as -“Charities and the Commons.” What is now the “National Conference -of Social Work” was organized as the “Conference of Charities and -Corrections” and kept that title right down to 1917. - -We may therefore push our investigation back a step farther and for the -question “what is social work?” substitute the less difficult inquiries -“what was charity and by what modifications did social work develop -from it?” However far apart these two may at present seem it is a -patent fact that social work developed from charity and along the route -of that development there is hope of enlightenment as to the essential -nature of social work. - -Charity in one sense is the name of a human quality--that which -“suffereth long and is kind.” With this sense of the word the present -inquiry is not concerned but with a more completely objective meaning. -The dictionaries give it as “benevolence, liberality in relieving -the wants of others, philanthropy,”[8] or “liberality to the poor, -to benevolent institutions or worthy causes.”[9] The wording varies -little. Philanthropy where it is described any differently from charity -is merely a broader term not confined to the succor of the especially -unfortunate, as “love of mankind especially as evinced in deeds of -practical beneficence.”[10] - -If we look at this “charity” in action we find its performance to be -directed to the same ends even though we follow it back through two -millenniums of Christianity and Paganism.[11] Motive and policy vary, -but the tasks of charity are recrudescent and impose themselves on each -successive generation in terms of the contemporary conscience. We seem, -for example, to have forgotten the question which haunted sixteenth -century motivation--whether faith without works avails for salvation, -but we might still subscribe to a contemporaneous plan of action -which demanded “the suppression of vagrant beggars, the punishment of -impostors” and “a rational organization of benefits under the control -of the municipal authorities.”[12] The _task_ is still with us. - -This so adaptable and so perdurable “charity,” while constantly -changing its terms remains always in essence a free will offering made -to those who are in some fashion especially in need. It may consist -of material benefits or of services. An authoritative historian of -English philanthropy says in his nearest approach to a definition -that “Philanthropy, in common with other terms in general use, is -difficult, or more probably incapable of strict definition. We may -perhaps safely say that it proceeds from the free will of the agent, -and not in response to any claim of legal right on the part of the -recipient.” “The greater part of philanthropy may be said to consist in -contributions of money, service or thought, such as the recipient has -no strict claim to demand and the donor is not compelled to render.”[13] - -Does this characterization hold good in our own country and time? -First, must the gift be free? Where a service is exacted by law do we -ever consider it charity? Free education while supported by voluntary -contribution was considered a form of charity but when it came to -be supported by taxes its connection with charity lapsed and was -forgotten.[14] The upkeep of highways and bridges has been an object -of charitable bequest--a benefit which the fortunate might out of his -abundance bestow upon his neighbors.[15] The establishment of public -responsibility for the highways has lifted this sort of benevolence -from the category of charity. Prisoners whose support was not provided -for by their own means or the concern of friends were for long -dependent upon charity.[16] A nicer sense of corporate responsibility -now requiring them to be fed at the public charge we see no charity -in their support but when private interest carries into the prisons -influences presumably improving and meets friendless prisoners at the -jail gate we recognize the unforced ministrations of charity removed -to another field. We still stand near the turn of the road in the -matter of caring for workmen injured during their work. A little while -ago any provision by the employer for the injured man or his family -was regarded as an act of charity. Latterly we have come to consider -it no more than right that an industrial establishment should share -the burden, as it does the fault, of such accidents, and state after -state has enacted laws compelling “compensation.” And as relief of -the injured man and his family has thus been made compulsory on the -establishment in which he works it has ceased to be charitable. The -act remains the same but with the loss of spontaneity its charitable -quality has disappeared.[17] - -It is true that we have a very considerable development of so-called -“public charities.” But are not the services they render offered -through the body politic merely to secure a certainty and inclusiveness -of relief for which we dare not rely on private benevolence? And do we -not continue to call them “charity” precisely because we still regard -them as a free gift rather than as a routine purveyance which the -state is essentially committed to provide? Some of them are plainly -in process of transition and here and there we find the almshouse -becoming the “county hospital,” or the department of public charities -the “welfare department,” the nomenclature following a change in the -conception of function. - -If, furthermore, we examine the public attitude toward those -undertakings which we have cited as having graduated from charity into -public purveyance, we will recognize that these are considered public -responsibilities in a different sense from any which so far attaches -to what we still call public charities. Public education is held to -be a natural prerequisite of democracy; the making of roads a thing -contributing impartially to the universal convenience; the feeding of -prisoners the inescapable responsibility of those who have cut them off -from the means of making a livelihood. - -Moreover we make certain doles which we explicitly insist are not to -be counted “charity”--pensions given after military or government -service or to widows rearing children for the commonwealth--and in -disassociating them from charity it is the custom to point out that -they are not concessions but just deserts, something that can be -claimed as a right. - -Charity then is a free gift. It need not be given in love, as its -etymology would assume, indeed it may be given in a mood of revulsion, -in the hope of expiating a sin or in mere fear of the indignation of -the deprived. The recording angel probably keeps a record of the motive -and the spirit, but charity, in its simple objective meaning on men’s -lips, inheres in the act of relief. - -The brief characterization of philanthropy which we are testing was -two-fold. It declared philanthropy to be a free gift and a gift to -need. Just as the one qualification of the act was that it must be in -no way exacted so the one qualification of the recipient was that his -candidacy must consist only in need. Does this also hold true in our -own country and our own time? Surely it is plain beyond any call for -proof that only that is charity which is bestowed where need appoints -the recipient. Free gifts are made to the prosperous, there is mutual -helpfulness among equals, there are services prompted by loyalty and -personal affection, but these, though unforced, are not called charity. -But it will not do to dwell too much on the negative implications -of “need,” on deprivation or suffering. We might almost avoid that -rather misleading word and say that a gift is charity only when the -outstanding circumstance is occasion for it. But it is a familiar -observation that ardors or privations which are accepted as the order -of life while we see no prospect of remedy become conscious hardships -at the mere rumor of succor and so it necessarily happens that the -very act of service or relief prompted only by its own fitness is the -creator of an ex-post-facto need even where the situation previously -scarcely merited so strong a name. - -Charity is not, however, preoccupied with material need only or with -physical suffering or any other one phase of life. Moral redemption, -intellectual opportunity, artistic realization--these also have come -within its purview. It may follow mortal man into his every predicament -and minister to his hungers of whatever sort. Only if we keep this -well in mind will we be justified in associating it with so negative -a term as need. It is the unconscious champion of the perfectibility -of man. “The normal life,” “our common inheritance,” “humanity in -whatever form,” “the rights of the humblest individual”--these are -its commonplaces that have lost significance from frequent and often -perfunctory repetition. But the fact that they are the commonplaces of -the subject is in itself significant. The commonplaces of all subjects -are not of that sort. - -These then are the essentials of charity “a free gift and a gift to -need.” May we go on to inquire what additions or alterations have -developed these into social work, or is social work a thing so far -transmuted from charity that it no longer shows the very elements of -its original? A reperusal of our digest of the charities directories -shows the many forms of social work all of them still to include the -qualities of charity. In the first place the services of social work -are still a gift. Sometimes they are provided by the state in close -association with the obligatory work of some routine state department, -but in such cases the tasks of social workers will be found to differ -from those of the other employees in the department in being not only -highly extensible and almost infinitely variable but in some degree -supererogatory--as in the case of the follow-up work of the workmen’s -compensation office. - -In the second place the presence of a need, though less evident among -the forms of social work than in the case of primitive charity, is -always discernible. Social work often seems to aspire to knowledge -rather than accomplishment, as when making investigations or surveys or -when any form of ministration is accompanied by so much solicitation -of information as to raise the question of which is product and which -by-product. But its activities will always on inspection be found to -claim connection with the discovery and removal of some form of human -ill. Social work itself naturally points to immediate purposes, small -definitive tasks like the formulation of a standard distribution of -expenses in the budget of a family at subsistence level. To conclude -that these are its ultimate objects would be as serious a mistake as -to imagine that the medical profession would rest satisfied with a -set of dependable prognoses. And these investigations do not exploit -the fields of prosperity. They consistently maintain a preoccupation -with untoward conditions and a sense of stewardship. Before all social -work, as surely as before charity, a Samaritan purpose floats like a -will-o-the-wisp, an inconstant and shifting but ever discernible guide, -sometimes at several removes from the work in hand but always its -ultimate sanction. - -Social work then, incorporates, while it modifies, charity, and we find -ourselves ready to discuss the second part of our question--what is the -nature of these modifications which have produced social work? - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[6] New York Charities Directory, A Reference Book of Social Service, -published by the Charity Organization Society of New York, 28th -edition, 1919. - -[7] Social Service Directory of Philadelphia, 1919, corrected for 1920. -Pub. by Municipal Court. - -[8] New Century Dictionary. - -[9] Webster’s New International. - -[10] New Century Dictionary. - -[11] See Lallemand, Léon Histoire de la Charité. 4 Vols. Alphonse -Picard et Fils, Paris. Vol. I, 1902; Vol. II. 1903; Vol. III, 1906; -Vol. IV, 1910, and Queen, Stuart Alfred; Social Work in the Light of -History, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia and London. - -[12] Lallemand, Vol. IV, p. 21. - -[13] B. Kirkman Gray, A History of English Philanthropy. Preface, pp. 8 -and 9. - -[14] Ibid., p. 103 e. s., and Philanthropy and the State, p. 222. - -[15] History of English Philanthropy, p. 20. - -[16] Ibid., p. 70. - -[17] See also Charities for Feb., 1898. Report of the Association for -Improving the Condition of the Poor, housing inspection, vacation -schools, public baths and vacant lot farming begun by the Association -and continued by the city. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE SCIENTIFIC ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK - - -The historical perspective which shows social work to have developed -out of charity shows also that there is a close relation between that -development and contemporaneous developments in other lines. We know -that in every field of production, trade and business, enterprising -men have lately developed practical sciences to replace the old rules -of thumb, and that even in such a field as teaching there has lately -appeared a derived science of pedagogy which levies on psychology and -other direct sciences for its material. The stewards of charity, like -other people, saw the light of science full on their path. The result -was a new hope. Again and again in statements like the following we -have been told that the grosser disabilities which charity relieved -could be done away with for good if we would systematically search -out and treat their causes. “Poverty, vice and crime are no more -impossible to stamp out from human society than small-pox and measles. -To do the one requires the same intelligence on the part of man, -though perhaps in a higher degree, that the other does. The social -sciences and arts should have the same expansion as all the other -sciences and arts combined in that the relations of men to each other -are equally important if not more important than the relations of -man to nature.”[18] Or again, “The most formidable obstacle to the -adoption of the policy of prevention and treatment is not resistance -to the necessary public expenditure, still less inability to raise the -money, but the lack of administrative science and the shortcomings of -our administrative machinery. Merely to relieve destitution has been -nearly as easy as to do nothing. But successfully to intervene in order -to prevent--whether to prevent sickness, to prevent the neglect of -children, to prevent the multiplication of the mentally unfit, or to -prevent unemployment--involves the discovery of causes, the formation -of large schemes of policy, the purposeful planning of collective -action in modifying the environment of the poorer classes, together -with scientifically diversified treatment of those individuals who fall -below the recognized standards of civilized life.”[19] - -When charity had thus accepted the necessity of using scientific -methods there ensued immediate and far-reaching results. Chief of -these have been the three developments which transformed charity into -social work. It is possible to trace them in performance and to trace -a parallel development of philosophy in the literature of the subject. -These developments can be simply indicated as (1) a systematization of -service; (2) an interest in causes of disaster, and (3) an extension of -charitable interest into new fields.[20] - - -THE SYSTEMATIZATION OF SERVICE - -The converts to a scientific method undertook to work within the -traditional field of charity with a new thoroughness and system.[21] -Fired with the belief of their times in a tenable norm of prosperity -and a continuous progress dependent only on scientific control of our -environment they naturally hoped that the most stubborn situation could -be harmonized with the general melioration by the use of appropriate -methods and they were no longer content to offer only relief, work, -care for the helpless and such simple services as were once all that -was thought of. They constantly challenged the applicability of old -palliative expedients and looked for reconstructive measures. “For -every one thing,” writes Miss Richmond, “that could then (1832) be -done about a man’s attitude toward his life and his social relations, -about his health, housing, work and recreation, there are now (1917) -a dozen things to do. The power to analyze a human situation closely -as distinguished from the old method of falling back upon a few -general classifications, grows with the consciousness of the power to -get things done.”[22] This change in expectation may be seen in the -nomenclature of the tasks which social work has set itself. At first -“relief” was the objective, then “_adequate_ relief” and now it is -“rehabilitation.” The methods were, first the alternatives “relief” or -“corrective treatment,” for there were sheep and goats in those days, -then “preventive treatment” and now “adjustment.” - -Rehabilitation and adjustment are far more delicate and responsible -matters than mere relief or even “preventive treatment” and we find -social workers warning each other that “life cannot be administered by -definite rules and regulations and that wisdom to deal with a man’s -difficulties comes only through some knowledge of his life and habits -as a whole and that to treat a separate episode is almost sure to -invite blundering.”[23] The excuse for quoting so obvious a statement -is that former practice actually required it to be made. Philanthropy -took little cognizance of its supposed beneficiaries’ “life and habits -as a whole.” Such a feat of synthetic judgment cannot of course be -more than roughly approximated. It has, however, proved possible to -develop a technique of inquiry, analysis, interpretation and direct -or indirect remedial action which is known as social case work and -can be made the subject of systematic instruction in the schools for -training social workers. And within the last six years has come Miss -Richmond’s book with the suggestive title, “Social Diagnosis,” to give -a description of simple charity availing itself of the means suggested -by an age of scientific experiment and so justifying the expression, -“scientific charity,” which, unexplained, sounds so incongruous. The -method of social case work is sometimes claimed to be the essential -and distinguishing feature of social work but if we study the classic -expositions of case work we find that they are describing on their own -showing a _method_[24] and a method which though applicable to many -types of social work is not applicable to all and which is, moreover, -by no means confined to social work. Case work, in any connection, -is the systematic study of all considerable effects and causes in a -particular situation and the development and application of special -means to alter that situation in some preferred direction. Social case -work is simply case work in the form it takes when applied in social -work. There are some fully accepted forms of social work which have -no occasion to use it. Important as it is we must recognize it as an -expedient and not social work per se. - - -THE INTEREST IN CAUSES - -An interest in the causes of disaster is responsible for the -development of those forms of social work which do not retain the -immediate serviceableness of charity proper. It has developed as -part of the already described attempt to systematize philanthropic -service and also on an independent line of its own. “In practically -all departments of the work of prevention” write the Webbs, “in the -campaign against degeneration and in favor of promotion of better -breeding; in the campaign against the ruin of adolescence, the creation -of unemployment and the demoralization of the unemployed--we are -always being stopped by the need for further experience and additional -research. We know enough now to know how extremely important it is to -increase our knowledge.”[25] - -This need of more knowledge after every step before the next can -be taken, this constant challenge offered by our uncharted social -life has caused the development of an interest in observation and -investigation independent of any direct errands of mercy. Many -known abuses exist which are sure to claim their victims from time -to time and a certain amount of social work takes the form of an -independent crusade against such abuses. This type of social work often -embarks on a search for causes of trouble which proves endless and -indistinguishable from the search for knowledge. A great deal of social -work is now of this sort--the studies of the Russell Sage Foundation -and the lesser local foundations for research and prevention, the -original “Pittsburgh Survey” and all those that have followed it, -the careful neighborhood studies of the settlements from the “Hull -House Maps and Papers” on and the intensive group studies, studies, -comparative statistics and stock takings of uncounted miscellaneous -agencies. Inquiry bids fair to be as common in social work as ever alms -was in charity.[26] - - -THE EXTENSION OF THE PHILANTHROPIC INTEREST - -The extension of a philanthropic interest into new fields, the third -result of scientific thoroughness and system has, bewildered us and -occasioned most of the inquiry as to what social work may be. Today in -the administrative departments of Federal and State governments, in the -churches, the courts, the schools, the hospitals there is work being -done which has a double allegiance. On the one hand it is responsible -to government, religion, law, education or public health, as the case -may be, and on the other it is all alike responsible to social work. - -The persons who engage in this work are as much social workers as those -in any traditionally philanthropic field and have simply followed -persons whom they are trying to help into situations which philanthropy -did not formerly consider to be its business. Philanthropy has long -taken an interest in jails and reform schools, it has only quite -recently followed into court anyone still unconvicted. This it does -in the case of children and is beginning to do for some classes of -adults. The social worker of the adult court is the probation officer, -a representative of voluntary chivalry toward the defendant, standing -in the very stronghold of implacable justice. The contrast between the -points of view of criminal law and social work is clearly put by a -judge in describing the function of the juvenile court. “The inquiry -(in the juvenile court) is not to determine whether the child is a -criminal or not, but to determine its status in relationship to its -need of the care and protection of the state. Being adjudged in need -of such special care the state assumes its guardianship and oversight, -always for the welfare of the child. The aims and methods of the courts -which administer our criminal laws proceed upon an entirely different -theory. Our penal laws are enacted for the purpose of promoting the -happiness and well-being of society at large, and any who violate -them are termed criminals and outlawed as unfit units of society. The -penalty provided for under these laws is imposed with the end in view -of deterring the offender from again violating his obligation to the -body politic and also of deterring others who might be like-minded.”[27] - -In some other fields the introduction of the social worker simply adds -a new sort of service to what is already given. The obligations of both -the doctor and the medical social worker are to the welfare of the -patient, but their work is complementary. Often the social worker has -responsibilities no less than the doctor’s but her diagnosis is of a -situation and its possible interference with the curative process the -doctor prescribes. She must discover and change working conditions or -personal habits that tend to defeat the doctor’s efforts. It is not -a mere accident that this became the task of a social worker. It is -not because it was no medical job and the charitably inclined were -available for it. It is because of a certain characteristic of social -work which is a direct result of the single minded address to the -service of need--namely, a tendency to look upon people from no point -of view but that of interest in their needs, of whatever sort those -needs may be. This habit of taking a _synthetic_ view of their lives, -if such an expression is permissible, gives exactly what was needed to -complement the special and limited services of the doctor. - -The same is true in the case of the social worker in the schools.[28] -It is not because there is no other obvious title to give her that the -school visitor is called a social worker but because her responsibility -is not to the standards demanded by the school system nor to any -subject of instruction but to the child himself and the need of the -child in any capacity in which that need may occur. She must satisfy -the need or put him in contact with others who will. The same is -true of social workers employed to give suitable distribution to the -benevolence of churches or who investigate for government departments -or administer government services. There is abundant evidence that -this concern for the individual as such is what is everywhere expected -of the social worker. It is a paradox of this modern development -of philanthropy that scientific method should have led away from -generalization and formula and to a separation of the individual from -the category and the predicament. One can pick up a “Survey” of any -date and read of the social workers reviewing all sorts of data for -light on the nature of individual lives. They study official records -of vagrancy and extract from them information about vagrants.[29] They -attempt to give relevance to Americanization work by studying the -specific backgrounds of diverse foreign groups.[30] - -Miss Addams writes of the settlement that “the social injury of the -meanest man not only becomes its concern, but by virtue of its very -locality, it has put itself into a position to see, as no one but a -neighbor can see, the stress and need of those who bear the brunt of -the social injury.” This is in a certain sense true of other forms of -social work as well. Because of their interest in individual lives, and -their constant response to the challenge in every sort of insufficiency -and adversity they transcend the ordinary barriers of social -provincialism and come to know everywhere those who bear the brunt of -the social injury. The social worker seems always to be speaking for -someone who has not managed as well as possible for himself, or for -whom life has arranged badly, or who is not old enough or strong enough -to be his own guardian. He often looks like a fool rushing in where -angels might well fear to tread, but we must concede that he is doing -for someone in an apparently untenable position things that only the -self-sufficing can do for themselves. This synthesis of the interest -of all social work in “personal” predicaments is indicated in the word -“social,” for our social relations are simply our relations as persons. -But it seems to need further exposition because the word social has -been used loosely and no longer carries clear-cut implications. A -lawyer speaking to the 1919 convention defines “individual” interests -as “the claims which the human being makes simply because he is a human -being. For example, the claims to be secure in his reputation and -honor, in his social existence, to be secure in his belief and opinion, -his spiritual existence, to be secure in his domestic relations, in -his expanded individual existence and to be secure in his substance, -his economic existence.”[31] It will be noted that, in the attempt to -define these individual interests even a superlatively able lawyer -could come no nearer to legal precision than to say “for example.” The -concept is one which social work itself continues to alter, fill out -and expand with every breath it draws and is not the less significant -because it is elusive. As social work becomes more systematic with an -almost technical practice, more dissociated from the specific act of -relief and more widely and variously allied with the practices of other -callings this personal, this “social” interest, becomes increasingly -important as one of its distinguishing features. - -We may recapitulate the effects of the extension of a charitable -interest into new fields. The charitable interest working along -scientific lines has produced what we know as social work and social -work continues to manifest that interest as its characteristic feature -in all the widely scattered fields to which human needs have called -it. It is, first, everywhere engaged in the gratuitous extension of -benefits. That is to say, it performs services which, while they may be -officially sanctioned, are discretionary and adjustable, and are not -considered established rights in any but the most broadly construed -humanitarian sense. Secondly, it is concerned with negative conditions; -not the successes but the failures interest it, not the promising -people but the difficult people, not the leaders but the under-dogs. -And thirdly, as social work begins to operate in close association -with many other services, we see, what was always implicit in charity -but now first stands out in sharp relief, a prime interest in the -personal needs of individual beneficiaries. This puts social work in -a new relation to public affairs for it not only stands by to gather -up the human wreckage of bad management but it brings to formalized -administration a constant and well-posted challenge to meet individual -requirements. - - -THE PROPOSED DEFINITION - -Diversity in social work may today be more conspicuous than likeness -but under the diversity essential likeness can still be traced. Despite -all appearances to the contrary it has its own department of human -affairs and its universal common interest inherited from charity and -to this department of human affairs, to the service of this interest, -it brings a method adopted from science. - -The _department of human affairs_ in which social work operates is -that indicated by the word “social”; men’s relations to each other -rather than their relations to nature. The _interest_ inherited from -charity is an interest in untoward situations; social work, like -charity turns like a compass to the magnet of need; opportunity, -success, superiority do not attract it unless they are beset with some -difficulty which it can remove; handicap, deprivation, insufficiency -offer the challenge to which it responds. The _method_ adopted from -science is that of observation and generalization; social work has -established the fact that just as man cannot live without a certain -food supply, so he cannot thrive as a conscious being without a modicum -of interest, incentive, and leeway of freedom, so that matters long -considered intimate and implicit have now become the objects of close -and deliberate observation. And just as men, endlessly varied in -physical appearance are to the physiologist of one general pattern and -as, far more strangely, the infinite variety of mind is known by the -psychologist to have its common laws of operation, so, strangest and -most illusive of all, men individually unpredictable, do yet, in the -main, follow laws of social behaviour which it is in the power of an -observer to detect. We can say that the main act and final object of -social work are those of charity. The means and methods are those of -science moving in the fields of charitable concern. Social work seems -to comprise a group of allied activities called by a common name and -considered to be but various phases of a single undertaking because -they are all engaged in spontaneous efforts to extend benefits in -response to the evidence of need; they all show a major interest in -improving the social relationship of their beneficiaries and all avail -themselves of scientific knowledge and employ scientific methods. - -We may propose as a tentative definition, to be tested and carried -further in the chapters which follow, that social work includes all -voluntary attempts to extend benefits in response to need which are -concerned with social relationships and which avail themselves of -scientific knowledge and employ scientific methods. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[18] Professor C. A. Ellwell, in Charities and the Commons for 1907, p. -187. - -[19] Beatrice and Sidney Webb, The Prevention of Destitution, p. 330. - -[20] Owen R. Lovejoy, Proceedings of National Conference of Social -Work, 1919, pp. 666-7. - -[21] Mary E. Richmond, Ibid. 1920, p. 254. - -[22] Mary E. Richmond, Social Diagnosis, p. 29. - -[23] Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House, p. 162. - -[24] See especially Mary E. Richmond, What Is Social Case Work? - -[25] Beatrice and Sidney Webb, The Prevention of Destitution, p. 333. - -[26] When such inquiries have been undertaken by the government they -have often been proposed and prepared for by social work. See for -example: Lillian D. Wald, The House on Henry Street, on the U. S. -Investigation of the Condition of Women and Child Wage Earners, p. 137, -N.Y. Child Labor Committee, p. 144. - -[27] Proceedings of National Conference of Social Work, 1920, p. 171. - -[28] Ibid., 1919, p. 613. - -[29] Charities and the Commons, April, 1907, p. 577. - -[30] American Year Book, 1919, p. 402. - -[31] Roscoe Pound, at National Conference, 1919, p. 105. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE TESTIMONY OF THE CONFERENCE - - -We have now propounded a tentative definition of social work based upon -an interpretation of its development and present practices. We will not -be sure of the correctness of that interpretation until we have tested -the applicability of the result to the whole range of social work. Nor -can we do this fairly by making our own presentation of social work. -For such a test we must find some ready-made presentation which will -marshal social work in all its diversity. The reports of the national -conference do this and, indirectly, the courses offered by the school -for training social workers. This chapter will test and, if possible, -expand the definition by the testimony of the conference and the -succeeding chapter by the testimony of the schools. - -The conference is divided into ten sections: - - 1. Children. - 2. Delinquents. - 3. Health. - 4. Public agencies and institutions. - 5. The family. - 6. Industrial and economic problems. - 7. The local community. - 8. Mental hygiene. - 9. Organization of social forces. - 10. Uniting of native and foreign-born. - -At the annual convention each of these ten sections holds its own group -meetings at which papers are presented and discussions conducted on the -subjects appropriate to the section. It will be seen that the division -into sections is on a basis of administrative fields rather than -technique or function. The fields however are not mutually exclusive -but overlapping. Children although giving their name to the whole first -section appear among “delinquents” in the second, candidates for health -in the third and so on. Indeed, all of the ten section names might -serve as subheads under most or all of the other topics. - -More significant in the search for a definition is the fact that -these several fields are not exclusively possessed by social workers. -“Children” are also the special concern of elementary teachers, -“delinquency” is primarily referred to the courts, “health” is the -conceded bailiwick of the medical profession and so forth. Even at -the conference many papers are presented by persons other than social -workers.[32] - -These two types of overlapping make the masses of material with which -we have to deal both indeterminate and confusing. But representing as -they do the mutual interpenetration of social work and other callings, -they give a fresh opportunity to distinguish the nature of social -work. We may inquire what is the special interest of social work in -“children,” in “delinquents,” in “health,” and in what ways does it -differ from the respective interests of teaching, law, medicine and so -forth. - -It is obviously impossible to review in readable compass the fifty -years in which the conference has met and, as there have been great -changes in social work during that time, it would be profitless for -a contemporary definition. A new arrangement of sections was made in -1918, and therefore the reports of the years 1918, 1919, and 1920 -(the last in print when this study was made) were chosen for detailed -analysis. - -That analysis can be most simply presented to the reader by sections, -putting before him an itemized statement of the subjects covered in -the reports of each section (treating the three years as a unit) -and then following this sectional review with such considerations -as have recommended themselves cumulatively and can only be offered -on the basis of the material as a whole. We are looking for the -characteristics of social work as a whole and can therefore consider -only such features as continue to show themselves throughout the -sections. In the following itemized lists for each section the figures -represent the number of papers in which the subject indicated was the -principle topic. - - - I. CHILDREN. - - The forty-five papers presented in this section dealt with the - following subjects: - - Plans for removing the handicaps of the illegitimate without - increasing illegitimacy 8 - Recreational needs of children 7 - General protective schemes, plans for extending a sheltering - arm over children isolated in the country and for - establishing state-wide vigilance 5 - Standards for child care 4 - Reports on the practices of particular localities 4 - The working of children’s courts 4 - Nature and causes of that chronic and excessive - troublesomeness which is called juvenile delinquency 3 - Special psychology of children 3 - Best ways of providing for children dependent on the public 2 - The responsibilities of the public to its neglected children 2 - Problems of day nurseries 2 - Health needs of children 1 - -It requires but a glance at the above list to see how much wider is -its range than that of a teachers’ or medical men’s convention. There -is nothing to connect the topics--except children. This synthesis of -social work in personality which has been already indicated as the -“social” element in social work becomes increasingly evident in any -review of the conference. As it has proved difficult of definition it -will be well to keep it in mind in order that it may take shape during -the following review: - - - II. DELINQUENTS AND CORRECTION. - - Probation and parole 4 - Protective work for young people 4 - Special value of policewomen in protective work for girls 2 - Juvenile delinquency 2 - Runaway and neglected girls 1 - Papers not devoted to a single subject 17 - Including such considerations as the influence of war - on criminality, municipal detention for women, the function - of a truancy officer, the desirability of creating a public - defender and the moral education of training school - inmates. - - - III. HEALTH. - - Standard of living 19 - Coordination of health services 5 - Special problems of health in war time 4 - Housing 3 - Health work among the foreign-born 3 - Health problems of the Red Cross 2 - - - IV. PUBLIC AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS. - - Administrative questions 15 - Effects of prohibition 3 - State pensions for mothers 3 - Pauperism 2 - Control of leprosy, by colonization or otherwise 2 - Such standardization of record keeping as to make the - records kept by the several states comparable 2 - Education of the public in their responsibility to public - charges, public care for negroes, care of crippled - children, care of defectives and delinquents--one paper - each 4 - - - V. THE FAMILY. - - Questions of administration 1 - Registration of all appeals in a social workers’ exchange 3 - Advantages of an orderly approach to social case analysis 3 - Examples of case work treatment 3 - The family 2 - Marriage laws 2 - Tasks growing out of war 10 - Maintenance of family solidarity during absence of - men, reinstatement of returned soldiers, Red Cross - programs and functions of “home service.” - - Papers not devoted to a single topic included such subjects as: - - Case work as a source of information for sociology. - Case work as contributing to democracy. - Case work as interpreting industrial problems. - Case work as serving those above the poverty line, - cooperating, interpreting social work to the public, - organizing the community, family budgets, thrift and - pensions for widowed mothers. - - VI. INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS. - - Cooperation, health insurance, British labor party program, - minimum wage, soldiers’ and sailors’ insurance, state care of - mothers and infants, inheritance, land monopoly, the position - of the negro in industry, trade unions in the public service, - social work and the revolution demanded by radicals, causes - for the existence of the I. W. W. and economic justice. - - - VII. THE LOCAL COMMUNITY. - - Special needs of rural communities 11 - Recreational facilities of all grades 6 - Americanization on a neighborhood basis 3 - Effects of war on a neighborhood 1 - Other papers not easily classified deal with various expedients - for focussing local interest, settlements, the community store - and community kitchen, the social unit plan, enlistment of the - business men’s interest in community progress and councils of - national defence. - - - VIII. MENTAL HYGIENE. - - State departments or societies and other organized agencies - for mental hygiene 8 - Training of social workers for the new task 4 - Experience of the war in the care of neuroses 3 - Care for the feeble-minded 3 - Mental hygiene in industry 3 - Mental hygiene and delinquency 2 - Mental hygiene and education 1 - One paper each on-- - Stimulation of public interest in care for the insane, the - psychiatric element in all case work, the individual versus - the family as the unit of social work, social problems as - the reaction of mental types, the court’s dealings with the - mentally afflicted, and the relation of social work to the - state’s program, to hospitals, physicians, and the community - in fostering mental hygiene. A few other papers present - the actual lore of the new subject. - - - IX. THE ORGANIZATION OF SOCIAL FORCES. - - Publicity for social work activities and education of - the community in appreciating them 6 - Impetus of the war to large scale organization for common - purposes and the desirability of integrating social - service 6 - “War chest” 3 - Registration of cases 3 - Other papers treat of-- - Endorsement and standardization of social work agencies, - salary standards for social workers and their labor - turnover and teaching materials for learners. - - - X. 1918--GENERAL PROBLEMS OF WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION. - - Ten papers no different in import from those in other - sections which have been cited as discussing conditions - created by the war. - - - 1919 and 1920--UNITING OF NATIVE AND FOREIGN-BORN IN AMERICA. - - State immigrant commission, labor organizations and public - education as Americanizers, the foreign language worker - and foreign language press, foreign organizations and - family welfare, democracy and immigration, neighborhood - life, and the treatment of immigrant heritages. - -Such, in briefest possible outline is the scope of the annual -conference on social work. What have its papers contributed to the -correction or expansion of a definition? - -The first proposition of the tentative definition was that all forms of -social work originated in a spontaneous effort to extend benefits. How -is this affected by the testimony of the conference? In the first place -it is abundantly confirmed. The conference papers deal pre-eminently -with pioneering in the extension of benefits and opportunities. The -phraseology does not always suggest this but one has only to look -beyond the phraseology to the action in order to find it. If we look -at the first section we see it to be in effect proposing that the -whole community shall deliberately and without delay rearrange not -only schools and home life but industry and general living conditions -so as to give to all its children opportunity and encouragement such -as are now given only to the most fortunate. We find it advocating a -scheme of child welfare on a county basis which shall seek out “all -children in need of care for any reason” and demanding enforcement of -proper health precautions for the children of unenlightened parents -and a real chance in life for the illegitimate child. Among the titles -of this one section at one conference appear “Progress Toward Better -Laws,” “Planks in a 1920 Platform,” “Lessons from North Carolina,” -“A Community Program, etc.”[33] But these platforms and programs -are not to be ascribed to the community in any sense except that of -being proposed for the community as a whole by social workers. At the -same conference they are discussing “Social Workers as Interpreters” -of social conditions and methods of getting “publicity” for their -aims.[34] The same sort of title takes up the tale in the next section, -a “Program” again, “Aims and Methods” twice, “A Plan,” and so on -throughout the conference. Although other professions, education and -medicine for example, are constantly busy jacking up standards, their -general undertakings are fully accepted. For all regular purveyances -of education and medicine the community has given a blanket order and -expects to pay “within reason.” Social work is in a different case -for it is constantly trying to put over something which is still but -tentatively and experimentally accepted and depends root and branch on -the willingness of some people to do, out of hand, for others.[35] - -The president of the conference in 1920 referred to a “belief in human -improvableness and a willingness to tackle the job.”[36] That is as far -as the conference usually philosophises in this direction. And this -is the sort of phraseology that makes one forget that social work is -extending benefits--this casual reference to tackling the job. It is -another of the paradoxes in the development of social work (we have -already noted science rescuing personality), that when charity offered -only a minimum of rough food, uniform raiment and herded shelter to the -utterly destitute there was much made of the generosity of the donor, -but now when social work has been carried to a point where it often -provides for the handicapped a great deal better than the rank and file -manage to provide for themselves it is taken to be a case of noblesse -oblige. - -We may read in the “Observations of a Philanthropist” penned a century -ago that “It’s greatly for the interests of charity that the objects of -it should be respectful and grateful. We think our kindness in a manner -repaid when it is thankfully received; it’s a pleasure then to have -done it and an incitement to do more,”[37] or in a “hospital” report -that “the number of proper objects are amply sufficient to employ the -bounty of the rich.”[38] - -The difference here indicated is not accounted for by the fact that -these were the observations of philanthropists while the conference is -composed of professional social workers for whom benefaction is all in -the day’s work. As has been already indicated, the papers read at the -conference are not all by social workers. Furthermore, the “incitement” -now employed to get from all manner of men financial support for the -undertakings of social work is of a very different order. Let any -one consider the appeals which come to his desk. They contain little -to rouse his vanity and the offer of an opportunity to acquire merit -is almost as uncommon. The degree of need and the certainty of -accomplishment are the things never omitted. - -This suggests the cause for change. A century ago need might equally -well have been urged, but what could then have been promised of -accomplishment? All that was then expected was surcease of the -hour’s suffering. That is a fit subject of congratulation as when -a complaisant philanthropist wrote of the London of his time there -“is not a disease that can afflict human nature nor a want which the -varying conditions of man can require but finds an open asylum, a -resort ready prepared with the needful accommodation for reception, -comfort, instruction and cure, and with the exception of a few cases -entirely free of expense.”[39] - -But what is that compared with the great modern adventure of -eliminating poverty and holding disease at bay? Science has brought -to charity faith and hope in terrestrial terms. The historian who -unearthed the above statement remarks, “In theory, society consists of -a large number of charitable people; in fact the number of those who -can be properly so described is a small one. The few who are really -in earnest in their desire to alleviate distress even at the cost -of considerable expenditure of time and money, are surrounded by a -multitude of persons who are willing to assist but only provided they -can do so at no great inconvenience to themselves. This lower power of -sympathy passes gradually through the stages of languid interest to -complete indifference.”[40] - -Modern social work is no longer dependent on the appeal to “sympathy” -alone. It has a wide range of interest and through its practical -application of the various social sciences it associates itself with -all our hopes of progress. Expectation not only to mitigate the effects -of calamity but to prevent its recurrence gives social work a claim on -public attention which charity never had. - -Along with this change in expectation goes naturally a change in -attitude toward the beneficiaries of social work. “There can be no -line of cleavage in the advancement of public sentiment between -the development of the general social agencies such as church and -school and the more intensive forms which we have come to know as -social work.”[41] The old view of society saw many staunch persons -standing on their own feet and a few weak brethren or victimized who -needed support. But the view implied in this quotation recognizes an -interdependence among all the members of society, an interdependence of -which the particular predicament of those who happen to be in need of -social work is merely an incident. - -But the speakers at the conference go still further. “So long as there -are human frailties there will be need of social workers. But let us -not forget that the larger vision of social work contemplates not -charity alone but justice, and all social ills arising from environment -are man-made and therefore changeable.”[42] If the beneficiaries of -social work are thus counted scapegoats for us all, being victims of -social injustice, then every act of prevention (and we have said that -all social work is now at some remove preventive) is for the general -safety and no more than a proper self-defence. Social work now resents -the smugness that can represent as especially disinterested any service -to those who have been paying the penalty of blunders or iniquities for -which the prosperous may be equally responsible. It is only justice to -them or less and it is sound policy for all. No wonder social work will -not stand to be considered charity! It considers its preoccupation with -the backwaters of race progress to show no gracious condescension on -its part--merely an appreciation of the extent and importance of the -backwaters. - -But all this shows social work more than ever spontaneous and -gratuitous, for it does not work for even a heavenly reward; and it -must, unadmonished, stir the community to support the work it sets -itself to perform. It is only the old condescension that has gone. The -extension of benefits remains, but has become something constructive -and collectivistic. - -Such a change in attitude toward benefaction would necessarily -affect the second criterion of social work proposed in our tentative -definition--its incidence in response to need. What is the testimony of -the conference on this second criterion? The analysis of subjects dealt -with in the first section reads “plans for removing _handicaps_,” -“recreational _needs_,” “_protective_ schemes,” “standards for child -_care_,” “nature and causes of _delinquency_,” “providing for -children _dependent_ on the public,” “responsibilities to _neglected_ -children,” “health _needs_.” Two subjects, which as given, do not -commit themselves on the question of need complete the list. In the -second section the persons under consideration are by definition -subject to some sort of provision and control. They are delinquents. -But that the interest of the social workers is especially in fostering -and guarding them is shown by the fact that young people’s need of -protection is the subject of six papers, juvenile delinquency of -two, runaway and neglected girls of one more, while the rest deal -with adjustment of treatment to the needs of older offenders, with -probation, parole, education and the form of detention desirable in a -given case. The third section deals entirely with standards of living -in relation to disease conditions, and with means of extending medical -service. The remaining seven sections continue to show need as the -occasion of social work, but it is a sublimated sort of need which -would be much misrepresented by any classification of the beneficiaries -as “needy.” The whole level of interest has passed above and beyond -that. - -As has been already indicated discussion turns on “programs,” “plans,” -“standards,” and it is in a positive and anticipatory vein as by -people embarked on a constructive undertaking. The note of initial -accomplishment is most clearly struck in the “local community” -division with such titles as “The Boy Scout and Community Building,” -“Organization of Games and Athletics in Rural Communities,” “Signs -of Rural Hope,” etc. But turn to the context and you will read, “The -Scout program recognizes the need of the boy for a recreational program -for his unused time which at the same time is educational. Scouting -also recognizes the need that the man has, etc.”[43] The neglected -rural situation, the poverty of interest in some neighborhoods--these -are what have drawn social work to undertakings that carry no hint of -remedy in the expression given their objects. - -In a dynamically conceived society it is hard to say where remedy -shades into prevention and prevention into construction. Prevention -of disaster not only involves the maintenance of continuously good -conditions but the anticipation of wants. If we are not to have -juvenile delinquency boys must have some chance for wholesome -recreation. If we would avoid bad housing we must arrange betimes a -good city plan preserving open spaces where they will be wanted later -and developing each type of building in a neighborhood where it need -not be soon perverted to a use for which it was not intended and will -not be well adapted. - -Dr. Simon Patten contended that the present productivity of the world -was such as to free mankind from any fear of general dearth and cause -all our prospects to be potentially in terms of abundance and not of -want, to rescue us from the old “pain economy” of insufficiency and -give us a “pleasure economy” on a safe margin of sufficiency. Under -these circumstances, he said, “world riches may replace the living -sacrifice and become the social contrivance that lowers human costs -and we must cease to think that the anguish of the sentient creature -is compensated by the development of moral qualities which merely -reconcile man to repeating the experience of suffering.”[44] Social -work has already ceased to think in that fashion and is working in -the spirit of a pleasure economy so that the terminology of need is -no longer pre-eminent. “There are times when self-sacrificing zeal is -demanded and all honor to those who then devote or lose themselves in -service. That is only one side of it. The need of sacrifice is always a -reflection on the men or circumstances calling for it.”[45] That is the -view of modern social work, the frame of mind in which it sets about -its work. It talks about what has to be done as a matter of course and -is chiefly concerned with the best way of doing it. It is beginning -to outgrow “sob stories” even in asking support from an indifferent -public--they set too low a standard of toleration and there are some -modern social workers who turn from them abashed, as from dallying with -an outrage beneath endurance. The battle ground of reform must be on -another plain where the initiated see danger but the complaisant still -need convincing. - -“When once the worst is gone the second best becomes intolerable.” -Gray, the historian of English philanthropy, describes the effective -philanthropist as the ideal agitator, “It is his to discover -those larger ends of common welfare which reach beyond the moral -perceptiveness of ordinary men in their ordinary moods. He is, as it -were, an explorer in the unmapped world of the ideal life from whence -he brings back news of an unreached good, such tidings as sound like -travelers’ tales in our ears, but which haunt the mind of men until -they seek to verify the story by a practical policy calculated to -transform the actual. Only it must be observed that the most daring -speculator cannot move very far from his base and the wildest Utopia is -determined by the conditions of its year of publication.”[46] - -“I hold,” said Dr. Southard to the 1919 conference, “whatever -the ideal order, the practical order of work called social work -begins with the eradication of evil. It may sound better to sow -goodness or to transplant goodness, or even to graft goodness in -the eager social world, and beautiful little gardens of Eden or -smaller cases of goodness can be shown here and there to the social -visitor--nevertheless, I hold, with the prejudice of a physician -perhaps, the eradications of evil are more in the first order of our -work than disseminations, transplantations, and grafts of goodness. -At any rate, if there be anything at all in the millennial hopes and -ingrained optimisms of Spencerian evolution, it is plain that by and -large we are putting evil behind us and arriving at goodness by a -clever technique of successful destruction.”[47] This “eradication of -evil” may, as one side of the “technique” of evolution, operate in the -terms of any developing organization; but in terms of eradication of -evil, not in its own functioning or its subject, but in the conditions -of its object it is not common outside of social work. It is not to be -found in the business world where all purveyance shuns the applicant -most in need of its wares and seeks the one best able to pay. It is -not to be found in the law, which tries to hold the scales even to all -comers. It is only slightly and intermittently in state-craft which -while it is coming more and more to inhibit abuse of the helpless -does still, from an age-old sense of security in the alliance with -wealth and power, bend its constructive energies to encouragement of -the prosperous. It is not even in education, which constantly tends -to provide in each school grade teaching suitable for those who will -have longest to study and is only importuned by demands from _outside_ -to cater in the lower grades to those who must get in them all the -education they are ever to have. Social work stands alone in its -purely personal championship of the less secure in prosperity. It is in -its enormous demands for them that it seems to have turned to purely -constructive things. - -It is indeed possible that along the lines of prevention social work is -developing a function which is positive in the same sense as hygiene is -positive in the field of medicine and that social work will, to that -extent, independently “plant good” as well as “eradicate evil.” But it -is also possible, and in the light of past developments more probable, -that any constructive phase of social work which proves permanent -should come to be looked on as a routine purveyance and no longer -considered social work. This we have already seen to have happened in -the case of free education and many other things. - -The conference has thus confirmed and filled out the elementary -features of social work which it inherits from charity, voluntary -benefaction and response to need. What does it have to say of the -qualifying features that have transformed charity into social work--the -emergence of the individual as the only and sufficient nexus for its -services and the adoption of scientific guidance? - -The first of these has already been touched on in relation to the -first section. Throughout the second the discussion all bears on the -prevention of delinquency or the care of delinquents. There is not -much discussion of pure justice, the burden of the argument is all -that we should “approach every individual prisoner with conscientious -determination to give him the best service of which we are capable, -realizing that his future is largely in our hands.”[48] A public -defender is asked for “in order that every person accused, no matter -how poor, may have a full and fair trial.”[49] And for sentenced -prisoners social work asks something more than mere detention, “we -used to look upon them, in the stage of repression, en masse. * * -* Instead of committing a man to a particular institution he is now -committed to the custody of a board of control * * * to be examined * -* * to determine just where he will fit into school or industry. The -man will be assigned by his board, to the particular prison to which he -is best suited for mental and physical treatment.”[50] “If a child who -is mentally sound comes into court with a mind bent on the commission -of some offence he should be sent to a special school having for its -purpose the education of such children. Let the great departments -of psychology and sociology of our colleges and universities devise -a course of instruction and education that will reclaim a juvenile -delinquent who is mentally and physically sound”[51] and “we should -extend the methods developed in the Children’s Courts to apply to all -ages, wiping out our arbitrary age line by improving the treatment of -the older groups.”[52] - -It is in this section that there appears at its plainest the paradox -that the questions purely dependent on what we call personality are -questions of social relationship and all genuinely social questions are -questions of personal life. A public policy is justified in terms of -personal benefit but interest is claimed for personal difficulties on -the ground that they illuminate public issues. - -The third division is one that speaks quite unequivocally concerning -the nature of social work, for there is an old and kindly profession -already established in this field and social work must justify its -own entrance there. All of the subjects in this health section are of -interest to the doctor as well as the social worker, but for the doctor -they throw light on the causes and cures of disease, for the social -worker they are a point of departure for active work to establish -better standards of living. Nineteen of the papers presented deal -specifically with that subject. Five more deal with the co-ordination -of various health agencies--a task in social engineering. One speaker, -himself a physician, reports no less than ten agencies united in -efforts to improve a city’s health. Only four of these (the board -of health, the hospital, the tuberculosis society and the medical -profession) were permanently concerned with health. The other six, -the schools, the park department, the city statistics department, the -industries, insurance companies and churches were enlisted, as the -context shows, as so many agents establishing connections with the -individual beneficiaries of the campaign. The work of choosing them -and enlisting their co-operation demanded a knowledge of social not of -physiological conditions. - -In the next section, that devoted to public agencies and institutions, -the conspicuous fact is that social work does not forget that public -care is for private people. It hardly seems necessary to quote -from all the sections even in pursuit of this most elusive of the -characteristics of social work. One more citation will be enough. -“We social workers have our contribution to make to that ultimate -attainment of democracy which must be wrought out, not in uniformity -but in diversity, not only in the right of man to individual freedom -but in his ability to enter into that right.”[53] - -The extension of the sense of public responsibility, the realization -that reform must come in all the interlocking activities of a highly -organized business, political and social life has tempted some people -to think that the days of social work are numbered or to seek out for -it some highly specialized or recondite function. But if we are right -in ascribing to it this function of challenging all forms of service -to reach and satisfy individual needs it may be more important in the -future than in the past. Wholesale and collectivist methods call for -constant adaptation of general means to particular cases and the more -we give of government service the more we may need of social work. -The more varied our health service, the more flexible and extensible -our educational opportunities, the more occasions there will be for -adjustment. Such follow-up work as is done by hospitals and by the -workmen’s compensation office, the work of the mothers’ assistance -fund, of the voluntary experiments in special nutrition classes, -vocational guidance, and scholarships for trade school attendance, are -only a few examples of the kind of thing social work branches into as -established agencies extend their own responsibilities. - -The fact that social work rescues people who fall through the meshes -of the school system, people dismissed from clinical treatment only to -return to a regimen bound to revive their troubles, that it discovers -the round pegs in square holes and the neglected groups and anomalous -cases has caused other people to see it as all converging in a liaison -work which shall ultimately be all there is left for it to perform -and which shall be in essence social case work. From what has already -been said it will be evident that there is no reason to think that -social work which has been so prolific of criticism of our established -institutions and a pioneer in experiment should cease to exercise this -function, which is as infinite in possibilities as the life of man -itself, or even that it will cease to work along lines of inquiry or -of group work. That little word “social” opens up the possibilities -of all the permutations and combinations in human consciousness. The -conference at least hints that social work knows it. - -And what of the method by which social work is to be conducted. Is it, -as the tentative definition said, suggested by the social sciences? -There is not a great deal of explicit reference to social science, -but the concepts of economics, social psychology and sociology are -constantly in evidence and even political science has its say in an -“engineering” conception of the state, in definitions of democracy -and in criteria of progress. The almost complete disappearance of -the question of relative responsibility of the individual and society -which morality and philosophy have debated in so many forms testifies -to assimilation of the sociological concept of social life as an -integration of individual lives rather than an aggregation and of the -individual life as no digit but an incident “* * * time moves swiftly -in the social field and the special knowledge of today easily becomes -the common knowledge of tomorrow.”[54] And after all that has been said -in the preceding pages of the obvious effects of a scientific method -and scientific attitude in making social work what the conference shows -it to be it scarcely remains to prove or even argue the confirmation, -the reinforcement, the expansion of the last qualification of social -work. - -Nine round-table conferences and five committee reports, in addition -to the papers presenting concrete programs and reports of local -experiments testify to the careful checking up of method. The constant -references to programs, standards and experience, to records and -the search for causes, the emphasis on prevention and the patient, -objective, therapeutic attitude of the social worker all testify to the -conquest of the field by science. But the completeness and significance -of that conquest are plainest in the ever-present, implicit but -unmistakable assumption that all the undertakings discussed are -parts of a systematically coordinated campaign based upon continuing -observation of cause and effect. - -Thus have the reports of the conference confirmed and filled out the -tentative definition. But the analysis did not cull from them any -fresh characteristics of social work. Their mass of commentary, aimed, -as it seemed, in all possible directions, would suggest no testimony -except in answer to leading questions and we will have to be satisfied -with such expansion of the definition as, while adding no new terms, -commits the already proposed items to more significant implications. -The definition so expanded must be passed on, for challenge or -alteration by the evidence of the training schools. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[32] The 1920 conference heard from four judges (three of them of -juvenile courts), three college professors and one college president, -a bishop, a rabbi, a governor, and a state commander of the American -Legion, as well as from doctors and other professional people who -occupied positions ranking as social work. - -[33] Conference, 1919, pp. 111, 123, 133, 136. - -[34] Ibid. 1920, pp. 271 and 278. - -[35] Ibid. pp. 188, 111, 129, 135 and 298. - -[36] Ibid. p. 4. - -[37] History of English Philanthropy, p. 269. - -[38] Ibid., p. 273. - -[39] Ibid., p. 271, referring to the opening of the 18th century. - -[40] Ibid., p. 266. - -[41] Conference, 1920, p. 74. - -[42] Ibid., p. 77. - -[43] Ibid., p. 267. - -[44] The New Basis of Civilization, p. 55. - -[45] Philanthropy and the State, p. 235. - -[46] Ibid., p. 302. - -[47] Conference, 1919, p. 583. - -[48] Ibid., 1918, p. 147. - -[49] Ibid., p. 171. - -[50] Ibid., 1919, p. 100. - -[51] Ibid., 1918, p. 126. - -[52] Ibid., p. 136. - -[53] Conference, 1918, p. 287. - -[54] R. W. Kelso, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 22, No. 1. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCHOOLS - - -There are some fifteen schools for the training of social workers,[55] -independent institutions or university departments. The younger among -them have not followed at all closely the organization or practices of -the older[56] and all work in close co-operation with local social work -agencies, farming their students out with these for practice work and -drawing lecturers from the agency staffs. The varied curricula of the -schools seem therefore to offer direct evidence of what is considered -in their respective regions, the most necessary equipment for social -workers. - -Only three school catalogues venture any characterization of the tasks -for which their courses equip. Toronto gives the most inclusive. “The -sense of social obligation and interdependence has grown greater as -our social life has grown more complex. The more social conditions -have been studied, the more apparent has it become that many of our -worst evils are due to the lack of the science which should direct and -stimulate the sense of our solidarity. In recent years governments, -municipal and other authorities, industrial corporations and voluntary -associations of all kinds have been compelled to make ever-extending -provisions for industrial protection, social insurance, public health -service, housing improvement, recreation and various other forms of -organized social effort. All these activities have created the sphere -of a new profession, that of the trained social worker.” Here are the -familiar “sense of social obligation,” the reference to a “science -which should direct and stimulate this sense,” the “_ever-extending_ -provisions” prompted by it and, unmentioned but obviously implicit, a -constant concern with things subject to amelioration: “protection,” -“insurance,” “service,” “improvement,” “recreation”--these are the -substantives in its main statement. The Ohio catalogue itemizes the -demands of social service on a training school[57] but the only -generalization to be deduced from the list is that they all imply -a purpose of rescue or amelioration. The Simmons characterization -confines itself entirely to emphasizing the implications of the word -“social”[58] and the Missouri school opens its catalogue with the -discouraging statement that “it is impossible at the present time to -construct a satisfactory definition of social work.” - -This exhausts the slender sheaf of direct comment. For further -enlightenment we must analyse the offered equipment itself. The nature -of the training given will predict the nature of the work expected to -follow. There are a great many courses offered and the variety not of -nomenclature only but of apparent content is enough for bewilderment. -Classification of the courses according to the type of preparation they -seem to offer does however sort them into three main groups. - - A. Courses which introduce the student to the social sciences and the - methods and concepts on which these rest. - - B. Courses which offer information on the field of social work both - past and present. - - C. Courses which equip specifically for certain social work tasks. - -In the first group, that of courses introducing the student to the -social sciences, their methods and concepts, fall sociology courses of -various sorts, courses in (1) general sociology, (2) the history of -institutions, (3) theories of social progress, (4) the value of norms -of income and opportunity for a given level of civilization, (5) the -means of “social control.” Here also belong courses in (6) general -psychology, (7) social psychology, (8) statistics and (9) economics. - -In the second group, that of courses offering information on the -general field of social work, fall courses on (1) the nature and mutual -relations of contemporary social work undertakings, (2) the history of -philanthropy and (3) current social problems. Here ought also to be -put (4) the courses offered by five schools in the causes of poverty, -because poverty has been an age-long challenge to philanthropy and is -still the proximate occasion for a great part of social work. - -For the third group are left courses in about forty subjects pertaining -to special fields or special methods. These subjects overlap and -interchange material but yield to classification as preparatory for -work in eight or nine fairly distinguishable fields. - - 1. Work in the interest of the public health, mental or physical. - - 2. Organization of community groups on various scales in both urban - and rural areas. - - 3. Work in connection with industry. - - 4. Work in the interest of children. - - 5. Work with people socially handicapped because of race or recent - immigration. - - 6. Work in connection with the enactment or administration of social - legislation. - - 7. Work with defectives. - - 8. Housing. - -A ninth field may be made of social case work, as when it appears -under such titles as “family rehabilitation,” but it must also be -recognized as a technique more or less utilized in six of the eight -other fields. There remain a few other technical courses such as those -in record keeping. - -The schools, all but four,[59] arrange their courses in departments -varying in number from two to ten. Altogether seventeen different -fields are indicated by the several schools and under them are -variously grouped the forty subjects taught.[60] These very involved -curricula dealing, as they do, in such staggering propositions as the -nature of progress and the causes of poverty, and seeming in their -explicit statements unanimous in nothing which might serve the cause of -definition do give certain collective testimony. - -In the first place they are agreed that social work comprises a variety -of separate callings demanding differential training. The differential -training is not the result of specialization after receiving a common -training. Most schools while requiring a certain amount of common -background for all students recognize no general course and require -every student to enroll in one or another department. - -Secondly, in making a great deal of elective work interchangeable among -the special courses and requiring certain prerequisites for all courses -alike they all recognize a close relation between the various branches -of social work. - -Thirdly, they show that the work they prepare for is not “social” -in the merely vague sense of having a public interest. It is social -in the specific sense of dealing with people in their relations to -other people. Its prerequisite is not physiology, the science of -that part of man which can develop in isolation, but psychology, the -science of intelligence which develops only in contact with other -intelligences. We can see this in the contrast between the training -given in a medical school and that given in a school for social -workers. The former teaches a great deal about man’s physical make-up -and its hazards but very little about his mental make-up: while the -latter may teach enough of sanitary practice to understand a doctor’s -directions, almost always teaches something of mental life and always a -great deal about social settings and the available means of improving -them. This “social” interest is constant throughout the schools. The -courses in industry, for example, do not teach efficiency engineering -or price fixing but personnel management and other matters presumably -ministering directly to the well being of the workers. These schools -do not equip for the advancement of any particular science. Philosophy -and art of any sort enter them only as casual visitors. They teach in -the name of no single creed and formulate no specific purpose. Despite -their enormous array of topics their interest remains essentially -personal. - -Fourthly, the schools are more or less consciously training crusaders. -The word “problem” is in frequent use. It is freely applied to -difficulties not outstandingly problematical and its use in place -of any harsher or less hopeful word indicates the notion of arming -rescuers with a solution. The word “standard” with its implication of -something attainable but not always attained, “prevention,” “service,” -“welfare,” “relief,” “correction,” “treatment,” appear thickly -scattered among the subject titles and one is surely justified in -inferring that to make changes for the better is not to be for the -social worker as for most men a rare bright spot in the routine of -labor, but his very stock-in-trade and justification for existence. - -Lastly, the requirement of a certain amount of study of the social -sciences followed by methodical training in special lines, together -with supervised practice work after the manner of a technical school, -testifies to the important parts played in the preparation of social -workers by both scientific method and the lore of the social sciences. - -Beyond this it does not seem safe to generalise. These five conclusions -about social work indicated by the school catalogues suggest that it -is an alliance of distinct but closely related callings furthering -“social” welfare in a quite specific sense. Secondly, they imply that -the social worker is a rescuer and champion equipped for his tilt -from the armory of the social sciences. Does not this come to about -the same thing as is described in our tentative definition, a group -of activities looked upon as so many phases of a single undertaking -because they all attempt to extend benefits in response to a need; are -all concerned with social relationships; and all avail themselves of -scientific knowledge and employ scientific methods. - -The schools then, like the conference, confirm the tentative definition -but do not expand it by the addition of any new terms. It is possible -that social work as a whole has no more common features. But it is, -of course, also possible that other features could be found if we had -some fresh clue to them. The present study, having put all its leading -questions must again content itself with adding to the already accepted -terms of the definition such further implications as the curricula -suggest--and again we find these implications to come from the use of -science for philanthropic purposes. - -The courses most commonly “required” for all students in the schools -are those treating the social sciences. What do these offer to -the incipient social worker? The courses in sociology--especially -those which thirteen of the schools offer in the history of certain -institutions or in race comparisons--give perspective. They show -institutions changing in form and function. They show ideas of -right changing as the institutions change, temporary institutions -conditioning our lives even in the matters a layman supposes -instinctive. They force a student to look outside the setting of -custom and creed into which, like every other man, he has been born. -They show him the provincialism of sweeping judgments pronounced on -the basis of sectional, sectarian or class standards. They teach him -in a professional capacity (if in no other) to recognize varieties -of good. Yet all the while they are making possible a simpler and -more objectified conception of individuality than it is easy for the -uninstructed to entertain. We look with something very like amusement -on the animistic and anthropomorphic views of natural phenomena -entertained by primitive men and yet we are only just beginning to -realize that the subjective interpretations and moral judgments with -which we have so long been satisfied in respect to humanity are equally -arbitrary and deductive and that man also is, up to a certain point a -natural phenomenon to be inductively considered. In such perspective -praise and blame become to many issues irrelevant and we begin soberly -to reckon the possibilities of education in the compass of individual -lifetimes. - -Psychology, after sociology the science most frequently taught in the -schools, pushes further the process sociology began. It shows that our -most intimate convictions are not axiomatic. It shows the thought that -is our very selves to be half the creation of others, and makes the -question of individual blameworthiness a merely practical one of what -forces are to be reckoned with in a given situation. - -The third of the general sciences taught is statistics, the language of -collective fact. By discovering norms it shows danger lines. It tells -what food and what air and what income are necessary to support life -in an average individual and what degree of development is usual in a -child of a given age and what degree of intelligence suffices to keep -people out of trouble without the protection of a guardian. It gives -the charitably inclined hard facts with which to face the indifferent -and firm ground to stand on in demanding reform. At first sight it -looks like a means to intolerable regimentation but rightly used it -is a charter of freedom. Given a knowledge of the margin of safety we -can make a concerted attack on substandard conditions while allowing -indefinite variation above the danger line and the mere nonconformist -need not be dreaded or attacked for simple nonconformity. - -Thus may courses in social science give to many a raw recruit of -social work grounds for acting with the tolerance, the respect for -individuals, the single and unaccusing eye on present and future -possibilities which their elders and maybe betters had (when they -had them at all) as the rare and not to be commanded gifts of sheer -humanity and wisdom. - -Here is the contribution of science to social work which touches its -vital center, refines the very impulse that animates it, as it animated -its predecessors and keeps it true to form among the distractions -of technical formality. No study can produce imagination, sympathy, -generosity or good taste any more than it can give a student a better -brain, but what it can do is to give to persons of only average -perspicacity and humanity the understanding to act with some degree of -intelligence and consideration where the untrained average person would -make cruel and disastrous blunders. - -The tentative definition of social work which we sought to test and -add to by the testimony of conference and school curricula has gained -no fresh terms but it has gained in significance and, taken together -with all its implications, makes of social work something thoroughly -definitive and characteristic. But the definition was wanted for -practical purposes and before dropping the subject it will be necessary -to inquire whether it can in any degree serve them. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[55] For a list of schools see the Appendix. The list comprises the -membership of the “Association of Training Schools for Professional -Social Workers,” organized 1919. - -[56] All information in this chapter is from the school catalogues for -the years 1920-21 or 1921-22 (the latest available when this study was -begun) or from correspondence with the schools. - -[57] Social service “calls for a knowledge of the principles of -social organization, the conditions which cause poverty and may lead -to dependency, the social and psychological factors involved in the -training of youth, the methods of promoting thrift and independence -among the laboring classes, the many experiments which have been made -in the field of social legislation and the relations between these -various theories and activities.” - -[58] “The purpose of the School of Social Work is to give professional -training in the art of adjusting personal relations. Social workers -also have to do with food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention, -but these are incidental to their main work of adjusting differences -which arise in the relations between people, e.g., between school -authorities and parents and parents and pupils, between family and -community.” - -[59] Four schools which are integral parts of universities with many of -the courses their students are expected to take organized as parts of -other departments are not divided as are the independently organized -schools and those whose college connection is not so involved. - -[60] For list see Appendix II, C. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE ANSWER TO ITS CRITICS - - -At the beginning of this study it was said that a definition of social -work was in demand for practical use. We have developed a definition -which seems to hold good as far as it goes. We have said that social -work includes all voluntary attempts to extend benefits in response to -a need, which are concerned with social relationships and which avail -themselves of scientific knowledge and employ scientific methods. -It remains to test whether this is sufficiently descriptive and -sufficiently definitive to be of any practical use. Is it inclusive -enough to allow social work to claim all its legitimate functions and -exclusive enough to rescue it from unreasonable demands? These things -can only be tested by trying it out in discussion. It is therefore the -purpose of this chapter to attempt such a trial by assuming that social -work is no more and no less than the definition indicates and requiring -it, on this representation, to run the gauntlet of familiar criticism. - -Up to the present time social work has not been the subject of much -serious analytical comment. It has been too inchoate for that. -But a sort of guerilla warfare of criticism pursues it in private -conversation, on public platforms and in the obiter dicta of current -literature. The criticisms are of three principal sorts, those which -say that what it does is somehow unworthy, those which say it does too -much and those which say it does too little; or, more fully stated, -those which charge it with an unwholesome interest in wanting to -play providence to other people, those which think it is attempting -something in defiance of the laws of nature and those which scorn it -for tinkering with abuses which should be fallen upon and annihilated. - -In the first group may be classed the view of people who find the world -well enough as it is and think that social workers stir up hornets’ -nests from sheer meddlesomeness and love of power. As this belief -never survives any considerable acquaintance with social work or any -but very provincial knowledge of the world it need not be discussed. -More considerable is the criticism of those who object to social work -because they think that to make demands in the interest of other people -is patronizing or sentimental or both. They think that the people -might possibly ask very different things of life from those which the -social worker asks for them; that if the social worker wishes to help -them he should confine himself to seconding their motions; that an -outsider and mere witness of an abuse who has never felt its weight is -not the one to draw up its indictment or to prescribe a remedy. But -their objection is not altogether on these grounds. Even when social -work makes the same demands as its clients have made for themselves -the irreconcilables continue to denounce it for undue interference. -Some of them, to be sure, think that while self-respecting people are -asking their plain rights in their own name and that of justice social -work makes it easy for the community to neglect their demands and -yet salve its conscience by supporting such benefactions as it finds -convenient. But this last belongs with the next group of criticisms -and must be answered along with them. We are for the moment concerned -only with the strange but apparently rooted belief that there must be -something spurious about a movement in which people are not speaking -for themselves. - -It is evident that even people who commend social work, often do -so patronizingly as though it were something not to be taken very -seriously because it is not self-supporting and cannot claim the great, -humdrum, unchallengeable sanction of self interest. Moreover people -in border-line occupations when referred to as social workers will -repudiate the name as though it might discredit their work by taking -it out of the busy wholesome world of fair exchanges and putting it in -a world of patronage and possible hypocrisy. Men advocating industrial -welfare work are commonly not satisfied to claim that it pays for -itself and will be no expense to the business that installs it, but -assert with an air of rescuing it from suspicion, that it results in a -net profit to the man who puts it in and is therefore “not sentiment” -but “good business.” Those who, though themselves not originally -industrial workers, go into the labor movement, very frequently -pour scorn on the social worker while feeling themselves safe from -corrupting condescension in a company that is only asking for its own -rights. - -The element of justice in the charge does not need to be pointed out. -Bernard Shaw has warned us against doing unto others as we would have -them do unto us for fear they may not like it. But for members of a -gregarious species some tolerance of ministration seems unavoidable. -Within the labor movement itself those with a margin of time and energy -are constantly acting in the interest of those who have none. We all -begin life with several years of sheer dependence on the altruism -of our elders and if we live long enough come again to some form of -dependence. As we look back on the slow mitigation of man’s inhumanity -to man there seems at least good ground for putting the burden of proof -on those who scorn all benevolent interference. We have already noticed -that what passes in one generation for special interest in the fortunes -of others seems to a later time plain obligation. - -“Almost every law on the statute books,” says a historian, in reference -to protective legislation, “was forced upon the legislature by the -disconcerting zeal of a few enthusiasts. We marvel at the slight -concessions to humanity which satisfied them, we should rather admire -the originality which led them to denounce cruel and oppressive -conditions which had satisfied the legislature and against which -their victims had not always turned.”[61] There is the crux of the -matter--the victims will not, cannot always turn. In the palmy days -of utilitarianism when the opposition to doing for others was felt -with the mighty impact of which the present vague distrust is the last -faint ripple fading across the public mind, Mill himself will be found -writing that although it can be stated as a general rule “that most -persons take a juster and more intelligent view of their own interest, -and of the means of promoting it, than can either be prescribed to -them by a general enactment of the legislature, or pointed out in the -particular case by a public functionary” nevertheless “there is no -difficulty in perceiving some very large and conspicuous exceptions to -it.”[62] And among these exceptions he proceeds to enumerate protection -of persons incapable of judging or acting for themselves whether from -defective intelligence or immaturity, and the protection offered by -labor legislation and by public charity. Elsewhere he also remarks, -“Those who most need to be made wiser and better commonly desire it -least, and if they desired it would be incapable of finding the way to -it by their own lights.”[63] - -It could probably be shown that the great bulk of social work acts -in the interest of people unable to speak for themselves or vaguely -wanting something they cannot find “the way to by their own lights.” -But victimization and helplessness are entirely relative matters and -social work is prepared boldly to extend benefits wherever they are -wanted. - -Science has now laid a broad road and is leading the plodding crowd -where the keen feet of Pegasus have always carried the subtle minded, -whatever the contemporary creed. “Darwin” writes a popular social -psychologist “in the _Descent of Man_ (1871) first enunciated the true -doctrine of human motives, and showed how we must proceed, relying -chiefly upon the comparative and natural history method, if we would -arrive at a fuller understanding of them. * * * Social Psychology -has to show how, given the native propensities and capacities of the -individual human mind, all the complex mental life of societies is -shaped by them and in turn reacts upon the course of their development -and operation in the individual. * * * The fundamental problem of -social psychology is moralization of the individual by the society -into which he is born as a creature in which the non-moral and -purely egoistic tendencies are so much stronger than any altruistic -tendencies.”[64] That is to say the problem which social psychology -must solve is the problem of how this moralization is brought about. -The significance of such doctrine for social work is in its entire -discrediting of any naive individualism and its indication that man -being an animal that lives not solitary but in groups some form and -degree of interdependence is, for him, in the first order of nature. -The interests and inclinations corollary to that interdependence are -inescapable for him. - -If this is the case objection to the social work we have defined could -not be “on principle” but must be to special forms of service on -specific grounds of inexpediency or because of the manner or quality -of the service. Although it is the manner and quality of service which -make the social work of any given time and place what it is they -are nevertheless incidentals entirely separable from its nature and -principles. Objections are brought on specific grounds of expediency -by those who claim that social work does too much and these objections -will be considered in their turn. Objection is also made to the manner -and quality of the social workers’ services and it is this objection -which really animates the charge against the altruism of social work. - -This study is an analysis of the nature and functions, not the -performance of social work. It must, however, consider a general -objection to the nature and quality of the social workers’ services -which so often passes for an objection to social work itself. - -This vague distrust of social work which we have just been considering, -this dislike of it as something sentimental or undemocratic, is really -a dislike of these incidentals which social work has a perfect right to -disclaim if it can. It is a moral and aesthetic repulsion, an aversion -for the sort of thing which social work sometimes seems to be. - -It is social case work that is most open not only to misunderstanding -but to abuse. In it social work is especially liable to the defects of -its qualities. People who take for granted the social work that is done -in connection with the courts, the schools, institutions dealing with -defectives and in many other connections without troubling to consider -what it is they are accepting and even relying upon, will, because of -what they think social case work to be, pour scorn upon “uplifters” and -social workers generally. - -The social case workers’ professional contribution to a situation -consists in doing whatever she does in conscious relation to a -general situation, in the ease of her contacts and the range of her -resources.[65] There is no limit to the knowledge of a situation -which it may be useful for her to have. A speaker addressing the -first students in the New York School of Philanthropy is on record as -referring to “investigation” as a necessary evil which must be bravely -faced and telling them they must always make it plain that “the person -in distress has asked you to help him and that you _mean_ to help -him, to help his soul and not only to feed his miserable body, and -that you cannot help him unless you do _know all about_ him.”[66] Of -course that is to give an ell when an inch is asked for--and an ell -of very different stuff. The statement was made twenty-five years ago -and is not given here as typical either of this time or that, but -as an instance of the sort of thing which is said and passed on and -resented, all in good faith. Obviously the more the case worker knows, -provided she can understand it, the better she can do her work. But -because of the very real requirement to employ trained workers and the -rapid expansion of the profession young people are employed as fast -as the schools will grind them out. And when social work lets loose -on difficult situations people disqualified for dealing with them -by their youth or inexperience or native incapacity or all three it -must expect its reputation to suffer. But, taken at the best, there -is great presumption in the attempt of one mortal life to analyze and -prescribe for the totality of another. A too nice matching up of the -inferential motive with the act to be accounted for, a too meticulous -testing for the qualities presumed necessary for a certain degree of -self direction, entail a veritable invasion of one life by another. -It is hard for the analytical to remember that any explanation, no -matter how true and inclusive, is only one thread drawn from a web. The -generalizations which we can make after taking cognizance of a certain -number of instances are just as much and as little applicable to any -given life as the probability tables of an insurance company. They are -illuminating as guides to general expectation but will not closely -correspond to any particular case. There cannot be any authoritative, -objective determination of the proper elements and relationships of -life, and any attempt to arrange for the life of another as a whole is -profane. The clearest sighted come often enough into unlit passages of -their own destiny where they must grope forward in bewilderment and a -kind of awed respect for things which could go unsuspected and yet all -along be “nearer to them than breathing, closer than hands and feet.” -Who then shall interpret another? - -Yet life must be met with a certain hardihood. For the conspicuously -defective we know that self direction is impossible, and for the -intolerably troublesome we accept coercion, but in the case of -the merely dependent there are delicate lines to be drawn. Social -work knows perfectly well that it is possible to degenerate into -“substituting one neurosis for another.” Hamlet, thrusting on the -bewildered courtier the flute which that courtier could not play, spoke -for many an inarticulate protestor, “Why, look you now, how unworthy a -thing you make of me! You would play upon me you would seem to know my -stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me -from my lowest note to the top of my compass: and there is much music, -excellent voice in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak. -’sblood do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?”[67] - -Lincoln is credited with the observation that the Lord never made the -man who was good enough to have power over another man and, by its -option of giving or withholding benefits, social work undoubtedly holds -its beneficiaries very much in its power, not to mention the cases in -which it has actual guardianship, legal or otherwise. A German social -worker accustomed to the strict German notions of regulation could yet -say after a study of American social work, “an individual is never -so absolutely at the mercy of an administration as when he is the -beneficiary of a relief system.”[68] It is the social worker who is -the champion of individual rights all down the line from insisting on -discrimination among the men referred to en masse as “the criminal” to -rescuing orphan children from the uniformity of plaid dresses all of a -length. But who shall rescue the beneficiaries of social work? - -Is it any wonder that people sometimes shudder at what social workers -take upon themselves? But these are only the risks incident to great -opportunity. If some social workers run a policy into the ground, if -they have neither imagination, reverence or a sense of humor, that is -the fault of human nature and not the fault of social work. There are -doctors who prescribe for cases they do not understand and fail to save -the patients, there are dishonest and even addle-headed lawyers who -defeat justice, and there are ministers of religion who are hypocrites, -but their existence does not utterly discredit their professions. The -quotations from the national conference and elsewhere must have made it -clear that this sort of personal imposition and finessing in control -are, if nothing else, too poor game to attract the main energies of -social work. These have large issues to absorb them and the effect of -the scientific methods and scientific knowledge which our definition -makes essential is to encourage a robust interest in things clearly -knowable and an attitude attentive and curious rather than dictatorial -and inquisitive. Social work being the lineal descendant of charity -has the family weaknesses and, perhaps even beyond its deserts, the -family reputation. But the one question for anyone willing to do it -justice is whether these weaknesses are characteristic of its present -phase or fading hang-overs from the charity undisciplined by science. -The records of past munificence with their evidence of interest in -giving as a means of grace for the giver, of indifference regarding the -supposed beneficiaries, of wholesale prescriptions of what is proper -for “the poor,” of breaking up of families, imposition of uniform -labor and total disregard of private claims must be either unknown -or forgotten by people who think a decay of neighborly respect and -an inclination to regiment the dependent have been produced by the -innovations of scientific social work. - -So far we have been trying to get at and answer the rather vague -charges of those who think social work unworthily employed. Clearer -indictments are brought by the three groups who want us to turn from -the defeated and let them go under. The least extreme of these simply -points out that life unfolds in terms of alternatives and the time, -the skill, the substance and interest lavished by social work on the -incompetent might have given opportunity to baulked ability. Of course -incompetence and ability are relative matters and some forms of social -work could make out a case for themselves as engaged on the task these -critics would prefer, but it is easy to see the general bearing of -this criticism and by our definition social work is committed to the -very concern for the disadvantaged with which they charge it. But the -definition also stipulated for the use of scientific knowledge and -methods and once you have social work and social science playing into -one another’s hands you can answer even the baldest utilitarians on -their own grounds. The effort to help where help is most needed has -been to the social work of our definition a road to prevention of -abuses which affect competent and incompetent alike, a means to better -understanding and control of our social organization. In social as in -other forms of science the normal is often only to be understood after -observation of the abnormal. Moreover, the really imperative services -of social work are evidently forgotten by these critics as well as -by the second group who would say hands off to social work. These -imperative services can be indicated for both groups at once. - -This second group are opposed to social work, not as a mere waste -of means which might be better employed, but as an actual menace. -They think it thwarts the action of the salutary principle of nature -by which the “fittest” survive their less “fit” brethren. The tacit -assumption behind this view is that if all social work were suspended -tomorrow, vigor and capacity would have pre-eminent survival value and -the unfit would be eliminated and the race purged of an undesirable -inheritance strain. - -The race is to the swift and the battle to the strong, but in modern -life, even where there is no social work, the defeated are not forced -clear off the stage with any degree of promptitude. Complete dismissal -comes only by the arrow that flieth by noonday or the pestilence that -walketh in darkness and our modern versions of these strike the weak -and the strong in a ratio which it would be hard to compute. War and -industrial accidents take not the worst but the best and some of our -most destructive diseases take, fairly indiscriminately, any who are -exposed to them or their predisposing conditions. Meanwhile, what is -there to extinguish the unfit? Though in a sense defeated they continue -to live on and they leave progeny. Even without social work they -would not starve or freeze to death in numbers sufficient to have the -minutest effect upon the quality of the race. - -The man of sub-normal intelligence, of bad nervous organization, of -specific defect even, can, in most modern communities keep alive by -his own efforts. He will drag on, abysmally incompetent, indolent, -badly behaved or ill. He may irregularly rent a shelter which other men -would refuse, he will inevitably do his little bit to demoralize the -labor market and the work he from time to time takes up and he may, -for one reason or another, go for awhile to prison. His demands on the -almshouse we will omit as it would probably in this connection count as -social work. He can do our work badly, put the cost of his keep on the -community if he goes to prison, make our pockets or our persons unsafe, -if he happens to be that way inclined, spread disease and even, for a -consideration, vote. What is to be gained by leaving this poor creature -to his own devices and the haphazard propagation of his species? From -a biological point of view, nothing at all, and his running amuck is -a nuisance and a menace. What could social work do? From a biological -point of view, also nothing. If indeed the man were so far defective -that it could confine him to an institution it might in that way -prevent his leaving a family but this simple precaution the biological -critics would probably arrange for through some other agency. But -social work might greatly limit his troublesomeness. - -One can only conclude that those who advocate leaving the unfit to -their own destruction do not know, as social work knows, how slow that -destruction is going to be, how costly and troublesome to the community -in which it is taking place, how many people may be, first and last, -involved in it and, above all, how little likely it is to culminate -before the unfit man has left children to succeed him. - -Such glaring cases of unfitness are however not typical of the -sort with which social work most often deals. More typical is such -mild cherishing of unfitness as the securing of eye-glasses for a -nearsighted child. Would it do any good to leave him without glasses, -unable to see the blackboard at school, considered a blockhead, unhappy -and defiant and growing up at odds with the world? He would be no whit -less likely to have a family of shortsighted children. - -Since the relative security of civilized life allows the unfit, left to -their own devices, to live long enough to demoralize their community -and perpetuate their strain, a humane guardianship supplied by social -work, with an eye to prevention and all the possibilities of the social -situation, is simply the safeguarding of a group in which spontaneous -elimination has ceased to be sufficiently expeditious for the public -safety. - -The last of those who would say “hands off” believe that the needs to -which social work at present ministers are chargeable to a few major -abuses in our economic system which could and would be removed by -swift revolutionary measures were it not for false hopes of gradual -reform--hopes which social work helps to keep alive. They think that if -the distress caused by “the present system” were left unrelieved people -would be shocked into summary abolition of the system. The chances of -concerted action on any such program are so infinitesimal that it is -difficult to regard such a proposal as anything but a mere “talking -point” of propaganda. The abuses of the “present system” are too -hideously great for us to risk any momentary discontinuance of their -relief without a very certain guarantee of the desired results. - -And when it comes to that we can but remember that the blackest nights -of human oppression have not led to the brightest mornings of human -brotherhood, though there has been many a fine gesture of uprising. -What Mr. Wells remarks in his “Outline of History” apropos of the -results of the French Revolution seems to be true of any attempt to -emancipate life at a blow. “When these things of the ancient regime had -vanished, it seemed as if they had never mattered. * * * the immense -promise and air of a new world with which the Revolution had come -remained unfulfilled. - -“Yet, after all, this wave of revolution had realized nearly everything -that had been clearly thought out before it. It was not failing for -want of impetus but for want of finished ideas. Many things that had -oppressed mankind were swept away forever. Now that they were swept -away it became apparent how unprepared men were for the creative -opportunities this clearance gave them. And periods of revolution are -periods of action; in them men reap the harvest of ideas that have -grown during phases of interlude, and they leave the fields cleared -for a season of new growth, but they cannot suddenly produce ripened -new ideas to meet an unanticipated riddle.”[69] Despite the years of -thinking that have elapsed since 1789, the Russian revolution finds -itself in the same case. The present party that has attempted its clean -sweep of previous organization is rich in coherence and intention but -not in organization and expedients. - -Much of what social work is now doing is developing expedients of -social practice equally applicable and equally necessary under any -form of government. The question of whether social work as such -should occupy itself with the development of such expedients or -with revolutionary projects belongs not with the discussion of its -overdoing, but of its doing too little. The advocates of revolution say -“hands off” but they really despise social work for temporizing. - -To those who charge it with temporizing, the third and last group of -its critics, social work listens very gravely. They touch it where -its conscience is tender. The first group, those who charge it with -unworthy patronage and intrusion do not touch its principle at all. -It knows better than any one else the sort of thing that may easily -be done in its name, knows that its recruits are unregenerate human -beings who will have to learn to put aside personal for scientific -curiosity and resist their enormous temptations to tyrannize. It knows -that the things for which that first group condemns it are things -which will always continue to menace it but things which, on the -whole, it is growing away from. The second group, those who charge it -with interfering with natural selection and wasting opportunity on -lame ducks do not shake its conviction. It knows perfectly well that -not social work but the abundance of mere food and shelter and the -ingrained sympathy or solidarity, or what you will, of civilized man -is what prevents the elimination of the unfit and that these unfit can -only be made innocuous and self-supporting by methods and arrangements -worked out by the intelligence of the especially fit. - -But when this third group tell social work that it is not extending -benefits but in the long run delaying their extension, when they tell -it that there is a dragon “privilege” which can grow new heads of -offence faster than it can cut them off, when they say that social work -must be either utterly entangled in its own red tape or corrupted by -the flesh pots of Egypt not to see that it is simply compounding with -the mammon of unrighteousness to allow the continuance of privilege -and abuse, then indeed social work itself is troubled. It has known -all along that those are wrong who say it is a mistake to serve the -disadvantaged, but to be told that it--social work--is not serving -them, that is a very different matter. The charges are two, first that -it is selfish and pharisaical, and second that it is practically bought -for the defense of privilege. The first complain of - - “The organized charity scrimped and iced - In the name of a cautious statistical Christ.”[70] - -Social work is confessed by the definition, to be “cautious” and -“statistical.” Used in this opprobrious sense the words make a reproach -that could scarcely be more bitter, but who would want a doctor to pour -out without stint the strichnia needed by his patient’s heart? The -development of methods, standards and technique has been referred to -in these pages as matter only for congratulation. But obviously these -have their dangers like everything else. Our childish humanity has been -tempted, from the days of the medicine man on, rather to claim the -confidence of a gullible public by the impressiveness of its ceremonies -than arduously to achieve that confidence by the excellence of its -performance. The temptation to aim at an impression is especially -strong in the case of social work because it often does for people -the sort of things that friends are at the same time sporadically -attempting. When with every intention of producing efficiency social -work tries to establish “standards” it again has to risk the shift of -emphasis from the work to the technical measurement and the resulting -tendency to attempt what can be put through in good form instead of -what most needs to be done. - -But the greatest resentment is probably not caused by these lapses, -which social workers themselves know better than outsiders. “Organized -charity” did not, as it is so easy for those who know only the present -to assume, originate suspicious scrutiny. Charity was “cautious” in -the sense of the bitter couplet long before the present organized -charity movement. The fierce old English poor law took no chances -on “impostors”[71] and the dread of them by the private charities -of the continent in the sixteenth century has already been referred -to in these pages. It is, of course, easy to see the necessity for -“investigation” when charity is on a large scale. But it is easier -to resent for oneself, or one’s friends, the mortification of being -suspect; and to many people “organized charity” has never meant -anything more than an attempt to prevent overlapping and imposture. -But in the scientific charity movement precaution soon sank into -insignificance beside the more positive purpose of learning enough -about a situation to tackle it intelligently. This is a trifle harder -to understand and even easier to resent. When we want help we usually -have a pretty definite notion of just what help we need, we are in a -touchy mood to begin with, and unless we are very nice people indeed -we resent any questioning of our preference. It is a matter of common -knowledge that those who do not appreciate the difficulty of the -doctor’s task and the time required for cures drift from one dispensary -to another and try physician after physician in search of one who will -treat their troubles as they think they should be treated and give -them the relief for which suffering dares not cease to hope. What -wonder if a yet greater dissatisfaction is felt with the deliberateness -of the social worker. And if, as we have said in the definition, he -is to proceed by “scientific” methods he must be as “cautious” and -“statistical” as the doctor. - -But granting the need of caution in procedure it is shocking and -repellant, on the face of it, that this organized charity should make -the throbbing woes of a fellow creature the subject of dehumanized -records. It is bad enough that people should be required to strip -their predicament bare, exhibit all their helplessness and violate -reticence to expound whatever can “throw light on the situation”--but -why must it be recorded? But it is shocking enough to learn that -someone we care for is known as a certain sort of case in a hospital -and yet we have now so far appreciated medical exigencies as to accept -it as a necessity. In other matters also we may come to realize that -there is no impertinence in impersonal treatment for purposes of -serviceable classification, and for all classification the prerequisite -is records. - -A final source of misunderstanding is the double nature of the social -worker’s task. Not only in relief work but in other lines as well he -is not free to do as he would, he cannot always command the means. -He can decide what he thinks would best be done but then he has to -consider what sort of approximation to that best the resources of his -association or community allow. The Webbs, in outlining a proposed -reorganization of the English relief system, say that “Nothing has -contributed so much to make the visits of the Poor Law Relieving -Officer odious as the _mixture_ of his inquiries--as to the sickness -of the person who is ill, or the lunacy of the person of unsound mind, -and at the same time, as to the means of the family and as to what -relations could be made to contribute.”[72] This stewardship for public -or contributed funds and for doing things quite irrelevant to any -intention of social work do more than anything else to make it seem -“scrimped.” - -Social work, then, may take heart of grace. It is, once again, being -condemned chiefly on misunderstanding and for the rest on its mere -shortcomings. All human undertakings must expect that and try to amend -and carry on. - -It may summon its courage and meet the last charge, the one that seems -to make it most uncomfortable, a charge that not only says it bails -the sea with a sieve and locks the door when the horse is out of the -stable, but goes farther and ascribes motives--“the social worker is -called an apologist for the status quo; he is called a little brother -of the rich; he is accused of taking tainted money;”[73]--and why? -Because social work continues in what its critics consider “remedial” -work instead of addressing itself to wholesale and summary prevention. - -Whose fault is that? Let any one who blames it on social work turn to -the reports of the national conference. Let him turn to the “Survey.” -He will find no lack of interest in prevention. The fact is that social -work is paid for by voluntary subscriptions, philanthropic foundations, -and state appropriations. So far all these sources of support, the -potential representatives of the people in the legislature no less than -wealthy donors, are more accessible to an appeal for relief of existing -misery than to an appeal for the prevention of possible catastrophes. -This ties the hands of social work even in the simple matters in which -it might alone do more “preventive work.” But social work cannot alone, -in any but a secondary sense, prevent the situations it is called upon -to relieve. It works prevention as hard as it can and puts it up to -the community in plain terms, but the situations which, at our present -stage of progress, largely occupy its services could only be prevented -by a living wage and regular employment, work that would not poison or -exhaust the worker, sanitary and decent housing, clean milk, and so on -through the list of those simple requisites of a civilized life which -are now inaccessible to a large part of our population. Social work -cannot give employers the will or the ability to pay a living wage; it -cannot provide the masses with decent housing and unadulterated food -nor, all at once, with a corresponding standard and habit of living. -And if it should stop all it is doing now, in order to devote itself -to prevention, neglected children would grow up unhealthy and vicious, -the feeble-minded would multiply and every calamity of today become a -fruitful source of multiplied disaster tomorrow. One might as well ask -that all physicians cease treating from day to day the many diseases -that afflict us, the better to devote themselves to a wholesale -campaign of prevention. The social work of our definition has its own -specific work to do from day to day. It must, like medicine, care for -the handicapped in each generation and prevent the spread of contagion -while it uses the margin of its energies for prevention and progress. - -Social work _as we have described it_, is not synonymous with -social reform. It has no more responsibility for reform on “general -principles” than has any other profession or calling. That it should -ever be thought to have is a tribute to its thoroughness and convincing -proof of its devotion to prevention. - -We are told, as though to settle the case against social work, that -there are even social workers “who, while they may not say it publicly, -do not hesitate to say privately that they regard social work as a mere -“palliative,” and while they get their living from it, their real -hopes are pinned to the coming social revolution.”[74] The personal -immorality of anyone who would continue to get a living from a calling -he believed to be sailing under false colors is not our business, but, -if social work is what our definition says, there is no reason why -any social worker need hesitate to say, either privately or with all -the publicity he can command, that his hopes are pinned to the coming -social revolution, or to the effects of New Thought or the Seventh Day -Advent or anything else to which he may have happened, according to his -lights and temperament, to have pinned them. - -Social work attempts to serve persons in need of help; it shepherds the -rear of the social procession; it cares for the casualties; it also -claims opportunity for the unprivileged and asserts the rights of the -individual lost in the mass. In so doing it finds itself effecting -progress in the many ways already discussed. They are usually indirect -ways. These critics assume that it could induce progress directly by an -attempt to bring about radical social changes that would do away with -the need for its services. They quote against it Tolstoy’s indictment -of our social system--“The present position we, the educated and -well-to-do classes, occupy is that of the Old Man of the Sea, riding on -the poor man’s back, only, unlike the Old Man of the Sea, we are sorry -for the poor man, very sorry. And we will do almost anything for the -poor man’s relief; we will not only supply him with food sufficient for -him to keep on his legs, but will provide him with cooling draughts -concocted on strictly scientific principles; we will teach and instruct -him and point out to him the beauties of the landscape; we will -discourse sweet music to him and give him lots of good advice. Yes we -will do almost anything for the poor man, anything but get off his -back.”[75] - -Such a picture makes everyone unhappy to reflect on and in face of it -thoughtful social workers take stock of their position. But they can -only conclude that to accuse social work per se of insincerity and -temporizing, of clinging to a snug berth, because it does not attempt -to end this intolerable situation by revolution is to imagine it both -greater and less than it is. We have already seen that it is only a -calling like others with a day’s work of its own. Reforms merely free -it from old duties and open the gates to new ones and there is no -reason to suppose that changes the most radical would do away with the -need of it or the human impulse that perpetually recreates it. Whether -revolutionary methods would free us from present abuses and confront -us with a new set but, as it were, upon a higher level, is, of course -an open question and a relevant one. But it is a question of pure -expediency facing the social worker of each generation as it faces -anyone else and it in no way involves the integrity or the permanency -of the function of social work. - -The alternatives in the interest of which social work is by these -critics condemned are the labor movement and social revolution. But -these are hardly genuine alternatives. Both of them have the allegiance -of people in many callings, but each provides a day’s work to a -comparatively small number of organizers and other workers. There is no -logical reason why a social worker should not be active in the service -of either or both and yet remain in his calling, as the bricklayer, -lawyer, or laborer may. - -The labor movement and social revolution and social work are three -things of three entirely different kinds. The labor movement is a tide -in human affairs. It is the projection in practical issues of certain -interpretations and ideals of life. Social revolution is a cataclysmic -expedient for precipitating, in finished form, readjustments which -the labor movement and certain other influences tend gradually and -adaptively to effect. The one is a great movement now under way, the -other a vast enterprise or a vast dream. For them is spilt the martyr -blood that is the seed of every church militant. They throw down a -gauntlet; they raise a banner; they stir our hearts. But why not let -the social worker also plod on with a good conscience and a hope for -his labors. - - For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, - Seem here no painful inch to gain, - Far back through creeks and inlets making, - Comes silent, flooding in, the main. - - And not by eastern windows only, - When daylight comes, comes in the light; - In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly. - But westward, look! the land is bright.[76] - -Social work is a group of callings representing a certain function -of civilized society whatever form that society may take. Its nearest -analogy is educational work. Whatever form society may assume education -seems likely to retain the functions of rendering available the -experience and conclusions of the past and developing the capacities -of each generation as it comes on. Similarly we can ascribe to social -work, under whatever system of society it may be conducted, the -functions of completing inadequacy, extending benefits and rescuing -the individual from the category. In a community where no one was -poor or out of work, where abundance of pure food and decent housing -were available for all, where wholesome recreation was attainable -and attractive, and physical and mental hygiene as much a matter of -course as school attendance, the tasks of the social worker would not -be what they are now; they would be changed beyond our imagining. -But they might still be present. In some distant sunny noonday of a -healthy happy world it may even be possible that the supernormal will -need rescue from victimizing by the mass. Even today social work is -concerned for the superior child handicapped by a public school routine -that forces him to keep step with the average and the dull. - -What is overlooked by those who fail to see this permanency in social -work is that it has a day’s work of its own. Since its object is -personal service, it tends to focus in the present and since that -personal service is primarily the relief of need, it is relative to the -standard of the times. “Radicalism is not an absolute but a relative -school of thought. It stands for the things that the government is not -ready to do. Hence it is that no government is really radical.”[77] -Social work is radical in the sense that it proffers services that have -not yet become duties. It is by the same token that it is also relative -and will, despite changes in social organization, continue to relieve -new needs, to extend new benefits and to rescue individuals from -newly-felt forms of regimentation. - -That social work, as a calling, does not make itself tributary to any -one social philosophy casts no suspicion on its integrity. Nor is -it strange that the majority of social workers individually should -continue to hold, on the subject of revolution, the opinions of the -majority of their fellow citizens. That social workers should become -so much interested in their own methods of relief as to forget the -prime object of all their system, that they should become so devoted -to the success of particular undertakings as to be unobservant of -other and perhaps better attempts to relieve needs is a reproach to -the guilty persons but it no more touches the principles and functions -of social work than similar faults of practitioners in other lines -condition the presumptive functions of their respective callings. Were -this a discussion of social work in practice it would be necessary -to consider the degree to which its practitioners have realized its -possibilities. But a study of the nature and functions of social work -such as this purports to be would lose itself in confusion in any -attempt to determine precisely how far instances have run true to type. -The teaching offered by the schools and the interests reflected in the -National Conference prove beyond a doubt the direction of its main -stream. - -The charge we have just been discussing is the last of the major -accusations commonly brought against social work, and the definition we -have been using has now been shown to describe a social work that can -meet its critics squarely and retain a claim to a function of its own -in social economy and a certain character and integrity. - -It is one of those human activities which are pursued, as we say, for -their own sake. It can be justified on utilitarian grounds but the -justification never amounts to more than permission to follow our -inclination untroubled. Yet, unlike other such activities, unlike -recreation, art and learning, it does not reach out to life at its -happiest and most conscious, its fullest and finest, but seeks, “Rather -the scorned--the rejected--the men hemmed in by the spears.” Social -work lifts burdens, fills needs, extends benefits. - - “Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the road, - The slave with the sack on his shoulder, pricked on with the goad, - The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load. - - * * * * * - - Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth, - The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth; - Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth.”[78] - -Social work is interested in all people that need help and classifies -them according to their needs, with no ulterior interest. It tries to -serve them in their individual capacity as human beings with lives of -their own. It is always extending benefits in excess of any recognized -obligation. These we have heretofore said were the habits of charity, -using the word in a broad and primitive sense. When charity adopted a -scientific method and took to studying the social sciences for light on -its problems social work began. Although it has been necessary to refer -to charity often and at length in establishing the nature of social -work, it is not well to dwell on it in general discussion, because, -first, it has lately been applied only to the relief of poverty and -cannot be used in a wider sense without explanation and, secondly, -through centuries of association with an idea of meritorious liberality -towards persons inferior, it has acquired connotations which do not -belong to social work. - -Social work as we now have it makes use of modern science. From the -social sciences it takes perspective, generalization and knowledge of -the complication of influences responsible for any given situation. By -statistical methods it relates cause and effect. The discovery of such -a relationship always emphasizes causes and in consequence social work -extends its protective function in the direction of prevention. By so -doing it becomes not only a minister to misery but also one of the -forces operating to make the world a better dwelling place for all of -its inhabitants. - -Social work because it is tentative and experimental seems to be -imperfectly developed and still on trial. There is a temptation -to anticipate for it more certainty, more obvious consistency and -more clearly formulated purposes when it shall have become better -established. But any such anticipation fails to take account of its -wholly relative nature. Social work is always feeling its way beyond -clearly formulated obligations, ignoring imposed consistencies and -groping in unexplored regions where sure-footedness is not possible. -Social work will take many more forms and all of them will prove -temporary. - -This makes social work hard to compare with the established professions -with the ministrations of which its services have many points in -common, with medicine for example. Although several sciences are -helpful to social work it specializes in the application of no one of -them. It is only in the very loosest sense applied sociology and might -with almost equal suggestiveness be called applied eugenics or social -psychology or any one of half a dozen other things. Conversely its -observations and experiences are valuable to a dozen arts and sciences -but build no science of their own. Nor does it build any systematically -cumulative body of principles exclusively for its own use, as does -the law. This is no disgrace to social work, which may be equally -respectable with the well established professions and yet quite _sui -generis_. But it operates in indirect ways as a handicap. - -It is a familiar observation that any new science, any new departure -in human knowledge must use the vocabulary already available and so -can only receive its first formulation in terms of things that have -gone before. The failure of social work to produce any compact body of -doctrine pertaining to its range of undertakings has kept it long in -the stage of analogy and tutelage. It evidently feels a temptation to -shape itself after the fashion of the best respected types of human -activity instead of simply envisaging its own objects as clearly as -possible and enlisting every available means to attain them. - -Its essential inability to develop any compact body of doctrine may -also be handicapping it in a more fundamental way. It is said that -social work does not get its proportionate share of the best students -taking professional training. May not this be because a course which -offers an acquaintance with the high lights of half a dozen subjects -and mastery of none is not likely to recommend itself to able students -as promising to lead to dignified and responsible work? Social work -can only hope that when more time and more ability have gone into the -development of its separate fields such discipline may be developed -along special lines as will give it better intellectual status and -the power to attract and hold recruits by something beside that -appeal to their imagination or their humanity exerted by its general -possibilities. “I treat philanthropy seriously,” wrote one of its -historians, “because of what it implies; its professors have commonly -not been very efficacious.”[79] But scientific social work is something -more than philanthropy and its history is yet to be made. - -Whatever is in store for social work it is pre-ordained that its -functions can only persist by adaptive variation of its practices, -that it will never be perfected, never be satisfied, never even, in -any final and completed sense, successful. Its object is to correct -the mistakes of nature and man in the making of human lives and its -undertakings grow with our hopes for life. Such presumption can never -succeed, but its mere instalments of success would be triumphs in a -lesser enterprise. For social work each new triumph opens only a new -range of possibilities. It might well take as its motto the proud words -of Masefield, “Success is the brand on the forehead for having aimed -too low.”[80] - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[61] Philanthropy and the State, p. 303. - -[62] John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, p. 577. - -[63] Ibid., p. 575. - -[64] William McDougal, An Introduction to Social Psychology, p. 14, et -seq. - -[65] Porter R. Lee, at the National Conference of Social Work, 1920, p. -468. - -[66] Charities Review, 1898, p. 9. - -[67] Hamlet, Act III, Sc. 2, line 379. - -[68] Emil Muensterberg, Impressions of American Charity, in Charity and -the Commons, 1907, p. 268. - -[69] H. G. Wells, The Outline of History, Vol. II, p. 339. - -[70] John Boyle O’Reilly, In Bohemia, quoted in The Cry for Justice, p. -497. - -[71] S. A. Queen, Social Work in the Light of History, Chap. II. - -[72] Sidney and Beatrice Webb, The Prevention of Destitution, p. 281. - -[73] Arthur J. Todd, at the National Conference, 1920, p. 271. - -[74] Charles A. Ellwood, at the National Conference, 1920, p. 271. - -[75] Count Leo Tolstoy, quoted in The Cry for Justice, p. 88. - -[76] Arthur Hugh Clough, “Say not the struggle nought availeth,” in -Poems. - -[77] Frank Parsons, Legal Doctrine and Social Progress, p. 212. - -[78] John Masefield, A Consecration, in Poems. - -[79] Philanthropy and the State, p. 20. - -[80] John Masefield, Multitude and Solitude. - - - - -APPENDIX I - - - =Edward T. Devine in “Social Work”= says (p. 21): “Social work, then - is the sum of all the efforts made by society to ‘take up its own - slack’ to provide for individuals when its established institutions - fail them, to supplement those established institutions and to - modify them at those points at which they have proved to be badly - adapted to social needs. * * * It may be well done or badly done; - according to the most enlightened system which intelligence and - experience and sympathy and vision can devise or according to the - archaic methods of careless and lazy emotion. * * * It includes - everything which is done by society for the benefit of those who - are not in position to compete on fair terms with their fellows - from whatever motive it may be done, by whatever agency or whatever - means and with whatever results.” - - =Edward T. Devine and Lilian Brant in “American Social Work in the - Twentieth Century”= say (the first words of the book): “In the - United States of America ‘social work’ has come into use in recent - years as a comprehensive term, including charity and philanthropy, - public relief, punishment and reformation and all other conscious - efforts, whether by the state or on private initiative, to provide - for the dependent, the sick, and the criminal, to diminish the - amount of poverty, disease, and crime, and to improve general - living and working conditions.” - - These statements obviously are not trying to distinguish between - “social work” and the more primitive forms of “charity” and - “philanthropy.” - - The pamphlet “=Social Work=,” issued by the American Association - of Social Workers in 1922 disclaims any intention “to give an - authoritative definition of these terms (i.e., charity, - philanthropy, and social service) or of ‘social work,’” but it - does authoritatively indicate that “social work as a profession” - may have occasion to differentiate itself from charity and - philanthropy (pp. 3 and 4). “In discussing social work as a - profession it is necessary to clarify certain conceptions which are - popularly confused with it. As is the case with any activity that - has emerged into professional status and differentiated itself from - the kind of activity in which any one of ordinary intelligence - might participate, social work must live down a variety of names - and conceptions which were common to it in its early and - unprofessional forms.” “So we come to the term ‘social work’ for - a connotation which at least has implicit implications of a process - requiring specialized knowledge and skill sufficient to be called - professional.” “It is well also to point out here that emphasis - must be placed on ‘process’ as an aid to keeping in mind the fact - that not what is done, but how it is done, is what constitutes the - test of professional activity.” - - =“Education for Social Work,” by Jesse Frederick Steiner= (University - of Chicago Press, 1921) gives, as its first chapter, a five-page - statement of “The Nature of Social Work” which does not lend itself - to quotation otherwise than _in toto_. It reports about the same - conclusions as this thesis, which was prepared before Mr. Steiner’s - study. - - =Porter R. Lee= speaking to the National Conference of Social Work - in 1915 (see Report p. 597) described three conceptions of the - social worker. First, “Any person is a social worker if his work - has conscious social purpose, although his vocation may be any one - of the historic forms of human activity. The second conception - includes as social workers those who are engaged in so-called - preventive work, that is to say, those whose efforts are directed - towards social legislation, toward the development of the social - point of view in the general public and toward readjustments in - social institutions and social habits. * * * social work in this - sense is not concerned with those who are disabled by adverse - conditions of life but with the adverse conditions. The third - conception of the social worker on the other hand identifies him - primarily with efforts on behalf of the subnormal. To one holding - this conception the social worker is one who endeavors through case - work to reestablish disabled families and individuals in a routine - of normal life. This does not preclude interest in social - legislation and other forms of preventive work, but these are not - the first task of the social worker. When social work as a generic - term first came into general use leaders in the work for dependent - families, neglected children, the defective, the delinquent and the - destitute sick comprised almost the entire group to which it was - applied.” In the 1920 Conference (see Report p. 466) Mr. Lee said: - “The subject matter of social work is the adjustment of men to - their environment. * * * The necessity for social work arises - because of the difficulties faced by men in making this adjustment. - These difficulties are sometimes in the man and sometimes in the - environment. Some factors in the environment bear too heavily upon - all men, some bear too heavily upon a smaller number. * * * A large - part of social work is conducted with the purpose of softening the - effect of environmental factors which bear with undue severity upon - all men. Another large part of social work aims at the development - of greater resourcefulness in all men in meeting environmental - demands. The greater part of social work, however, is at present - devoted to the development of a higher adjusting power in those - persons who are most handicapped by environment or a modification - of those particular environmental factors which handicap them.” - - =Miss Mary E. Richmond in “What is Social Case Work?”= (Russell Sage - Foundation, N.Y., 1922) breaks up what Mr. Lee calls “preventive - work” into three parts (pp. 223, 224). “The other forms of social - work all of which interplay with case work, are three--group work, - social reform, and social research. Case work seeks to effect - better social relations by dealing with individuals one by one or - within the intimate group of the family. But social work also - achieves the same general ends in these other ways. It includes a - wide variety of group activities--settlement work, recreational - work, club, neighborhood and local community work--in which the - individual, though still met face to face, becomes one of a number. - By a method different from that employed in either case or group - work, though with the same end in view, social reform seeks to - improve conditions in the mass, chiefly through social propaganda - and social legislation. Whether the immediate object be better - housing, better working conditions, better use of leisure, or a - long list of other objectives, the main purpose in these different - social reforms still is to advance the development of our human - kind by improving social relations. Finally, social research with - its precious freight of original discovery in all the fields - covered by social work, has also the secondary task of assembling - known facts in order to reinterpret them for use in social reform, - in group work and in case work.” - -A fair amount of searching has failed to reveal many statements which -do as much as the above toward defining social work in succinct -and specific terms. One finds instead descriptions which, while -satisfactory enough for the purposes for which each was intended, -ascribe to it no really distinctive character but rather present it -in generalizations equally true of other disinterested undertakings, -or by making it synonymous with applied sociology or applied religion -simply throw the burden of definition onto those other terms leaving -the matter as indefinite as before. - - - - -APPENDIX II - - -A - -A list of the schools belonging (in 1921) to the “Association of -Training Schools for Professional Social Workers,” organized 1919, -President. Prof. J. E. Cutler, Western Reserve University. - - Boston School of Social Work, Boston. - - Carola Woerishoffer Graduate Department of Social Economy and Social - Research, Bryn Mawr College. - - College of Commerce and Journalism, Ohio State University. - - Department of Social Work, Carnegie Institute of Technology. - - Department of Social Work, University of Toronto. - - Missouri School of Social Economy, St. Louis (part of the University - of Missouri). - - New York School of Social Work, New York. - - Pennsylvania School of Social and Health Work, Philadelphia. - - Philanthropic Service Division, School of Commerce and Administration, - University of Chicago. - - School of Applied Social Science, Western Reserve University. - - School of Public Welfare, University of North Carolina. - - School of Social Work and Public Health, Richmond, Va. - - Smith College Training School for Social Work, Smith College. - - Training Course in Civics and Social Work, University of Pittsburgh. - - Training Course for Social and Civic Work, University of Minnesota. - - -B - -The number of schools which make a separate department of each of the -seventeen subjects referred to in the text (not the number of courses -in these subjects) is as follows. The list is somewhat misleading in -appearance as it gives prominence to the subjects most often treated -_separately_ rather than to those most often or most fully treated. As -a matter of fact separate treatment sometimes means the somewhat casual -addition of a subject after the central interests of the program have -been pretty well integrated. - - Industrial work, including industrial supervision and - employment; personnel work, service departments and nursing 10 - Community work or service, or organization 9 - Medical social work 8 - Child welfare 8 - Social research and investigation 7 - Social case work, social relief and social guardianship 5 - Family welfare work 5 - Mental hygiene and psychiatric social work 5 - Community organization and recreation, physical education and - recreation 4 - Penology or delinquency or criminality 4 - Settlement work, educational and vocational guidance. - Public health work 2 - - -C - -A list of forty subjects taught in the training schools as preparation -for work in specific fields. The figures accompanying the following -list of subjects do not indicate the number of courses in the subject -but the number of schools in which the subject is taught. - - Public health 12 - Psychiatric social work 7 - Mental testing 6 - Medical social work 6 - Abnormal psychology 4 - Personal hygiene and first aid 1 - Social hygiene 1 - - Community organization 13 - Recreation and special means of recreation 10 - Municipal problems 7 - Rural social problems 5 - Municipal government 2 - Neighborhood work 1 - Community art 1 - - Case work 13 - Family welfare 4 - - Industry 14 - - Child welfare 10 - Vocational guidance 2 - Education 2 - Immigration 6 - - Race problems 6 - - Social legislation 6 - Elements or special features of law 4 - - Dependents, defectives and delinquents 4 - Penology or criminology 4 - Probation 1 - - Organization and administration of various sorts 8 - - Political science 2 - Social and political philosophy 2 - Socialism and social reform 1 - The social institution of religion 1 - - Food and diet 4 - Home economics 2 - - Housing 4 - - Record keeping and methods of presentation 4 - - Biology 2 - - Standard of living, etc. 1 - - - - -BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - Addams, Jane; Newer Ideals of Peace. Macmillan, N.Y., 1907 (2d - edition 1911). - - Twenty Years at Hull House. Macmillan, N.Y., 1911. - - A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil. Macmillan, 1912. - - Bosanquet, Mrs. Bernard (Helen Denby); Rich and Poor. Macmillan, - London, 1896. - - The Standard of Life and Other Studies. Macmillan, 1898. - - The Strength of the People, A Study in Social Economics. - Macmillan, 1903. - - Cabot, Richard C., M.D.; Social Service and the Art of Healing. - Moffat, Yard & Co., 1915. - - Carver, T. N.; Sociology and Social Progress. Ginn and Co., N.Y., 1912. - - Devine, E. T.; The Family and Social Work. Survey Associates, N.Y., - 1912. - - Misery and its Causes. Macmillan, N.Y., 1913. - - Social Work. Macmillan, N.Y., 1922. - - With Lilian Brandt; American Social Work in the Twentieth - Century. The Frontier Press, N.Y., 1921. - - Gray, B. Kirkman; A History of English Philanthropy from the - Dissolution of the Monasteries to the Taking of the First Census. - P. S. King and Son. London, 1908. - - Philanthropy and the State or Social Politics. Edited by Elinor - - Kirkman Gray and B. L. Hutchins. P. S. King and Son. London, - 1908. - - Henderson, C. R.; Social Programmes in the West, Lectures Delivered in - the Far East. University of Chicago Press, 1912. - - Lallemand, Léon; Histoire de la Charité. 4 Vols. Alphonse Picard et - Fils. Paris. Vol. I, 1902; Vol. II, 1903; Vol. III, 1906; Vol. IV, - 1910. - - Lloyd, H. D.; Man, the Social Creator. Doubleday, N.Y., ’06. - - Loch, C. D.; Article on “Charity” in Encyclopedia Britannica. - - McDougal, Wm.; An Introduction to Social Psychology. J. W. Luce and - Co., Boston. 10th edition, 1916. - - Philanthropy and Social Progress, Essays by Jane Addams, Robert A. - Woods, Father J. O. S. Huntingdon, Professor Franklin H. Giddings - and Bernard Bosanquet. Thos. Y. Crowell and Co., N.Y. 1893. - - Parmelee, Maurice, Ph.D.; Poverty and Social Progress. Macmillan, 1916. - - Parsons, Frank, Ph.D.; Legal Doctrine and Progress. B. W. Huebsch, - N.Y., 1911. - - Patten, Simon N.; The New Basis of Civilization. Macmillan, N.Y., 1907. - - Heredity and Social Progress. Macmillan, N.Y., 1903. - - Queen, Stuart Alfred; Social Work in the Light of History. J. B. - Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia, 1922. - - Richmond, Mary E.; Social Diagnosis, Russell Sage Foundation, N.Y., - 1917. - - What is Social Case Work? Russell Sage Foundation, N.Y., 1922. - - Sinclair, Upton; The Cry for Justice. Winston, Philadelphia, 1915. - - Social Work, An Outline of its Professional Aspects. Published by the - American Association of Social Workers, 130 E. 22nd Street, N.Y. - - Steiner, Jesse Frederick; Education for Social Work. University of - Chicago Press, Chicago, 1921. - - Todd, Arthur James, Ph.D.; The Scientific Spirit and Social Work. - Macmillan, N.Y., 1919. - - Theories of Social Progress. Macmillan, 1918. - - Warner, Amos G., Ph.D.; American Charities. Thos. Y. Crowell and Co., - N.Y., 1894. - - Wald, Lillian D.; The House on Henry Street. Henry Holt and Co., N.Y., - 1915. - - Webb, Sidney and Beatrice; The Prevention of Destitution. Longmans, - London, 1911. - - Weyl, Walter E.; The New Democracy. Macmillan, 1912. (2d edition, - April, 1914). - - The American Journal of Sociology. - - Catalogues of Training Schools in the Association of Training Schools - for Professional Social Work: - - Charities Review. - - New York Charities Directory, A Reference Book of Social Service. - Published by the Charity Organization Society of New York. 28th - edition, 1919. - - Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Work, 1917-1920. To - 1917, National Conference of Charities and Corrections. - - Social Service Directory of Philadelphia, 1919, corrected for 1920; - Published by Municipal Court. - - Survey Associates, N.Y., 1887 to 1905 Charities; 1905 to 1907 - Charities and the Commons, 1907, Survey Magazine. - - * * * * * - - - - - Transcriber’s note - - - Minor punctuation errors have been changed and standardized without - notice. The following Printer errors have been changed: - - =CHANGED= =FROM= =TO= - - Page 8: “their dependants” “their dependents” - Page 9: “eleomosynary purpose” “eleemosynary purpose” - Page 9: “School of _Philanthrophy_” “School of _Philanthropy_” - Page 10: “milleniums of Christianity” “millenniums of Christianity” - Page 12: “examine the public attittude” “examine the public attitude” - Page 14: “found to differ form” “found to differ from” - Page 19: “practicaly all departments” “practically all departments” - Page 19: “the ruin of adolescense” “the ruin of adolescence” - Page 21: “worker has reponsibilities” “worker has responsibilities” - Page 23: “his reptuation and honor” “his reputation and honor” - Page 25: “individually unpredicable” “individually unpredictable” - Page 36: “recognizes an interpendence” “recognizes an - interdependence” - Page 47: “should direct and stimluate” “should direct and stimulate” - Page 50: “can develope in” “can develop in” - Page 50: “which developes only” “which develops only” - Page 53: “of sweeping judgements” “of sweeping judgments” - Page 57: “sheer dependance” “sheer dependence” - Page 57: “form of dependance” “form of dependence” - Page 59: “degree of interdependance” “degree of interdependence” - Page 59: “inclinations corrollary” “inclinations corollary” - Page 63: “dependant have been” “dependent have been” - Page 65: “flieth by noon-day” “flieth by noonday” - Page 70: “caution in proceedure” “caution in procedure” - Page 74: “Tolstoi’s indictment” “Tolstoy’s indictment” - Page 75: “with a good con-conscience” “with a good conscience” - Page 80: “not this be becasue” “not this be because” - Page 89: “Historie de la Charité” “Histoire de la Charité” - Page 89: “fils. Paris” “Fils. Paris” - - All other inconsistencies are as in the original. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL -WORK *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/69557-0.zip b/old/69557-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index faff999..0000000 --- a/old/69557-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/69557-h.zip b/old/69557-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f94faa7..0000000 --- a/old/69557-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/69557-h/69557-h.htm b/old/69557-h/69557-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 6ca3c0f..0000000 --- a/old/69557-h/69557-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5285 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8"> - <title> - A Definition of Social Work, by Alice S. Cheyney—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> - <style> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3,h4 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -.x-ebookmaker body {margin: 0;} -.x-ebookmaker-drop {color: inherit;} - -.margin-bottom4 { - margin-bottom: 4em - } - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -p.indent { - padding-left: 36px; -} - -p.indent2 { - padding-left: 20px; -} - -p.hanging-indent1 { - padding-left: 36px; - text-indent: -36px; -} - -.ph2, .ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } - -.ph2 { font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; } -.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } -.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } - - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 15.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} -table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } -table.autotable td - -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} - -.tdi { - text-indent: -2.0em; - padding-left: 2.0em; -} - -table.autotable td.tdny {padding-left:1em;text-align:right;} -table.autotable td.tdph {padding-left:1em;text-align:right;} -table.autotable td.tdind { padding-left: 3em; } - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: small; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: 0; -} /* page numbers */ - -.blockquot { - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} - -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} - -/* Poetry */ -/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ -.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:small; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; -} - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} - - - </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A definition of social work, by Alice S. Cheyney</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: A definition of social work</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>A thesis in sociology</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Alice S. Cheyney</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 16, 2022 [eBook #69557]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Charlene Taylor, Carla Foust and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL WORK ***</div> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2>Transcriber’s note</h2> - - -<p class="center">On Page <a href="#Page_87">87</a> the line: “Settlement work, educational and vocational -guidance.” is missing a corresponding number.<br><br> - -The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> - - - -<p class="ph2 margin-bottom4"> -UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA</p> - - -<h1>A DEFINITION OF -SOCIAL WORK</h1> - - -<p class="ph2 margin-bottom4">ALICE S. CHEYNEY</p> - - -<p class="ph3 margin-bottom4">A THESIS</p> - -<p class="ph4 margin-bottom4">IN SOCIOLOGY</p> - -<p class="ph4 margin-bottom4">PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN<br> -PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR<br> -THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY</p> - - -<p class="ph3 margin-bottom4">PHILADELPHIA</p> -<p class="ph3 margin-bottom4">1923</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> - - - - -<p class="ph4"> -COPYRIGHT 1923<br> -BY</p> - -<p class="ph3">ALICE S. CHEYNEY</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Chapter</td> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr">Page</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">I.</td> -<td class="tdl">WHY THIS DEFINITION IS ATTEMPTED</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">II.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE CHARITABLE ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">III.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE SCIENTIFIC ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">IV.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF SOCIAL WORK</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">V.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE TESTIMONY OF THE TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORKERS</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">VI.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE ANSWER TO ITS CRITICS</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">APPENDIX</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="2">BIBLIOGRAPHY</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</h2> -</div> - -<h3>WHY THIS DEFINITION IS ATTEMPTED</h3> - - -<p>What social worker has not been asked to define social -work and found himself at a loss? It is easy to describe his -own particular tasks but it is not easy to characterize the -profession as a whole or to say why its very diverse phases -are identified with one another. Why should we apply the -term “social work” to hospital social service and probation, -but not to nursing and interpreting, services which seem -to stand in a similar relation to medicine and the courts?</p> - -<p>Definitions of social work are not yet to be found in dictionaries -or encyclopedias. A certain amount of characterization -appears in current literature, by implication or by -mention of one feature here and another there. Some general -descriptions say of it things which, though true, do not distinguish -it.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Probably no strict definition is possible. The -field of social work is constantly extending; its functions -are multiplying by geometric progression; its means are -undergoing continuous adaptation and in all its phases it -shades off into other kinds of work or attracts allied work -to its own likeness. The inconvenience of this state of -affairs is a constant subject of complaint and for at least -three reasons we badly need some sort of definition.</p> - -<p>In the first place whenever we talk without first agreeing -on the meaning of terms we are wasting time and giving -unnecessary opportunity for bad blood. The term “social -work” is now used in several entirely different senses. One -man, in using it, is referring to a characteristic technique, -which to him is its distinguishing feature, such, for instance, -as social case work; another is thinking of a certain function -in social economy, for instance, the relief of distress; a -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>third is designating a policy in social reform, a temporizing -policy, for example. So long as this latitude of use continues -we will talk at cross purposes whether in discussion -of specific ways and means or in the evaluation of social -work as a factor in human affairs. Any definition would -make it easier for us to agree or explicitly disagree on what -we mean by social work.</p> - -<p>In the second place while the nature and purpose of a -calling are perceived cloudily or not at all it does not manifest -the coherence and momentum which inspire constructive -work. Its followers are in danger of floundering among -isolated tasks or finding their sense of continuity and purpose -in the mere observation of correct procedure. Social -work while feeling an implicit affinity in its many forms, -often seems to suffer from lack of any essential principles -or any demonstrable obligation or responsibility, other than -those incumbent on the community as a whole. The process -of definition offers a means of bringing to light any principles -or responsibilities especially pertaining to it.</p> - -<p>Thirdly social work now suffers unnecessarily in reputation -and support (even among its own practitioners) for disappointing -demands which would never have been made were -its nature better understood. Every undertaking has its -limitations and when known and understood they constitute -no reproach. But the preoccupations and aspirations of -social work are such as to tempt its proponents to enlarge -on infinite possibilities, forgetting in their enthusiasm to -state that these possibilities can only be realized if the ministrations -and advices of social work are accepted in many -places where it has no enforceable influence. The limits set -to any single line of human endeavor working by itself are -very narrow, and for social work, as for other things, they -are in practice promptly reached. Social work when it -stands thus at the end of its powers seems to have betrayed -the confidence placed in it. A limiting definition would show -that the fault lies not in social work but in unreasonable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> -expectations. Such a definition would be its best defense -from antagonistic critics and disappointed followers.</p> - -<p>Yet “social work” in spite of all uncertainty does stand -for something real. Annually there meets a National Conference -of Social Work with 2637 individual and group memberships -representing 46 States, the District of Columbia, -Cuba, Hawaii, the Philippines and Canada and 6 foreign -countries.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> There has lately been formed an American Association -of Social Workers<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> composed of master workmen in -its several lines, who must qualify in terms of preparation -or experience and who are associated for the purpose of -maintaining a high standard of work. All this indicates -that there is a general concept of social work, and if there -is such a thing it must be amenable to some sort of description -or analysis. Though water-tight definition seems impossible -it is frequently not necessary. If any characteristics -can be found which appear in all the forms of social -work and not in activities unrelated to it they will at least -serve the three practical purposes for which definition is -so urgently needed.</p> - -<p>Materials for analysis are not wanting. Social work has -had its national conference for fifty years, its magazine for -thirty-six<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and its schools for twenty-five<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and the conference -reports, the magazines and the school curricula constitute -a competent body of evidence that can be consulted -either in cross section or in chronological perspective. If we -forego expectation of a precise and all-mentioning definition -and adjust our demands to the practicabilities of the case -we may hopefully challenge these compact sources of information, -together with the dispersed literature of the subject, -with observation and experience to stand and deliver a -working definition.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> For examples see Appendix I.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Conference Bulletin, published by the National Conference of Social Work, Nov., -1922, Vol. 26, No. 1, 25 E. 9th St., Cincinnati, Ohio.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> 130 E. 22nd Street, New York.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> “Charities,” which has since become the “Survey,” was first published in 1887.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> The New York School of Philanthropy opened its full term winter course in -1904; a summer school had been opened in 1898.</p> - -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</h2> - -</div> - -<h3>THE CHARITABLE ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK</h3> - - -<p>The “charities directories” of New York<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> and Philadelphia<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> -offer the most inclusive available lists of the various -types of social work. For present purposes it will be sufficient -to review them by groups. Duplications, omissions, -and extraneous inclusions (all legitimate for the purposes -of the directories) make the figures of agencies of each type -inaccurate but they serve to show the multiplicity as well -as the range of social work undertakings.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3"> </td> -<td class="tdny">New</td> -<td class="tdph">Philadelphia</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3"> </td> -<td class="tdny">York</td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Agencies having to do with health</td> -<td class="tdny">412</td> -<td class="tdph">224</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Child welfare agencies</td> -<td class="tdny">233</td> -<td class="tdph">147</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Settlements, social centers and housekeeping centers</td> -<td class="tdny">227</td> -<td class="tdph">608</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Relief societies</td> -<td class="tdny">180</td> -<td class="tdph">102</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Societies for civic and economic betterment by means of surveys, investigations, education of the public, etc.</td> -<td class="tdny">157</td> -<td class="tdph">369</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Adult homes</td> -<td class="tdny">136</td> -<td class="tdph">112</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Agencies for obtaining or providing employment</td> -<td class="tdny">123</td> -<td class="tdph">46</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Special educational opportunities, agricultural, musical, etc.</td> -<td class="tdny">118</td> -<td class="tdph">71</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Philanthropic agencies with a predominantly religious</td> -<td class="tdny">96</td> -<td class="tdph">191</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Agencies interested in naturalization, colonization, and work for immigrants</td> -<td class="tdny">91</td> -<td class="tdph">28</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Correctional and protective agencies</td> -<td class="tdny">81</td> -<td class="tdph">54</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Societies serving special groups</td> -<td class="tdny">81</td> -<td class="tdph">60</td> -</tr> -<tr> - -<td class="tdl tdind">Negroes</td> -<td class="tdny">29</td> -<td class="tdph">36</td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Soldiers, sailors, or their dependents</td> -<td class="tdny">25</td> -<td class="tdph">10</td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Clergymen</td> -<td class="tdny">8</td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Medical men</td> -<td class="tdny">7</td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Indians</td> -<td class="tdny">5</td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Artists<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span></td> -<td class="tdny">4</td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Firemen</td> -<td class="tdny">3</td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Recreational facilities</td> -<td class="tdny">63</td> -<td class="tdph">88</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Banking, loan and saving societies</td> -<td class="tdny">23</td> -<td class="tdph">10</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Of which burial societies are</td> -<td class="tdny">10</td> -<td class="tdph">4</td> -<td class="tdny"> </td> -<td class="tdph"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Milk stations, diet kitchens and lunch rooms</td> -<td class="tdny">20</td> -<td class="tdph">23</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Conferences and federations which include social work agencies</td> -<td class="tdny">12</td> -<td class="tdph">20</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Legal aid societies</td> -<td class="tdny">11</td> -<td class="tdph">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl" colspan="3">Societies for the protection of animals</td> -<td class="tdny">9</td> -<td class="tdph">14</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>In cross section no obvious, no easily discernible bond -appears among these diverse agencies. An eleemosynary -purpose, the first suggestion of most laymen, is indignantly -repudiated by the modern social worker and can be, in many -cases, categorically disproved. All are benevolent, but so -also are educational, religious, artistic and other undertakings -not commonly considered social work.</p> - -<p>It is a standing rule of science that if you can see nothing -crosswise you must try squinting lengthwise. If a present -form will not answer your questions look back along its -history and consider its origin—study its evolution and -genetics. Such a policy with respect to social work brings -us promptly to a strong clue.</p> - -<p>The interests of social work have wandered far from -those of old-fashioned charity and “mere charity” has now -a bad name, but we of this generation knew social work before -it came of age and when we hear it repudiating charity -we recognize the act of a thankless child denying an unfashionable -parent. The oldest of the schools was called -until 1919 the “New York School of <i>Philanthropy</i>” and the -same word appeared in the names of the Chicago school and -others. The “Survey,” the accepted general organ of the -profession (if it is a profession), was until 1905 published -as “Charities” and for three years more as “Charities and -the Commons.” What is now the “National Conference of -Social Work” was organized as the “Conference of Charities -and Corrections” and kept that title right down to 1917.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> - -<p>We may therefore push our investigation back a step -farther and for the question “what is social work?” substitute -the less difficult inquiries “what was charity and by -what modifications did social work develop from it?” However -far apart these two may at present seem it is a patent -fact that social work developed from charity and along the -route of that development there is hope of enlightenment as -to the essential nature of social work.</p> - -<p>Charity in one sense is the name of a human quality—that -which “suffereth long and is kind.” With this sense of the -word the present inquiry is not concerned but with a more -completely objective meaning. The dictionaries give it as -“benevolence, liberality in relieving the wants of others, -philanthropy,”<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> or “liberality to the poor, to benevolent institutions -or worthy causes.”<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> The wording varies little. -Philanthropy where it is described any differently from -charity is merely a broader term not confined to the succor -of the especially unfortunate, as “love of mankind especially -as evinced in deeds of practical beneficence.”<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> - -<p>If we look at this “charity” in action we find its performance -to be directed to the same ends even though we -follow it back through two millenniums of Christianity and -Paganism.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Motive and policy vary, but the tasks of charity -are recrudescent and impose themselves on each successive -generation in terms of the contemporary conscience. We -seem, for example, to have forgotten the question which -haunted sixteenth century motivation—whether faith without -works avails for salvation, but we might still subscribe -to a contemporaneous plan of action which demanded “the -suppression of vagrant beggars, the punishment of impostors” -and “a rational organization of benefits under the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>control of the municipal authorities.”<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The <i>task</i> is still -with us.</p> - -<p>This so adaptable and so perdurable “charity,” while constantly -changing its terms remains always in essence a -free will offering made to those who are in some fashion -especially in need. It may consist of material benefits or of -services. An authoritative historian of English philanthropy -says in his nearest approach to a definition that “Philanthropy, -in common with other terms in general use, is difficult, -or more probably incapable of strict definition. We -may perhaps safely say that it proceeds from the free will -of the agent, and not in response to any claim of legal right -on the part of the recipient.” “The greater part of philanthropy -may be said to consist in contributions of money, -service or thought, such as the recipient has no strict claim -to demand and the donor is not compelled to render.”<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> - -<p>Does this characterization hold good in our own country -and time? First, must the gift be free? Where a service -is exacted by law do we ever consider it charity? Free education -while supported by voluntary contribution was considered -a form of charity but when it came to be supported -by taxes its connection with charity lapsed and was forgotten.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> -The upkeep of highways and bridges has been an -object of charitable bequest—a benefit which the fortunate -might out of his abundance bestow upon his neighbors.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> -The establishment of public responsibility for the -highways has lifted this sort of benevolence from the category -of charity. Prisoners whose support was not provided -for by their own means or the concern of friends were for -long dependent upon charity.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> A nicer sense of corporate -responsibility now requiring them to be fed at the public -charge we see no charity in their support but when private -interest carries into the prisons influences presumably improving -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>and meets friendless prisoners at the jail gate we -recognize the unforced ministrations of charity removed to -another field. We still stand near the turn of the road -in the matter of caring for workmen injured during their -work. A little while ago any provision by the employer for -the injured man or his family was regarded as an act of -charity. Latterly we have come to consider it no more -than right that an industrial establishment should share -the burden, as it does the fault, of such accidents, and state -after state has enacted laws compelling “compensation.” -And as relief of the injured man and his family has thus -been made compulsory on the establishment in which he -works it has ceased to be charitable. The act remains the -same but with the loss of spontaneity its charitable quality -has disappeared.<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> - -<p>It is true that we have a very considerable development of -so-called “public charities.” But are not the services they -render offered through the body politic merely to secure a -certainty and inclusiveness of relief for which we dare not -rely on private benevolence? And do we not continue to call -them “charity” precisely because we still regard them as a -free gift rather than as a routine purveyance which the -state is essentially committed to provide? Some of them are -plainly in process of transition and here and there we find -the almshouse becoming the “county hospital,” or the department -of public charities the “welfare department,” the -nomenclature following a change in the conception of -function.</p> - -<p>If, furthermore, we examine the public attitude toward -those undertakings which we have cited as having graduated -from charity into public purveyance, we will recognize that -these are considered public responsibilities in a different -sense from any which so far attaches to what we still call -public charities. Public education is held to be a natural -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span>prerequisite of democracy; the making of roads a thing -contributing impartially to the universal convenience; the -feeding of prisoners the inescapable responsibility of those -who have cut them off from the means of making a livelihood.</p> - -<p>Moreover we make certain doles which we explicitly insist -are not to be counted “charity”—pensions given after military -or government service or to widows rearing children -for the commonwealth—and in disassociating them from -charity it is the custom to point out that they are not concessions -but just deserts, something that can be claimed as -a right.</p> - -<p>Charity then is a free gift. It need not be given in love, as -its etymology would assume, indeed it may be given in a -mood of revulsion, in the hope of expiating a sin or in mere -fear of the indignation of the deprived. The recording -angel probably keeps a record of the motive and the spirit, -but charity, in its simple objective meaning on men’s lips, -inheres in the act of relief.</p> - -<p>The brief characterization of philanthropy which we are -testing was two-fold. It declared philanthropy to be a free -gift and a gift to need. Just as the one qualification of the -act was that it must be in no way exacted so the one qualification -of the recipient was that his candidacy must consist -only in need. Does this also hold true in our own country -and our own time? Surely it is plain beyond any call for -proof that only that is charity which is bestowed where need -appoints the recipient. Free gifts are made to the prosperous, -there is mutual helpfulness among equals, there are -services prompted by loyalty and personal affection, but -these, though unforced, are not called charity. But it will not -do to dwell too much on the negative implications of “need,” -on deprivation or suffering. We might almost avoid that -rather misleading word and say that a gift is charity only -when the outstanding circumstance is occasion for it. But -it is a familiar observation that ardors or privations which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> -are accepted as the order of life while we see no prospect -of remedy become conscious hardships at the mere rumor of -succor and so it necessarily happens that the very act of -service or relief prompted only by its own fitness is the -creator of an ex-post-facto need even where the situation -previously scarcely merited so strong a name.</p> - -<p>Charity is not, however, preoccupied with material need -only or with physical suffering or any other one phase of -life. Moral redemption, intellectual opportunity, artistic -realization—these also have come within its purview. It -may follow mortal man into his every predicament and -minister to his hungers of whatever sort. Only if we keep -this well in mind will we be justified in associating it with -so negative a term as need. It is the unconscious champion -of the perfectibility of man. “The normal life,” “our common -inheritance,” “humanity in whatever form,” “the rights -of the humblest individual”—these are its commonplaces -that have lost significance from frequent and often perfunctory -repetition. But the fact that they are the commonplaces -of the subject is in itself significant. The commonplaces -of all subjects are not of that sort.</p> - -<p>These then are the essentials of charity “a free gift and -a gift to need.” May we go on to inquire what additions -or alterations have developed these into social work, or is -social work a thing so far transmuted from charity that it -no longer shows the very elements of its original? A reperusal -of our digest of the charities directories shows the -many forms of social work all of them still to include the -qualities of charity. In the first place the services of social -work are still a gift. Sometimes they are provided by the -state in close association with the obligatory work of some -routine state department, but in such cases the tasks of -social workers will be found to differ from those of the other -employees in the department in being not only highly extensible -and almost infinitely variable but in some degree<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> -supererogatory—as in the case of the follow-up work of the -workmen’s compensation office.</p> - -<p>In the second place the presence of a need, though less -evident among the forms of social work than in the case of -primitive charity, is always discernible. Social work often -seems to aspire to knowledge rather than accomplishment, -as when making investigations or surveys or when any form -of ministration is accompanied by so much solicitation of -information as to raise the question of which is product -and which by-product. But its activities will always on inspection -be found to claim connection with the discovery -and removal of some form of human ill. Social work itself -naturally points to immediate purposes, small definitive tasks -like the formulation of a standard distribution of expenses -in the budget of a family at subsistence level. To conclude -that these are its ultimate objects would be as serious a -mistake as to imagine that the medical profession would rest -satisfied with a set of dependable prognoses. And these -investigations do not exploit the fields of prosperity. They -consistently maintain a preoccupation with untoward conditions -and a sense of stewardship. Before all social work, as -surely as before charity, a Samaritan purpose floats like -a will-o-the-wisp, an inconstant and shifting but ever discernible -guide, sometimes at several removes from the work -in hand but always its ultimate sanction.</p> - -<p>Social work then, incorporates, while it modifies, charity, -and we find ourselves ready to discuss the second part of -our question—what is the nature of these modifications -which have produced social work?</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> New York Charities Directory, A Reference Book of Social Service, published by -the Charity Organization Society of New York, 28th edition, 1919.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Social Service Directory of Philadelphia, 1919, corrected for 1920. Pub. by Municipal -Court.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> New Century Dictionary.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Webster’s New International.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> New Century Dictionary.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> See Lallemand, Léon Histoire de la Charité. 4 Vols. Alphonse Picard et Fils, -Paris. Vol. I, 1902; Vol. II. 1903; Vol. III, 1906; Vol. IV, 1910, and -Queen, Stuart Alfred; Social Work in the Light of History, J. B. Lippincott -& Co., Philadelphia and London.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Lallemand, Vol. IV, p. 21.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> B. Kirkman Gray, A History of English Philanthropy. Preface, pp. 8 and 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> Ibid., p. 103 e. s., and Philanthropy and the State, p. 222.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> History of English Philanthropy, p. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> Ibid., p. 70.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> See also Charities for Feb., 1898. Report of the Association for Improving the -Condition of the Poor, housing inspection, vacation schools, public baths and -vacant lot farming begun by the Association and continued by the city.</p> - -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE SCIENTIFIC ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK</h3> - - -<p>The historical perspective which shows social work to have -developed out of charity shows also that there is a close -relation between that development and contemporaneous developments -in other lines. We know that in every field of -production, trade and business, enterprising men have lately -developed practical sciences to replace the old rules of thumb, -and that even in such a field as teaching there has lately -appeared a derived science of pedagogy which levies on -psychology and other direct sciences for its material. The -stewards of charity, like other people, saw the light of -science full on their path. The result was a new hope. Again -and again in statements like the following we have been told -that the grosser disabilities which charity relieved could be -done away with for good if we would systematically search -out and treat their causes. “Poverty, vice and crime are no -more impossible to stamp out from human society than -small-pox and measles. To do the one requires the same -intelligence on the part of man, though perhaps in a higher -degree, that the other does. The social sciences and arts -should have the same expansion as all the other sciences -and arts combined in that the relations of men to each -other are equally important if not more important than the -relations of man to nature.”<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> Or again, “The most formidable -obstacle to the adoption of the policy of prevention -and treatment is not resistance to the necessary public expenditure, -still less inability to raise the money, but the -lack of administrative science and the shortcomings of our -administrative machinery. Merely to relieve destitution has -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>been nearly as easy as to do nothing. But successfully to -intervene in order to prevent—whether to prevent sickness, -to prevent the neglect of children, to prevent the multiplication -of the mentally unfit, or to prevent unemployment—involves -the discovery of causes, the formation of large -schemes of policy, the purposeful planning of collective action -in modifying the environment of the poorer classes, together -with scientifically diversified treatment of those individuals -who fall below the recognized standards of civilized life.”<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> - -<p>When charity had thus accepted the necessity of using -scientific methods there ensued immediate and far-reaching -results. Chief of these have been the three developments -which transformed charity into social work. It is possible -to trace them in performance and to trace a parallel development -of philosophy in the literature of the subject. These -developments can be simply indicated as (1) a systematization -of service; (2) an interest in causes of disaster, and -(3) an extension of charitable interest into new fields.<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> - - -<h4>THE SYSTEMATIZATION OF SERVICE</h4> - -<p>The converts to a scientific method undertook to work -within the traditional field of charity with a new thoroughness -and system.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> Fired with the belief of their times in -a tenable norm of prosperity and a continuous progress dependent -only on scientific control of our environment they -naturally hoped that the most stubborn situation could be -harmonized with the general melioration by the use of appropriate -methods and they were no longer content to offer -only relief, work, care for the helpless and such simple services -as were once all that was thought of. They constantly -challenged the applicability of old palliative expedients and -looked for reconstructive measures. “For every one thing,” -writes Miss Richmond, “that could then (1832) be done -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>about a man’s attitude toward his life and his social relations, -about his health, housing, work and recreation, there -are now (1917) a dozen things to do. The power to analyze -a human situation closely as distinguished from the old -method of falling back upon a few general classifications, -grows with the consciousness of the power to get things -done.”<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> This change in expectation may be seen in the -nomenclature of the tasks which social work has set itself. -At first “relief” was the objective, then “<i>adequate</i> relief” -and now it is “rehabilitation.” The methods were, first the -alternatives “relief” or “corrective treatment,” for there -were sheep and goats in those days, then “preventive treatment” -and now “adjustment.”</p> - -<p>Rehabilitation and adjustment are far more delicate and -responsible matters than mere relief or even “preventive -treatment” and we find social workers warning each other -that “life cannot be administered by definite rules and regulations -and that wisdom to deal with a man’s difficulties -comes only through some knowledge of his life and habits -as a whole and that to treat a separate episode is almost -sure to invite blundering.”<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The excuse for quoting so obvious -a statement is that former practice actually required -it to be made. Philanthropy took little cognizance of its supposed -beneficiaries’ “life and habits as a whole.” Such a feat -of synthetic judgment cannot of course be more than -roughly approximated. It has, however, proved possible to -develop a technique of inquiry, analysis, interpretation and -direct or indirect remedial action which is known as social -case work and can be made the subject of systematic instruction -in the schools for training social workers. And -within the last six years has come Miss Richmond’s -book with the suggestive title, “Social Diagnosis,” to -give a description of simple charity availing itself of -the means suggested by an age of scientific experiment -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span>and so justifying the expression, “scientific charity,” -which, unexplained, sounds so incongruous. The method -of social case work is sometimes claimed to be the -essential and distinguishing feature of social work but -if we study the classic expositions of case work we find -that they are describing on their own showing a <i>method</i><a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> -and a method which though applicable to many types of -social work is not applicable to all and which is, moreover, by -no means confined to social work. Case work, in any -connection, is the systematic study of all considerable effects -and causes in a particular situation and the development and -application of special means to alter that situation in some -preferred direction. Social case work is simply case work -in the form it takes when applied in social work. There are -some fully accepted forms of social work which have no -occasion to use it. Important as it is we must recognize -it as an expedient and not social work per se.</p> - - -<h4>THE INTEREST IN CAUSES</h4> - -<p>An interest in the causes of disaster is responsible for the -development of those forms of social work which do not retain -the immediate serviceableness of charity proper. It -has developed as part of the already described attempt to -systematize philanthropic service and also on an independent -line of its own. “In practically all departments of the work -of prevention” write the Webbs, “in the campaign against -degeneration and in favor of promotion of better breeding; -in the campaign against the ruin of adolescence, the creation -of unemployment and the demoralization of the unemployed—we -are always being stopped by the need for further -experience and additional research. We know enough now -to know how extremely important it is to increase our -knowledge.”<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> - -<p>This need of more knowledge after every step before the -next can be taken, this constant challenge offered by our -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>uncharted social life has caused the development of an interest -in observation and investigation independent of any -direct errands of mercy. Many known abuses exist which -are sure to claim their victims from time to time and a certain -amount of social work takes the form of an independent -crusade against such abuses. This type of social work often -embarks on a search for causes of trouble which proves -endless and indistinguishable from the search for knowledge. -A great deal of social work is now of this sort—the studies -of the Russell Sage Foundation and the lesser local foundations -for research and prevention, the original “Pittsburgh -Survey” and all those that have followed it, the careful -neighborhood studies of the settlements from the “Hull -House Maps and Papers” on and the intensive group studies, -studies, comparative statistics and stock takings of uncounted -miscellaneous agencies. Inquiry bids fair to be as -common in social work as ever alms was in charity.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> - - -<h4>THE EXTENSION OF THE PHILANTHROPIC INTEREST</h4> - -<p>The extension of a philanthropic interest into new fields, -the third result of scientific thoroughness and system has, -bewildered us and occasioned most of the inquiry as to what -social work may be. Today in the administrative departments -of Federal and State governments, in the churches, -the courts, the schools, the hospitals there is work being -done which has a double allegiance. On the one hand it -is responsible to government, religion, law, education or -public health, as the case may be, and on the other it is all -alike responsible to social work.</p> - -<p>The persons who engage in this work are as much social -workers as those in any traditionally philanthropic field and -have simply followed persons whom they are trying to help -into situations which philanthropy did not formerly consider -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>to be its business. Philanthropy has long taken an interest -in jails and reform schools, it has only quite recently followed -into court anyone still unconvicted. This it does in the -case of children and is beginning to do for some classes -of adults. The social worker of the adult court is the probation -officer, a representative of voluntary chivalry toward -the defendant, standing in the very stronghold of implacable -justice. The contrast between the points of view of criminal -law and social work is clearly put by a judge in describing -the function of the juvenile court. “The inquiry (in the -juvenile court) is not to determine whether the child is a -criminal or not, but to determine its status in relationship -to its need of the care and protection of the state. Being -adjudged in need of such special care the state assumes its -guardianship and oversight, always for the welfare of the -child. The aims and methods of the courts which administer -our criminal laws proceed upon an entirely different theory. -Our penal laws are enacted for the purpose of promoting -the happiness and well-being of society at large, and any -who violate them are termed criminals and outlawed as unfit -units of society. The penalty provided for under these -laws is imposed with the end in view of deterring the offender -from again violating his obligation to the body politic and -also of deterring others who might be like-minded.”<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> - -<p>In some other fields the introduction of the social worker -simply adds a new sort of service to what is already given. -The obligations of both the doctor and the medical social -worker are to the welfare of the patient, but their work is -complementary. Often the social worker has responsibilities -no less than the doctor’s but her diagnosis is of a situation -and its possible interference with the curative process -the doctor prescribes. She must discover and change working -conditions or personal habits that tend to defeat the -doctor’s efforts. It is not a mere accident that this became -the task of a social worker. It is not because it was no -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>medical job and the charitably inclined were available for -it. It is because of a certain characteristic of social work -which is a direct result of the single minded address to the -service of need—namely, a tendency to look upon people -from no point of view but that of interest in their needs, -of whatever sort those needs may be. This habit of taking -a <i>synthetic</i> view of their lives, if such an expression is permissible, -gives exactly what was needed to complement the -special and limited services of the doctor.</p> - -<p>The same is true in the case of the social worker in the -schools.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> It is not because there is no other obvious title -to give her that the school visitor is called a social worker -but because her responsibility is not to the standards demanded -by the school system nor to any subject of instruction -but to the child himself and the need of the child in -any capacity in which that need may occur. She must -satisfy the need or put him in contact with others who -will. The same is true of social workers employed to give -suitable distribution to the benevolence of churches or who -investigate for government departments or administer government -services. There is abundant evidence that this -concern for the individual as such is what is everywhere expected -of the social worker. It is a paradox of this modern -development of philanthropy that scientific method should -have led away from generalization and formula and to a -separation of the individual from the category and the predicament. -One can pick up a “Survey” of any date and read -of the social workers reviewing all sorts of data for light on -the nature of individual lives. They study official records of -vagrancy and extract from them information about vagrants.<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> -They attempt to give relevance to Americanization -work by studying the specific backgrounds of diverse foreign -groups.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> - -<p>Miss Addams writes of the settlement that “the social -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>injury of the meanest man not only becomes its concern, -but by virtue of its very locality, it has put itself into a -position to see, as no one but a neighbor can see, the stress -and need of those who bear the brunt of the social injury.” -This is in a certain sense true of other forms of -social work as well. Because of their interest in individual -lives, and their constant response to the challenge in every -sort of insufficiency and adversity they transcend the ordinary -barriers of social provincialism and come to know -everywhere those who bear the brunt of the social injury. -The social worker seems always to be speaking for someone -who has not managed as well as possible for himself, or for -whom life has arranged badly, or who is not old enough or -strong enough to be his own guardian. He often looks like -a fool rushing in where angels might well fear to tread, but -we must concede that he is doing for someone in an apparently -untenable position things that only the self-sufficing -can do for themselves. This synthesis of the interest of -all social work in “personal” predicaments is indicated in -the word “social,” for our social relations are simply our -relations as persons. But it seems to need further exposition -because the word social has been used loosely and no -longer carries clear-cut implications. A lawyer speaking to -the 1919 convention defines “individual” interests as “the -claims which the human being makes simply because he is -a human being. For example, the claims to be secure in -his reputation and honor, in his social existence, to be -secure in his belief and opinion, his spiritual existence, -to be secure in his domestic relations, in his expanded -individual existence and to be secure in his substance, -his economic existence.”<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> It will be noted that, in -the attempt to define these individual interests even -a superlatively able lawyer could come no nearer to -legal precision than to say “for example.” The concept -is one which social work itself continues to alter, -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span>fill out and expand with every breath it draws and is not -the less significant because it is elusive. As social work becomes -more systematic with an almost technical practice, -more dissociated from the specific act of relief and more -widely and variously allied with the practices of other callings -this personal, this “social” interest, becomes increasingly -important as one of its distinguishing features.</p> - -<p>We may recapitulate the effects of the extension of a charitable -interest into new fields. The charitable interest working -along scientific lines has produced what we know as social -work and social work continues to manifest that interest -as its characteristic feature in all the widely scattered fields -to which human needs have called it. It is, first, everywhere -engaged in the gratuitous extension of benefits. That -is to say, it performs services which, while they may be -officially sanctioned, are discretionary and adjustable, and -are not considered established rights in any but the most -broadly construed humanitarian sense. Secondly, it is concerned -with negative conditions; not the successes but the -failures interest it, not the promising people but the difficult -people, not the leaders but the under-dogs. And -thirdly, as social work begins to operate in close association -with many other services, we see, what was always implicit -in charity but now first stands out in sharp relief, a prime -interest in the personal needs of individual beneficiaries. -This puts social work in a new relation to public affairs for -it not only stands by to gather up the human wreckage of -bad management but it brings to formalized administration -a constant and well-posted challenge to meet individual -requirements.</p> - - -<h4>THE PROPOSED DEFINITION</h4> - -<p>Diversity in social work may today be more conspicuous -than likeness but under the diversity essential likeness can -still be traced. Despite all appearances to the contrary it -has its own department of human affairs and its universal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> -common interest inherited from charity and to this department -of human affairs, to the service of this interest, it -brings a method adopted from science.</p> - -<p>The <i>department of human affairs</i> in which social work -operates is that indicated by the word “social”; men’s relations -to each other rather than their relations to nature. -The <i>interest</i> inherited from charity is an interest in untoward -situations; social work, like charity turns like a compass -to the magnet of need; opportunity, success, superiority -do not attract it unless they are beset with some difficulty -which it can remove; handicap, deprivation, insufficiency -offer the challenge to which it responds. The <i>method</i> -adopted from science is that of observation and generalization; -social work has established the fact that just as man -cannot live without a certain food supply, so he cannot -thrive as a conscious being without a modicum of interest, -incentive, and leeway of freedom, so that matters long considered -intimate and implicit have now become the objects -of close and deliberate observation. And just as men, endlessly -varied in physical appearance are to the physiologist -of one general pattern and as, far more strangely, the infinite -variety of mind is known by the psychologist to have -its common laws of operation, so, strangest and most illusive -of all, men individually unpredictable, do yet, in the -main, follow laws of social behaviour which it is in the power -of an observer to detect. We can say that the main act -and final object of social work are those of charity. The -means and methods are those of science moving in the fields -of charitable concern. Social work seems to comprise a -group of allied activities called by a common name and considered -to be but various phases of a single undertaking -because they are all engaged in spontaneous efforts to -extend benefits in response to the evidence of need; they all -show a major interest in improving the social relationship -of their beneficiaries and all avail themselves of scientific -knowledge and employ scientific methods.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p> - -<p>We may propose as a tentative definition, to be tested and -carried further in the chapters which follow, that social -work includes all voluntary attempts to extend benefits in -response to need which are concerned with social relationships -and which avail themselves of scientific knowledge -and employ scientific methods.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> Professor C. A. Ellwell, in Charities and the Commons for 1907, p. 187.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> Beatrice and Sidney Webb, The Prevention of Destitution, p. 330.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> Owen R. Lovejoy, Proceedings of National Conference of Social Work, 1919, -pp. 666-7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Mary E. Richmond, Ibid. 1920, p. 254.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> Mary E. Richmond, Social Diagnosis, p. 29.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House, p. 162.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> See especially Mary E. Richmond, What Is Social Case Work?</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> Beatrice and Sidney Webb, The Prevention of Destitution, p. 333.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> When such inquiries have been undertaken by the government they have often -been proposed and prepared for by social work. See for example: Lillian D. -Wald, The House on Henry Street, on the U. S. Investigation of the Condition -of Women and Child Wage Earners, p. 137, N.Y. Child Labor Committee, -p. 144.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> Proceedings of National Conference of Social Work, 1920, p. 171.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> Ibid., 1919, p. 613.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> Charities and the Commons, April, 1907, p. 577.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> American Year Book, 1919, p. 402.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> Roscoe Pound, at National Conference, 1919, p. 105.</p> - -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE TESTIMONY OF THE CONFERENCE</h3> - - -<p>We have now propounded a tentative definition of social -work based upon an interpretation of its development and -present practices. We will not be sure of the correctness -of that interpretation until we have tested the applicability -of the result to the whole range of social work. Nor can -we do this fairly by making our own presentation of social -work. For such a test we must find some ready-made presentation -which will marshal social work in all its diversity. -The reports of the national conference do this and, indirectly, -the courses offered by the school for training social -workers. This chapter will test and, if possible, expand -the definition by the testimony of the conference and the -succeeding chapter by the testimony of the schools.</p> - -<p>The conference is divided into ten sections:</p> - -<ol> -<li>Children.</li> -<li>Delinquents.</li> -<li>Health.</li> -<li>Public agencies and institutions.</li> -<li>The family.</li> -<li>Industrial and economic problems.</li> -<li>The local community.</li> -<li>Mental hygiene.</li> -<li>Organization of social forces.</li> -<li>Uniting of native and foreign-born.</li> -</ol> - -<p>At the annual convention each of these ten sections holds -its own group meetings at which papers are presented and -discussions conducted on the subjects appropriate to the -section. It will be seen that the division into sections is -on a basis of administrative fields rather than technique -or function. The fields however are not mutually exclusive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> -but overlapping. Children although giving their name to -the whole first section appear among “delinquents” in the -second, candidates for health in the third and so on. Indeed, -all of the ten section names might serve as subheads -under most or all of the other topics.</p> - -<p>More significant in the search for a definition is the fact -that these several fields are not exclusively possessed by -social workers. “Children” are also the special concern of -elementary teachers, “delinquency” is primarily referred -to the courts, “health” is the conceded bailiwick of the medical -profession and so forth. Even at the conference many -papers are presented by persons other than social workers.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> - -<p>These two types of overlapping make the masses of material -with which we have to deal both indeterminate and -confusing. But representing as they do the mutual interpenetration -of social work and other callings, they give a -fresh opportunity to distinguish the nature of social work. -We may inquire what is the special interest of social work -in “children,” in “delinquents,” in “health,” and in what -ways does it differ from the respective interests of teaching, -law, medicine and so forth.</p> - -<p>It is obviously impossible to review in readable compass -the fifty years in which the conference has met and, as -there have been great changes in social work during that -time, it would be profitless for a contemporary definition. -A new arrangement of sections was made in 1918, and -therefore the reports of the years 1918, 1919, and 1920 -(the last in print when this study was made) were chosen -for detailed analysis.</p> - -<p>That analysis can be most simply presented to the reader -by sections, putting before him an itemized statement of -the subjects covered in the reports of each section (treating -the three years as a unit) and then following this sectional -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>review with such considerations as have recommended -themselves cumulatively and can only be offered on -the basis of the material as a whole. We are looking for the -characteristics of social work as a whole and can therefore -consider only such features as continue to show themselves -throughout the sections. In the following itemized lists -for each section the figures represent the number of papers -in which the subject indicated was the principle topic.</p> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I. CHILDREN.</p> - -<p>The forty-five papers presented in this section dealt with the -following subjects:</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Plans for removing the handicaps of the illegitimate without -increasing illegitimacy</td> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Recreational needs of children</td> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">General protective schemes, plans for extending a sheltering arm over children -isolated in the country and for establishing state-wide vigilance</td> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Standards for child care</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Reports on the practices of particular localities</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">The working of children’s courts</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Nature and causes of that chronic and excessive troublesomeness -which is called juvenile delinquency</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Special psychology of children</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Best ways of providing for children dependent on the public</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">The responsibilities of the public to its neglected children</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Problems of day nurseries</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Health needs of children</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -</table> -</div> - -<p>It requires but a glance at the above list to see how much -wider is its range than that of a teachers’ or medical men’s -convention. There is nothing to connect the topics—except -children. This synthesis of social work in personality -which has been already indicated as the “social” element in -social work becomes increasingly evident in any review of -the conference. As it has proved difficult of definition it -will be well to keep it in mind in order that it may take -shape during the following review:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>II. DELINQUENTS AND CORRECTION.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Probation and parole</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Protective work for young people</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Special value of policewomen in protective work for girls</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Juvenile delinquency</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Runaway and neglected girls</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Papers not devoted to a single subject</td> -<td class="tdr">17</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Including such considerations as the influence of war -on criminality, municipal detention for women, the function -of a truancy officer, the desirability of creating a public -defender and the moral education of training school -inmates.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>III. HEALTH.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Standard of living</td> -<td class="tdr">19</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Coordination of health services</td> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Special problems of health in war time</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Housing</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Health work among the foreign-born</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Health problems of the Red Cross</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>IV. PUBLIC AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Administrative questions</td> -<td class="tdr">15</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Effects of prohibition</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">State pensions for mothers</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Pauperism</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Control of leprosy, by colonization or otherwise</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Such standardization of record keeping as to make the -records kept by the several states comparable</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Education of the public in their responsibility to public -charges, public care for negroes, care of crippled children, -care of defectives and delinquents—one paper each</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>V. THE FAMILY.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Questions of administration</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Registration of all appeals in a social workers’ exchange</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Advantages of an orderly approach to social case analysis</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Examples of case work treatment</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The family</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Marriage laws</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Tasks growing out of war</td> -<td class="tdr">10</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Maintenance of family solidarity during absence of -men, reinstatement of returned soldiers, Red Cross -programs and functions of “home service.” -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Papers not devoted to a single topic included such subjects as:</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Case work as a source of information for sociology.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Case work as contributing to democracy.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Case work as interpreting industrial problems.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Case work as serving those above the poverty line, cooperating, -interpreting social work to the public, organizing -the community, family budgets, thrift and pensions for -widowed mothers.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>VI. INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Cooperation, health insurance, British labor party program, -minimum wage, soldiers’ and sailors’ insurance, state care of -mothers and infants, inheritance, land monopoly, the position -of the negro in industry, trade unions in the public service, -social work and the revolution demanded by radicals, causes -for the existence of the I. W. W. and economic justice.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>VII. THE LOCAL COMMUNITY.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Special needs of rural communities</td> -<td class="tdr">11</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Recreational facilities of all grades</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Americanization on a neighborhood basis</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Effects of war on a neighborhood</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Other papers not easily classified deal with various expedients -for focussing local interest, settlements, the community store -and community kitchen, the social unit plan, enlistment of the -business men’s interest in community progress and councils of -national defence.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>VIII. MENTAL HYGIENE.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">State departments or societies and other organized agencies -for mental hygiene</td> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Training of social workers for the new task</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Experience of the war in the care of neuroses</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Care for the feeble-minded</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mental hygiene in industry</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mental hygiene and delinquency</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mental hygiene and education</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">One paper each on—</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Stimulation of public interest in care for the insane, the -psychiatric element in all case work, the individual versus -the family as the unit of social work, social problems as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> -the reaction of mental types, the court’s dealings with the -mentally afflicted, and the relation of social work to the -state’s program, to hospitals, physicians, and the community -in fostering mental hygiene. A few other papers present -the actual lore of the new subject.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>IX. THE ORGANIZATION OF SOCIAL FORCES.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Publicity for social work activities and education of the -community in appreciating them</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Impetus of the war to large scale organization for common -purposes and the desirability of integrating social -service</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">“War chest”</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Registration of cases</td> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Other papers treat of--</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind">Endorsement and standardization of social work agencies, -salary standards for social workers and their labor turnover -and teaching materials for learners. -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>X. 1918—GENERAL PROBLEMS OF WAR AND -RECONSTRUCTION.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind"> -Ten papers no different in import from those in other sections -which have been cited as discussing conditions created by -the war.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p class="indent2">1919 and 1920—UNITING OF NATIVE AND FOREIGN-BORN -IN AMERICA.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl tdind"> -State immigrant commission, labor organizations and public -education as Americanizers, the foreign language worker -and foreign language press, foreign organizations and -family welfare, democracy and immigration, neighborhood -life, and the treatment of immigrant heritages.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -</table> -</div> - -<p>Such, in briefest possible outline is the scope of the annual -conference on social work. What have its papers contributed -to the correction or expansion of a definition?</p> - -<p>The first proposition of the tentative definition was that -all forms of social work originated in a spontaneous effort -to extend benefits. How is this affected by the testimony -of the conference? In the first place it is abundantly confirmed. -The conference papers deal pre-eminently with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> -pioneering in the extension of benefits and opportunities. -The phraseology does not always suggest this but one has -only to look beyond the phraseology to the action in order -to find it. If we look at the first section we see it to be in -effect proposing that the whole community shall deliberately -and without delay rearrange not only schools and home -life but industry and general living conditions so as to give -to all its children opportunity and encouragement such as -are now given only to the most fortunate. We find it advocating -a scheme of child welfare on a county basis which -shall seek out “all children in need of care for any reason” -and demanding enforcement of proper health precautions -for the children of unenlightened parents and a real chance -in life for the illegitimate child. Among the titles of this -one section at one conference appear “Progress Toward -Better Laws,” “Planks in a 1920 Platform,” “Lessons from -North Carolina,” “A Community Program, etc.”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> But these -platforms and programs are not to be ascribed to the community -in any sense except that of being proposed for the -community as a whole by social workers. At the same conference -they are discussing “Social Workers as Interpreters” -of social conditions and methods of getting “publicity” -for their aims.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> The same sort of title takes up the tale in -the next section, a “Program” again, “Aims and Methods” -twice, “A Plan,” and so on throughout the conference. -Although other professions, education and medicine for example, -are constantly busy jacking up standards, their general -undertakings are fully accepted. For all regular purveyances -of education and medicine the community has -given a blanket order and expects to pay “within reason.” -Social work is in a different case for it is constantly trying -to put over something which is still but tentatively and experimentally -accepted and depends root and branch on the -willingness of some people to do, out of hand, for others.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> - -<p>The president of the conference in 1920 referred to a “belief -in human improvableness and a willingness to tackle the -job.”<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> That is as far as the conference usually philosophises -in this direction. And this is the sort of phraseology -that makes one forget that social work is extending benefits—this -casual reference to tackling the job. It is another -of the paradoxes in the development of social work -(we have already noted science rescuing personality), that -when charity offered only a minimum of rough food, uniform -raiment and herded shelter to the utterly destitute -there was much made of the generosity of the donor, but -now when social work has been carried to a point where it -often provides for the handicapped a great deal better than -the rank and file manage to provide for themselves it is -taken to be a case of noblesse oblige.</p> - -<p>We may read in the “Observations of a Philanthropist” -penned a century ago that “It’s greatly for the interests of -charity that the objects of it should be respectful and grateful. -We think our kindness in a manner repaid when it -is thankfully received; it’s a pleasure then to have done it -and an incitement to do more,”<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> or in a “hospital” report -that “the number of proper objects are amply sufficient to -employ the bounty of the rich.”<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></p> - -<p>The difference here indicated is not accounted for by the -fact that these were the observations of philanthropists -while the conference is composed of professional social -workers for whom benefaction is all in the day’s work. As -has been already indicated, the papers read at the conference -are not all by social workers. Furthermore, the “incitement” -now employed to get from all manner of men -financial support for the undertakings of social work is of -a very different order. Let any one consider the appeals -which come to his desk. They contain little to rouse his -vanity and the offer of an opportunity to acquire merit is -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>almost as uncommon. The degree of need and the certainty -of accomplishment are the things never omitted.</p> - -<p>This suggests the cause for change. A century ago need -might equally well have been urged, but what could then -have been promised of accomplishment? All that was then -expected was surcease of the hour’s suffering. That is a -fit subject of congratulation as when a complaisant philanthropist -wrote of the London of his time there “is not a -disease that can afflict human nature nor a want which the -varying conditions of man can require but finds an open -asylum, a resort ready prepared with the needful accommodation -for reception, comfort, instruction and cure, and with -the exception of a few cases entirely free of expense.”<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p> - -<p>But what is that compared with the great modern adventure -of eliminating poverty and holding disease at bay? Science -has brought to charity faith and hope in terrestrial -terms. The historian who unearthed the above statement -remarks, “In theory, society consists of a large number of -charitable people; in fact the number of those who can be -properly so described is a small one. The few who are -really in earnest in their desire to alleviate distress even at -the cost of considerable expenditure of time and money, are -surrounded by a multitude of persons who are willing to assist -but only provided they can do so at no great inconvenience -to themselves. This lower power of sympathy passes -gradually through the stages of languid interest to complete -indifference.”<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> - -<p>Modern social work is no longer dependent on the appeal -to “sympathy” alone. It has a wide range of interest and -through its practical application of the various social sciences -it associates itself with all our hopes of progress. Expectation -not only to mitigate the effects of calamity but to -prevent its recurrence gives social work a claim on public -attention which charity never had.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> - -<p>Along with this change in expectation goes naturally a -change in attitude toward the beneficiaries of social work. -“There can be no line of cleavage in the advancement of -public sentiment between the development of the general -social agencies such as church and school and the more intensive -forms which we have come to know as social -work.”<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> The old view of society saw many staunch persons -standing on their own feet and a few weak brethren -or victimized who needed support. But the view implied -in this quotation recognizes an interdependence among all -the members of society, an interdependence of which the -particular predicament of those who happen to be in need -of social work is merely an incident.</p> - -<p>But the speakers at the conference go still further. “So -long as there are human frailties there will be need of social -workers. But let us not forget that the larger vision of -social work contemplates not charity alone but justice, and -all social ills arising from environment are man-made and -therefore changeable.”<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> If the beneficiaries of social work -are thus counted scapegoats for us all, being victims of social -injustice, then every act of prevention (and we have said -that all social work is now at some remove preventive) is for -the general safety and no more than a proper self-defence. -Social work now resents the smugness that can represent -as especially disinterested any service to those who have -been paying the penalty of blunders or iniquities for which -the prosperous may be equally responsible. It is only justice -to them or less and it is sound policy for all. No wonder -social work will not stand to be considered charity! It -considers its preoccupation with the backwaters of race -progress to show no gracious condescension on its part—merely -an appreciation of the extent and importance of the -backwaters.</p> - -<p>But all this shows social work more than ever spontaneous -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>and gratuitous, for it does not work for even a heavenly -reward; and it must, unadmonished, stir the community -to support the work it sets itself to perform. It is -only the old condescension that has gone. The extension -of benefits remains, but has become something constructive -and collectivistic.</p> - -<p>Such a change in attitude toward benefaction would necessarily -affect the second criterion of social work proposed -in our tentative definition—its incidence in response to need. -What is the testimony of the conference on this second -criterion? The analysis of subjects dealt with in the first -section reads “plans for removing <i>handicaps</i>,” “recreational -<i>needs</i>,” “<i>protective</i> schemes,” “standards for child <i>care</i>,” -“nature and causes of <i>delinquency</i>,” “providing for children -<i>dependent</i> on the public,” “responsibilities to <i>neglected</i> -children,” “health <i>needs</i>.” Two subjects, which as -given, do not commit themselves on the question of need -complete the list. In the second section the persons under -consideration are by definition subject to some sort of provision -and control. They are delinquents. But that the -interest of the social workers is especially in fostering and -guarding them is shown by the fact that young people’s -need of protection is the subject of six papers, juvenile delinquency -of two, runaway and neglected girls of one more, -while the rest deal with adjustment of treatment to the -needs of older offenders, with probation, parole, education -and the form of detention desirable in a given case. The -third section deals entirely with standards of living in relation -to disease conditions, and with means of extending -medical service. The remaining seven sections continue to -show need as the occasion of social work, but it is a sublimated -sort of need which would be much misrepresented by -any classification of the beneficiaries as “needy.” The whole -level of interest has passed above and beyond that.</p> - -<p>As has been already indicated discussion turns on “programs,” -“plans,” “standards,” and it is in a positive and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> -anticipatory vein as by people embarked on a constructive -undertaking. The note of initial accomplishment is most -clearly struck in the “local community” division with such -titles as “The Boy Scout and Community Building,” “Organization -of Games and Athletics in Rural Communities,” -“Signs of Rural Hope,” etc. But turn to the context and -you will read, “The Scout program recognizes the need of -the boy for a recreational program for his unused time -which at the same time is educational. Scouting also recognizes -the need that the man has, etc.”<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> The neglected -rural situation, the poverty of interest in some neighborhoods—these -are what have drawn social work to undertakings -that carry no hint of remedy in the expression -given their objects.</p> - -<p>In a dynamically conceived society it is hard to say where -remedy shades into prevention and prevention into construction. -Prevention of disaster not only involves the -maintenance of continuously good conditions but the anticipation -of wants. If we are not to have juvenile delinquency -boys must have some chance for wholesome recreation. -If we would avoid bad housing we must arrange -betimes a good city plan preserving open spaces where -they will be wanted later and developing each type of building -in a neighborhood where it need not be soon perverted -to a use for which it was not intended and will not be well -adapted.</p> - -<p>Dr. Simon Patten contended that the present productivity -of the world was such as to free mankind from any fear -of general dearth and cause all our prospects to be potentially -in terms of abundance and not of want, to rescue us -from the old “pain economy” of insufficiency and give us a -“pleasure economy” on a safe margin of sufficiency. Under -these circumstances, he said, “world riches may replace the -living sacrifice and become the social contrivance that -lowers human costs and we must cease to think that the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span>anguish of the sentient creature is compensated by the -development of moral qualities which merely reconcile man -to repeating the experience of suffering.”<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> Social work -has already ceased to think in that fashion and is working -in the spirit of a pleasure economy so that the terminology -of need is no longer pre-eminent. “There are times when -self-sacrificing zeal is demanded and all honor to those who -then devote or lose themselves in service. That is only one -side of it. The need of sacrifice is always a reflection on -the men or circumstances calling for it.”<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> That is the -view of modern social work, the frame of mind in which -it sets about its work. It talks about what has to be done -as a matter of course and is chiefly concerned with the best -way of doing it. It is beginning to outgrow “sob stories” -even in asking support from an indifferent public—they -set too low a standard of toleration and there are some -modern social workers who turn from them abashed, as -from dallying with an outrage beneath endurance. The -battle ground of reform must be on another plain where -the initiated see danger but the complaisant still need -convincing.</p> - -<p>“When once the worst is gone the second best becomes -intolerable.” Gray, the historian of English philanthropy, -describes the effective philanthropist as the ideal agitator, -“It is his to discover those larger ends of common welfare -which reach beyond the moral perceptiveness of ordinary -men in their ordinary moods. He is, as it were, an explorer -in the unmapped world of the ideal life from whence he -brings back news of an unreached good, such tidings as -sound like travelers’ tales in our ears, but which haunt the -mind of men until they seek to verify the story by a practical -policy calculated to transform the actual. Only it -must be observed that the most daring speculator cannot -move very far from his base and the wildest Utopia is determined -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>by the conditions of its year of publication.”<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></p> - -<p>“I hold,” said Dr. Southard to the 1919 conference, -“whatever the ideal order, the practical order of work -called social work begins with the eradication of evil. It -may sound better to sow goodness or to transplant goodness, -or even to graft goodness in the eager social world, -and beautiful little gardens of Eden or smaller cases of -goodness can be shown here and there to the social visitor—nevertheless, -I hold, with the prejudice of a physician -perhaps, the eradications of evil are more in the first order -of our work than disseminations, transplantations, and -grafts of goodness. At any rate, if there be anything at -all in the millennial hopes and ingrained optimisms of Spencerian -evolution, it is plain that by and large we are putting -evil behind us and arriving at goodness by a clever -technique of successful destruction.”<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> This “eradication -of evil” may, as one side of the “technique” of evolution, -operate in the terms of any developing organization; but -in terms of eradication of evil, not in its own functioning -or its subject, but in the conditions of its object it is not -common outside of social work. It is not to be found in -the business world where all purveyance shuns the applicant -most in need of its wares and seeks the one best able -to pay. It is not to be found in the law, which tries to -hold the scales even to all comers. It is only slightly and -intermittently in state-craft which while it is coming more -and more to inhibit abuse of the helpless does still, from an -age-old sense of security in the alliance with wealth and -power, bend its constructive energies to encouragement of -the prosperous. It is not even in education, which constantly -tends to provide in each school grade teaching suitable -for those who will have longest to study and is only -importuned by demands from <i>outside</i> to cater in the lower -grades to those who must get in them all the education they -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>are ever to have. Social work stands alone in its purely -personal championship of the less secure in prosperity. It -is in its enormous demands for them that it seems to have -turned to purely constructive things.</p> - -<p>It is indeed possible that along the lines of prevention -social work is developing a function which is positive in the -same sense as hygiene is positive in the field of medicine -and that social work will, to that extent, independently -“plant good” as well as “eradicate evil.” But it is also possible, -and in the light of past developments more probable, -that any constructive phase of social work which proves -permanent should come to be looked on as a routine purveyance -and no longer considered social work. This we -have already seen to have happened in the case of free education -and many other things.</p> - -<p>The conference has thus confirmed and filled out the elementary -features of social work which it inherits from -charity, voluntary benefaction and response to need. What -does it have to say of the qualifying features that have -transformed charity into social work—the emergence of the -individual as the only and sufficient nexus for its services -and the adoption of scientific guidance?</p> - -<p>The first of these has already been touched on in relation -to the first section. Throughout the second the discussion -all bears on the prevention of delinquency or the care of -delinquents. There is not much discussion of pure justice, -the burden of the argument is all that we should “approach -every individual prisoner with conscientious determination -to give him the best service of which we are capable, realizing -that his future is largely in our hands.”<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> A public defender -is asked for “in order that every person accused, no -matter how poor, may have a full and fair trial.”<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> And -for sentenced prisoners social work asks something more -than mere detention, “we used to look upon them, in the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>stage of repression, en masse. * * * Instead of committing -a man to a particular institution he is now committed -to the custody of a board of control * * * to be examined -* * * to determine just where he will fit into school or -industry. The man will be assigned by his board, to the -particular prison to which he is best suited for mental and -physical treatment.”<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> “If a child who is mentally sound -comes into court with a mind bent on the commission of -some offence he should be sent to a special school having -for its purpose the education of such children. Let the -great departments of psychology and sociology of our colleges -and universities devise a course of instruction and -education that will reclaim a juvenile delinquent who is -mentally and physically sound”<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> and “we should extend -the methods developed in the Children’s Courts to apply to -all ages, wiping out our arbitrary age line by improving -the treatment of the older groups.”<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> - -<p>It is in this section that there appears at its plainest the -paradox that the questions purely dependent on what we -call personality are questions of social relationship and all -genuinely social questions are questions of personal life. A -public policy is justified in terms of personal benefit but interest -is claimed for personal difficulties on the ground that -they illuminate public issues.</p> - -<p>The third division is one that speaks quite unequivocally -concerning the nature of social work, for there is an old -and kindly profession already established in this field and -social work must justify its own entrance there. All of -the subjects in this health section are of interest to the -doctor as well as the social worker, but for the doctor they -throw light on the causes and cures of disease, for the -social worker they are a point of departure for active work -to establish better standards of living. Nineteen of the -papers presented deal specifically with that subject. Five -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span>more deal with the co-ordination of various health agencies—a -task in social engineering. One speaker, himself -a physician, reports no less than ten agencies united in -efforts to improve a city’s health. Only four of these (the -board of health, the hospital, the tuberculosis society and -the medical profession) were permanently concerned with -health. The other six, the schools, the park department, -the city statistics department, the industries, insurance -companies and churches were enlisted, as the context -shows, as so many agents establishing connections with the -individual beneficiaries of the campaign. The work of -choosing them and enlisting their co-operation demanded a -knowledge of social not of physiological conditions.</p> - -<p>In the next section, that devoted to public agencies and -institutions, the conspicuous fact is that social work does -not forget that public care is for private people. It hardly -seems necessary to quote from all the sections even in pursuit -of this most elusive of the characteristics of social -work. One more citation will be enough. “We social -workers have our contribution to make to that ultimate -attainment of democracy which must be wrought out, not -in uniformity but in diversity, not only in the right of man -to individual freedom but in his ability to enter into that -right.”<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> - -<p>The extension of the sense of public responsibility, the -realization that reform must come in all the interlocking -activities of a highly organized business, political and social -life has tempted some people to think that the days of -social work are numbered or to seek out for it some highly -specialized or recondite function. But if we are right in -ascribing to it this function of challenging all forms of -service to reach and satisfy individual needs it may be more -important in the future than in the past. Wholesale and -collectivist methods call for constant adaptation of general -means to particular cases and the more we give of government -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span>service the more we may need of social work. The -more varied our health service, the more flexible and extensible -our educational opportunities, the more occasions -there will be for adjustment. Such follow-up work as is -done by hospitals and by the workmen’s compensation -office, the work of the mothers’ assistance fund, of the -voluntary experiments in special nutrition classes, vocational -guidance, and scholarships for trade school attendance, -are only a few examples of the kind of thing social -work branches into as established agencies extend their -own responsibilities.</p> - -<p>The fact that social work rescues people who fall through -the meshes of the school system, people dismissed from -clinical treatment only to return to a regimen bound to revive -their troubles, that it discovers the round pegs in square -holes and the neglected groups and anomalous cases has -caused other people to see it as all converging in a liaison -work which shall ultimately be all there is left for it to -perform and which shall be in essence social case work. -From what has already been said it will be evident that -there is no reason to think that social work which has been -so prolific of criticism of our established institutions and -a pioneer in experiment should cease to exercise this function, -which is as infinite in possibilities as the life of man -itself, or even that it will cease to work along lines of inquiry -or of group work. That little word “social” opens up -the possibilities of all the permutations and combinations -in human consciousness. The conference at least hints that -social work knows it.</p> - -<p>And what of the method by which social work is to be -conducted. Is it, as the tentative definition said, suggested -by the social sciences? There is not a great deal of explicit -reference to social science, but the concepts of economics, -social psychology and sociology are constantly in -evidence and even political science has its say in an “engineering” -conception of the state, in definitions of democracy -and in criteria of progress. The almost complete disappearance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> -of the question of relative responsibility of the -individual and society which morality and philosophy have -debated in so many forms testifies to assimilation of the -sociological concept of social life as an integration of individual -lives rather than an aggregation and of the individual -life as no digit but an incident “* * * time moves -swiftly in the social field and the special knowledge of today -easily becomes the common knowledge of tomorrow.”<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> -And after all that has been said in the preceding pages of -the obvious effects of a scientific method and scientific attitude -in making social work what the conference shows it -to be it scarcely remains to prove or even argue the confirmation, -the reinforcement, the expansion of the last -qualification of social work.</p> - -<p>Nine round-table conferences and five committee reports, -in addition to the papers presenting concrete programs and -reports of local experiments testify to the careful checking -up of method. The constant references to programs, -standards and experience, to records and the search for -causes, the emphasis on prevention and the patient, objective, -therapeutic attitude of the social worker all testify to -the conquest of the field by science. But the completeness -and significance of that conquest are plainest in the ever-present, -implicit but unmistakable assumption that all the -undertakings discussed are parts of a systematically coordinated -campaign based upon continuing observation of -cause and effect.</p> - -<p>Thus have the reports of the conference confirmed and -filled out the tentative definition. But the analysis did not -cull from them any fresh characteristics of social work. -Their mass of commentary, aimed, as it seemed, in all possible -directions, would suggest no testimony except in -answer to leading questions and we will have to be satisfied -with such expansion of the definition as, while adding no -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span>new terms, commits the already proposed items to more -significant implications. The definition so expanded must -be passed on, for challenge or alteration by the evidence of -the training schools.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> The 1920 conference heard from four judges (three of them of juvenile courts), -three college professors and one college president, a bishop, a rabbi, a governor, -and a state commander of the American Legion, as well as from -doctors and other professional people who occupied positions ranking as -social work.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> Conference, 1919, pp. 111, 123, 133, 136.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> Ibid. 1920, pp. 271 and 278.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> Ibid. pp. 188, 111, 129, 135 and 298.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> Ibid. p. 4.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> History of English Philanthropy, p. 269.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> Ibid., p. 273.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> Ibid., p. 271, referring to the opening of the 18th century.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> Ibid., p. 266.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> Conference, 1920, p. 74.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> Ibid., p. 77.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> Ibid., p. 267.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> The New Basis of Civilization, p. 55.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> Philanthropy and the State, p. 235.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> Ibid., p. 302.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> Conference, 1919, p. 583.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> Ibid., 1918, p. 147.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> Ibid., p. 171.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> Ibid., 1919, p. 100.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> Ibid., 1918, p. 126.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> Ibid., p. 136.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> Conference, 1918, p. 287.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> R. W. Kelso, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 22, No. 1.</p> - -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCHOOLS</h3> - - -<p>There are some fifteen schools for the training of social -workers,<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> independent institutions or university departments. -The younger among them have not followed at all -closely the organization or practices of the older<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> and all -work in close co-operation with local social work agencies, -farming their students out with these for practice work -and drawing lecturers from the agency staffs. The varied -curricula of the schools seem therefore to offer direct evidence -of what is considered in their respective regions, the -most necessary equipment for social workers.</p> - -<p>Only three school catalogues venture any characterization -of the tasks for which their courses equip. Toronto -gives the most inclusive. “The sense of social obligation -and interdependence has grown greater as our social life -has grown more complex. The more social conditions have -been studied, the more apparent has it become that many -of our worst evils are due to the lack of the science which -should direct and stimulate the sense of our solidarity. In -recent years governments, municipal and other authorities, -industrial corporations and voluntary associations of -all kinds have been compelled to make ever-extending provisions -for industrial protection, social insurance, public -health service, housing improvement, recreation and various -other forms of organized social effort. All these -activities have created the sphere of a new profession, that -of the trained social worker.” Here are the familiar “sense -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span>of social obligation,” the reference to a “science which -should direct and stimulate this sense,” the “<i>ever-extending</i> -provisions” prompted by it and, unmentioned but obviously -implicit, a constant concern with things subject to -amelioration: “protection,” “insurance,” “service,” “improvement,” -“recreation”—these are the substantives in -its main statement. The Ohio catalogue itemizes the demands -of social service on a training school<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> but the only -generalization to be deduced from the list is that they all -imply a purpose of rescue or amelioration. The Simmons -characterization confines itself entirely to emphasizing -the implications of the word “social”<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> and the Missouri -school opens its catalogue with the discouraging statement -that “it is impossible at the present time to construct a -satisfactory definition of social work.”</p> - -<p>This exhausts the slender sheaf of direct comment. For -further enlightenment we must analyse the offered -equipment itself. The nature of the training given will -predict the nature of the work expected to follow. There -are a great many courses offered and the variety not of -nomenclature only but of apparent content is enough for -bewilderment. Classification of the courses according to -the type of preparation they seem to offer does however -sort them into three main groups.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hanging-indent1"> -A. Courses which introduce the student to the social sciences -and the methods and concepts on which these -rest.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1"> -B. Courses which offer information on the field of social -work both past and present.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p> -<p class="hanging-indent1"> -C. Courses which equip specifically for certain social -work tasks.</p> -</div> - -<p>In the first group, that of courses introducing the student -to the social sciences, their methods and concepts, fall sociology -courses of various sorts, courses in (1) general sociology, -(2) the history of institutions, (3) theories of social -progress, (4) the value of norms of income and opportunity -for a given level of civilization, (5) the means of “social -control.” Here also belong courses in (6) general psychology, -(7) social psychology, (8) statistics and (9) -economics.</p> - -<p>In the second group, that of courses offering information -on the general field of social work, fall courses on (1) the -nature and mutual relations of contemporary social work -undertakings, (2) the history of philanthropy and (3) current -social problems. Here ought also to be put (4) the -courses offered by five schools in the causes of poverty, because -poverty has been an age-long challenge to philanthropy -and is still the proximate occasion for a great part -of social work.</p> - -<p>For the third group are left courses in about forty subjects -pertaining to special fields or special methods. These -subjects overlap and interchange material but yield to -classification as preparatory for work in eight or nine -fairly distinguishable fields.</p> - -<ol> -<li>Work in the interest of the public health, mental or physical.</li> - -<li>Organization of community groups on various scales in both urban -and rural areas.</li> - -<li>Work in connection with industry.</li> - -<li>Work in the interest of children.</li> - -<li>Work with people socially handicapped because of race or recent -immigration.</li> - -<li>Work in connection with the enactment or administration of social -legislation.</li> - -<li>Work with defectives.</li> - -<li>Housing.</li> -</ol> - - -<p>A ninth field may be made of social case work, as when it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> -appears under such titles as “family rehabilitation,” but it -must also be recognized as a technique more or less utilized -in six of the eight other fields. There remain a few other -technical courses such as those in record keeping.</p> - -<p>The schools, all but four,<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> arrange their courses in departments -varying in number from two to ten. Altogether -seventeen different fields are indicated by the several -schools and under them are variously grouped the forty -subjects taught.<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> These very involved curricula dealing, -as they do, in such staggering propositions as the nature of -progress and the causes of poverty, and seeming in their -explicit statements unanimous in nothing which might -serve the cause of definition do give certain collective -testimony.</p> - -<p>In the first place they are agreed that social work comprises -a variety of separate callings demanding differential -training. The differential training is not the result of -specialization after receiving a common training. Most -schools while requiring a certain amount of common background -for all students recognize no general course and require -every student to enroll in one or another department.</p> - -<p>Secondly, in making a great deal of elective work interchangeable -among the special courses and requiring certain -prerequisites for all courses alike they all recognize a close -relation between the various branches of social work.</p> - -<p>Thirdly, they show that the work they prepare for is not -“social” in the merely vague sense of having a public interest. -It is social in the specific sense of dealing with -people in their relations to other people. Its prerequisite -is not physiology, the science of that part of man which -can develop in isolation, but psychology, the science of intelligence -which develops only in contact with other intelligences. -We can see this in the contrast between the -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>training given in a medical school and that given in a school -for social workers. The former teaches a great deal about -man’s physical make-up and its hazards but very little -about his mental make-up: while the latter may teach -enough of sanitary practice to understand a doctor’s directions, -almost always teaches something of mental life and -always a great deal about social settings and the available -means of improving them. This “social” interest is constant -throughout the schools. The courses in industry, for -example, do not teach efficiency engineering or price fixing -but personnel management and other matters presumably -ministering directly to the well being of the workers. These -schools do not equip for the advancement of any particular -science. Philosophy and art of any sort enter them only -as casual visitors. They teach in the name of no single -creed and formulate no specific purpose. Despite their -enormous array of topics their interest remains essentially -personal.</p> - -<p>Fourthly, the schools are more or less consciously training -crusaders. The word “problem” is in frequent use. It -is freely applied to difficulties not outstandingly problematical -and its use in place of any harsher or less hopeful word -indicates the notion of arming rescuers with a solution. -The word “standard” with its implication of something attainable -but not always attained, “prevention,” “service,” -“welfare,” “relief,” “correction,” “treatment,” appear -thickly scattered among the subject titles and one is surely -justified in inferring that to make changes for the better -is not to be for the social worker as for most men a rare -bright spot in the routine of labor, but his very stock-in-trade -and justification for existence.</p> - -<p>Lastly, the requirement of a certain amount of study of -the social sciences followed by methodical training in special -lines, together with supervised practice work after the -manner of a technical school, testifies to the important parts -played in the preparation of social workers by both scientific<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> -method and the lore of the social sciences.</p> - -<p>Beyond this it does not seem safe to generalise. These -five conclusions about social work indicated by the school -catalogues suggest that it is an alliance of distinct but -closely related callings furthering “social” welfare in a -quite specific sense. Secondly, they imply that the social -worker is a rescuer and champion equipped for his tilt from -the armory of the social sciences. Does not this come to -about the same thing as is described in our tentative definition, -a group of activities looked upon as so many phases -of a single undertaking because they all attempt to extend -benefits in response to a need; are all concerned with -social relationships; and all avail themselves of scientific -knowledge and employ scientific methods.</p> - -<p>The schools then, like the conference, confirm the tentative -definition but do not expand it by the addition of any -new terms. It is possible that social work as a whole has -no more common features. But it is, of course, also possible -that other features could be found if we had some -fresh clue to them. The present study, having put all its -leading questions must again content itself with adding to -the already accepted terms of the definition such further -implications as the curricula suggest—and again we find -these implications to come from the use of science for -philanthropic purposes.</p> - -<p>The courses most commonly “required” for all students -in the schools are those treating the social sciences. What -do these offer to the incipient social worker? The courses -in sociology—especially those which thirteen of the schools -offer in the history of certain institutions or in race comparisons—give -perspective. They show institutions changing -in form and function. They show ideas of right -changing as the institutions change, temporary institutions -conditioning our lives even in the matters a layman -supposes instinctive. They force a student to look outside -the setting of custom and creed into which, like every other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> -man, he has been born. They show him the provincialism -of sweeping judgments pronounced on the basis of sectional, -sectarian or class standards. They teach him in a -professional capacity (if in no other) to recognize varieties -of good. Yet all the while they are making possible a -simpler and more objectified conception of individuality -than it is easy for the uninstructed to entertain. We look -with something very like amusement on the animistic and -anthropomorphic views of natural phenomena entertained -by primitive men and yet we are only just beginning to -realize that the subjective interpretations and moral judgments -with which we have so long been satisfied in respect -to humanity are equally arbitrary and deductive and that -man also is, up to a certain point a natural phenomenon -to be inductively considered. In such perspective praise -and blame become to many issues irrelevant and we begin -soberly to reckon the possibilities of education in the compass -of individual lifetimes.</p> - -<p>Psychology, after sociology the science most frequently -taught in the schools, pushes further the process sociology -began. It shows that our most intimate convictions are -not axiomatic. It shows the thought that is our very -selves to be half the creation of others, and makes the -question of individual blameworthiness a merely practical -one of what forces are to be reckoned with in a given -situation.</p> - -<p>The third of the general sciences taught is statistics, the -language of collective fact. By discovering norms it shows -danger lines. It tells what food and what air and what -income are necessary to support life in an average individual -and what degree of development is usual in a child -of a given age and what degree of intelligence suffices to -keep people out of trouble without the protection of a -guardian. It gives the charitably inclined hard facts with -which to face the indifferent and firm ground to stand on -in demanding reform. At first sight it looks like a means<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> -to intolerable regimentation but rightly used it is a charter -of freedom. Given a knowledge of the margin of safety -we can make a concerted attack on substandard conditions -while allowing indefinite variation above the danger line -and the mere nonconformist need not be dreaded or attacked -for simple nonconformity.</p> - -<p>Thus may courses in social science give to many a raw -recruit of social work grounds for acting with the tolerance, -the respect for individuals, the single and unaccusing -eye on present and future possibilities which their elders -and maybe betters had (when they had them at all) as the -rare and not to be commanded gifts of sheer humanity -and wisdom.</p> - -<p>Here is the contribution of science to social work which -touches its vital center, refines the very impulse that animates -it, as it animated its predecessors and keeps it true -to form among the distractions of technical formality. No -study can produce imagination, sympathy, generosity or -good taste any more than it can give a student a better -brain, but what it can do is to give to persons of only average -perspicacity and humanity the understanding to act -with some degree of intelligence and consideration where -the untrained average person would make cruel and disastrous -blunders.</p> - -<p>The tentative definition of social work which we sought -to test and add to by the testimony of conference and -school curricula has gained no fresh terms but it has -gained in significance and, taken together with all its implications, -makes of social work something thoroughly definitive -and characteristic. But the definition was wanted -for practical purposes and before dropping the subject it -will be necessary to inquire whether it can in any degree -serve them.</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> For a list of schools see the Appendix. The list comprises the membership of -the “Association of Training Schools for Professional Social Workers,” organized -1919.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> All information in this chapter is from the school catalogues for the years -1920-21 or 1921-22 (the latest available when this study was begun) or from -correspondence with the schools.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> Social service “calls for a knowledge of the principles of social organization, the -conditions which cause poverty and may lead to dependency, the social and -psychological factors involved in the training of youth, the methods of promoting -thrift and independence among the laboring classes, the many experiments -which have been made in the field of social legislation and the -relations between these various theories and activities.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> “The purpose of the School of Social Work is to give professional training in -the art of adjusting personal relations. Social workers also have to do with -food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention, but these are incidental to -their main work of adjusting differences which arise in the relations between -people, e.g., between school authorities and parents and parents and pupils, -between family and community.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> Four schools which are integral parts of universities with many of the courses -their students are expected to take organized as parts of other departments -are not divided as are the independently organized schools and those whose -college connection is not so involved.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> For list see Appendix II, C.</p> - -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</h2> -</div> - -<h3>THE ANSWER TO ITS CRITICS</h3> - - -<p>At the beginning of this study it was said that a definition -of social work was in demand for practical use. We -have developed a definition which seems to hold good as -far as it goes. We have said that social work includes all -voluntary attempts to extend benefits in response to a need, -which are concerned with social relationships and which -avail themselves of scientific knowledge and employ scientific -methods. It remains to test whether this is sufficiently -descriptive and sufficiently definitive to be of any practical -use. Is it inclusive enough to allow social work to claim -all its legitimate functions and exclusive enough to rescue -it from unreasonable demands? These things can only be -tested by trying it out in discussion. It is therefore the -purpose of this chapter to attempt such a trial by assuming -that social work is no more and no less than the definition -indicates and requiring it, on this representation, to -run the gauntlet of familiar criticism.</p> - -<p>Up to the present time social work has not been the subject -of much serious analytical comment. It has been too -inchoate for that. But a sort of guerilla warfare of criticism -pursues it in private conversation, on public platforms -and in the obiter dicta of current literature. The -criticisms are of three principal sorts, those which say that -what it does is somehow unworthy, those which say it does -too much and those which say it does too little; or, more -fully stated, those which charge it with an unwholesome -interest in wanting to play providence to other people, -those which think it is attempting something in defiance of -the laws of nature and those which scorn it for tinkering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> -with abuses which should be fallen upon and annihilated.</p> - -<p>In the first group may be classed the view of people who -find the world well enough as it is and think that social -workers stir up hornets’ nests from sheer meddlesomeness -and love of power. As this belief never survives any considerable -acquaintance with social work or any but very -provincial knowledge of the world it need not be discussed. -More considerable is the criticism of those who object to -social work because they think that to make demands in -the interest of other people is patronizing or sentimental -or both. They think that the people might possibly ask -very different things of life from those which the social -worker asks for them; that if the social worker wishes to -help them he should confine himself to seconding their -motions; that an outsider and mere witness of an abuse who -has never felt its weight is not the one to draw up its -indictment or to prescribe a remedy. But their objection -is not altogether on these grounds. Even when social -work makes the same demands as its clients have made for -themselves the irreconcilables continue to denounce it for -undue interference. Some of them, to be sure, think that -while self-respecting people are asking their plain rights in -their own name and that of justice social work makes it -easy for the community to neglect their demands and yet -salve its conscience by supporting such benefactions as it -finds convenient. But this last belongs with the next group -of criticisms and must be answered along with them. We -are for the moment concerned only with the strange but -apparently rooted belief that there must be something -spurious about a movement in which people are not speaking -for themselves.</p> - -<p>It is evident that even people who commend social work, -often do so patronizingly as though it were something not -to be taken very seriously because it is not self-supporting -and cannot claim the great, humdrum, unchallengeable sanction -of self interest. Moreover people in border-line occupations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> -when referred to as social workers will repudiate -the name as though it might discredit their work by taking -it out of the busy wholesome world of fair exchanges -and putting it in a world of patronage and possible hypocrisy. -Men advocating industrial welfare work are commonly -not satisfied to claim that it pays for itself and will -be no expense to the business that installs it, but assert -with an air of rescuing it from suspicion, that it results in -a net profit to the man who puts it in and is therefore “not -sentiment” but “good business.” Those who, though -themselves not originally industrial workers, go into the -labor movement, very frequently pour scorn on the social -worker while feeling themselves safe from corrupting condescension -in a company that is only asking for its own -rights.</p> - -<p>The element of justice in the charge does not need to -be pointed out. Bernard Shaw has warned us against doing -unto others as we would have them do unto us for fear -they may not like it. But for members of a gregarious -species some tolerance of ministration seems unavoidable. -Within the labor movement itself those with a margin of -time and energy are constantly acting in the interest of -those who have none. We all begin life with several years -of sheer dependence on the altruism of our elders and if -we live long enough come again to some form of dependence. -As we look back on the slow mitigation of man’s -inhumanity to man there seems at least good ground for -putting the burden of proof on those who scorn all benevolent -interference. We have already noticed that what -passes in one generation for special interest in the fortunes -of others seems to a later time plain obligation.</p> - -<p>“Almost every law on the statute books,” says a historian, -in reference to protective legislation, “was forced -upon the legislature by the disconcerting zeal of a few -enthusiasts. We marvel at the slight concessions to -humanity which satisfied them, we should rather admire<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> -the originality which led them to denounce cruel and oppressive -conditions which had satisfied the legislature and -against which their victims had not always turned.”<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> There -is the crux of the matter—the victims will not, cannot -always turn. In the palmy days of utilitarianism when -the opposition to doing for others was felt with the mighty -impact of which the present vague distrust is the last faint -ripple fading across the public mind, Mill himself will be -found writing that although it can be stated as a general -rule “that most persons take a juster and more intelligent -view of their own interest, and of the means of promoting -it, than can either be prescribed to them by a general enactment -of the legislature, or pointed out in the particular -case by a public functionary” nevertheless “there is no difficulty -in perceiving some very large and conspicuous exceptions -to it.”<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> And among these exceptions he proceeds -to enumerate protection of persons incapable of judging or -acting for themselves whether from defective intelligence -or immaturity, and the protection offered by labor legislation -and by public charity. Elsewhere he also remarks, -“Those who most need to be made wiser and better commonly -desire it least, and if they desired it would be incapable -of finding the way to it by their own lights.”<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> - -<p>It could probably be shown that the great bulk of social -work acts in the interest of people unable to speak for -themselves or vaguely wanting something they cannot -find “the way to by their own lights.” But victimization -and helplessness are entirely relative matters and social -work is prepared boldly to extend benefits wherever they -are wanted.</p> - -<p>Science has now laid a broad road and is leading the plodding -crowd where the keen feet of Pegasus have always -carried the subtle minded, whatever the contemporary -creed. “Darwin” writes a popular social psychologist “in -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span>the <i>Descent of Man</i> (1871) first enunciated the true doctrine -of human motives, and showed how we must proceed, -relying chiefly upon the comparative and natural history -method, if we would arrive at a fuller understanding of -them. * * * Social Psychology has to show how, given the -native propensities and capacities of the individual human -mind, all the complex mental life of societies is shaped by -them and in turn reacts upon the course of their development -and operation in the individual. * * * The fundamental -problem of social psychology is moralization of the -individual by the society into which he is born as a creature -in which the non-moral and purely egoistic tendencies are -so much stronger than any altruistic tendencies.”<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> That -is to say the problem which social psychology must solve -is the problem of how this moralization is brought about. -The significance of such doctrine for social work is in its -entire discrediting of any naive individualism and its indication -that man being an animal that lives not solitary but -in groups some form and degree of interdependence is, for -him, in the first order of nature. The interests and inclinations -corollary to that interdependence are inescapable -for him.</p> - -<p>If this is the case objection to the social work we have -defined could not be “on principle” but must be to special -forms of service on specific grounds of inexpediency or because -of the manner or quality of the service. Although it is -the manner and quality of service which make the social -work of any given time and place what it is they are nevertheless -incidentals entirely separable from its nature and -principles. Objections are brought on specific grounds of -expediency by those who claim that social work does too -much and these objections will be considered in their turn. -Objection is also made to the manner and quality of the -social workers’ services and it is this objection which really -animates the charge against the altruism of social work.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span></p> -<p>This study is an analysis of the nature and functions, not -the performance of social work. It must, however, consider -a general objection to the nature and quality of the -social workers’ services which so often passes for an objection -to social work itself.</p> - -<p>This vague distrust of social work which we have just -been considering, this dislike of it as something sentimental -or undemocratic, is really a dislike of these incidentals -which social work has a perfect right to disclaim if it can. -It is a moral and aesthetic repulsion, an aversion for the -sort of thing which social work sometimes seems to be.</p> - -<p>It is social case work that is most open not only to misunderstanding -but to abuse. In it social work is especially -liable to the defects of its qualities. People who take for -granted the social work that is done in connection with the -courts, the schools, institutions dealing with defectives and -in many other connections without troubling to consider -what it is they are accepting and even relying upon, will, -because of what they think social case work to be, pour -scorn upon “uplifters” and social workers generally.</p> - -<p>The social case workers’ professional contribution to a -situation consists in doing whatever she does in conscious -relation to a general situation, in the ease of her contacts -and the range of her resources.<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> There is no limit to the -knowledge of a situation which it may be useful for her to -have. A speaker addressing the first students in the New -York School of Philanthropy is on record as referring to -“investigation” as a necessary evil which must be bravely -faced and telling them they must always make it plain that -“the person in distress has asked you to help him and that -you <i>mean</i> to help him, to help his soul and not only to feed -his miserable body, and that you cannot help him unless -you do <i>know all about</i> him.”<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> Of course that is to give -an ell when an inch is asked for—and an ell of very different -stuff. The statement was made twenty-five years ago -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span>and is not given here as typical either of this time or that, -but as an instance of the sort of thing which is said and -passed on and resented, all in good faith. Obviously the -more the case worker knows, provided she can understand -it, the better she can do her work. But because of the -very real requirement to employ trained workers and the -rapid expansion of the profession young people are employed -as fast as the schools will grind them out. And -when social work lets loose on difficult situations people disqualified -for dealing with them by their youth or inexperience -or native incapacity or all three it must expect its reputation -to suffer. But, taken at the best, there is great presumption -in the attempt of one mortal life to analyze and -prescribe for the totality of another. A too nice matching -up of the inferential motive with the act to be accounted -for, a too meticulous testing for the qualities presumed -necessary for a certain degree of self direction, entail a -veritable invasion of one life by another. It is hard for -the analytical to remember that any explanation, no matter -how true and inclusive, is only one thread drawn from a -web. The generalizations which we can make after taking -cognizance of a certain number of instances are just as -much and as little applicable to any given life as the probability -tables of an insurance company. They are illuminating -as guides to general expectation but will not closely -correspond to any particular case. There cannot be any -authoritative, objective determination of the proper elements -and relationships of life, and any attempt to arrange -for the life of another as a whole is profane. The clearest -sighted come often enough into unlit passages of their own -destiny where they must grope forward in bewilderment -and a kind of awed respect for things which could go unsuspected -and yet all along be “nearer to them than breathing, -closer than hands and feet.” Who then shall interpret -another?</p> - -<p>Yet life must be met with a certain hardihood. For the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> -conspicuously defective we know that self direction is impossible, -and for the intolerably troublesome we accept -coercion, but in the case of the merely dependent there are -delicate lines to be drawn. Social work knows perfectly well -that it is possible to degenerate into “substituting one -neurosis for another.” Hamlet, thrusting on the bewildered -courtier the flute which that courtier could not play, -spoke for many an inarticulate protestor, “Why, look you -now, how unworthy a thing you make of me! You would -play upon me you would seem to know my stops; you would -pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me -from my lowest note to the top of my compass: and there -is much music, excellent voice in this little organ; yet cannot -you make it speak. ’sblood do you think I am easier -to be played on than a pipe?”<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> - -<p>Lincoln is credited with the observation that the Lord -never made the man who was good enough to have power -over another man and, by its option of giving or withholding -benefits, social work undoubtedly holds its beneficiaries -very much in its power, not to mention the cases in which -it has actual guardianship, legal or otherwise. A German -social worker accustomed to the strict German notions of -regulation could yet say after a study of American social -work, “an individual is never so absolutely at the mercy -of an administration as when he is the beneficiary of a relief -system.”<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> It is the social worker who is the champion of -individual rights all down the line from insisting on discrimination -among the men referred to en masse as “the -criminal” to rescuing orphan children from the uniformity -of plaid dresses all of a length. But who shall rescue the -beneficiaries of social work?</p> - -<p>Is it any wonder that people sometimes shudder at what -social workers take upon themselves? But these are only -the risks incident to great opportunity. If some social -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>workers run a policy into the ground, if they have neither -imagination, reverence or a sense of humor, that is the -fault of human nature and not the fault of social work. -There are doctors who prescribe for cases they do not -understand and fail to save the patients, there are dishonest -and even addle-headed lawyers who defeat justice, and -there are ministers of religion who are hypocrites, but -their existence does not utterly discredit their professions. -The quotations from the national conference and elsewhere -must have made it clear that this sort of personal imposition -and finessing in control are, if nothing else, too poor -game to attract the main energies of social work. These -have large issues to absorb them and the effect of the scientific -methods and scientific knowledge which our definition -makes essential is to encourage a robust interest in things -clearly knowable and an attitude attentive and curious -rather than dictatorial and inquisitive. Social work being -the lineal descendant of charity has the family weaknesses -and, perhaps even beyond its deserts, the family reputation. -But the one question for anyone willing to do it justice -is whether these weaknesses are characteristic of its -present phase or fading hang-overs from the charity undisciplined -by science. The records of past munificence with -their evidence of interest in giving as a means of grace for -the giver, of indifference regarding the supposed beneficiaries, -of wholesale prescriptions of what is proper for -“the poor,” of breaking up of families, imposition of uniform -labor and total disregard of private claims must be -either unknown or forgotten by people who think a decay -of neighborly respect and an inclination to regiment the -dependent have been produced by the innovations of scientific -social work.</p> - -<p>So far we have been trying to get at and answer the -rather vague charges of those who think social work unworthily -employed. Clearer indictments are brought by -the three groups who want us to turn from the defeated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> -and let them go under. The least extreme of these simply -points out that life unfolds in terms of alternatives and the -time, the skill, the substance and interest lavished by social -work on the incompetent might have given opportunity -to baulked ability. Of course incompetence and ability are -relative matters and some forms of social work could make -out a case for themselves as engaged on the task these -critics would prefer, but it is easy to see the general bearing -of this criticism and by our definition social work is -committed to the very concern for the disadvantaged with -which they charge it. But the definition also stipulated -for the use of scientific knowledge and methods and once -you have social work and social science playing into one -another’s hands you can answer even the baldest utilitarians -on their own grounds. The effort to help where help -is most needed has been to the social work of our definition -a road to prevention of abuses which affect competent and -incompetent alike, a means to better understanding and -control of our social organization. In social as in other -forms of science the normal is often only to be understood -after observation of the abnormal. Moreover, the really -imperative services of social work are evidently forgotten -by these critics as well as by the second group who would -say hands off to social work. These imperative services -can be indicated for both groups at once.</p> - -<p>This second group are opposed to social work, not as a -mere waste of means which might be better employed, but -as an actual menace. They think it thwarts the action of -the salutary principle of nature by which the “fittest” survive -their less “fit” brethren. The tacit assumption behind -this view is that if all social work were suspended tomorrow, -vigor and capacity would have pre-eminent survival -value and the unfit would be eliminated and the race -purged of an undesirable inheritance strain.</p> - -<p>The race is to the swift and the battle to the strong, but -in modern life, even where there is no social work, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> -defeated are not forced clear off the stage with any degree -of promptitude. Complete dismissal comes only by the -arrow that flieth by noonday or the pestilence that walketh -in darkness and our modern versions of these strike the -weak and the strong in a ratio which it would be hard to -compute. War and industrial accidents take not the worst -but the best and some of our most destructive diseases -take, fairly indiscriminately, any who are exposed to them -or their predisposing conditions. Meanwhile, what is there -to extinguish the unfit? Though in a sense defeated they -continue to live on and they leave progeny. Even without -social work they would not starve or freeze to death in -numbers sufficient to have the minutest effect upon the -quality of the race.</p> - -<p>The man of sub-normal intelligence, of bad nervous organization, -of specific defect even, can, in most modern communities -keep alive by his own efforts. He will drag on, -abysmally incompetent, indolent, badly behaved or ill. He -may irregularly rent a shelter which other men would refuse, -he will inevitably do his little bit to demoralize the -labor market and the work he from time to time takes up -and he may, for one reason or another, go for awhile to -prison. His demands on the almshouse we will omit as it -would probably in this connection count as social work. He -can do our work badly, put the cost of his keep on the community -if he goes to prison, make our pockets or our persons -unsafe, if he happens to be that way inclined, spread -disease and even, for a consideration, vote. What is to be -gained by leaving this poor creature to his own devices and -the haphazard propagation of his species? From a biological -point of view, nothing at all, and his running amuck is -a nuisance and a menace. What could social work do? -From a biological point of view, also nothing. If indeed -the man were so far defective that it could confine him to -an institution it might in that way prevent his leaving a -family but this simple precaution the biological critics<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> -would probably arrange for through some other agency. -But social work might greatly limit his troublesomeness.</p> - -<p>One can only conclude that those who advocate leaving -the unfit to their own destruction do not know, as social -work knows, how slow that destruction is going to be, how -costly and troublesome to the community in which it is -taking place, how many people may be, first and last, involved -in it and, above all, how little likely it is to culminate -before the unfit man has left children to succeed -him.</p> - -<p>Such glaring cases of unfitness are however not typical -of the sort with which social work most often deals. More -typical is such mild cherishing of unfitness as the securing -of eye-glasses for a nearsighted child. Would it do -any good to leave him without glasses, unable to see the -blackboard at school, considered a blockhead, unhappy and -defiant and growing up at odds with the world? He would -be no whit less likely to have a family of shortsighted -children.</p> - -<p>Since the relative security of civilized life allows the unfit, -left to their own devices, to live long enough to demoralize -their community and perpetuate their strain, a -humane guardianship supplied by social work, with an eye -to prevention and all the possibilities of the social situation, -is simply the safeguarding of a group in which spontaneous -elimination has ceased to be sufficiently expeditious for the -public safety.</p> - -<p>The last of those who would say “hands off” believe that -the needs to which social work at present ministers are -chargeable to a few major abuses in our economic system -which could and would be removed by swift revolutionary -measures were it not for false hopes of gradual reform—hopes -which social work helps to keep alive. They think -that if the distress caused by “the present system” were -left unrelieved people would be shocked into summary abolition -of the system. The chances of concerted action on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> -any such program are so infinitesimal that it is difficult to -regard such a proposal as anything but a mere “talking -point” of propaganda. The abuses of the “present system” -are too hideously great for us to risk any momentary discontinuance -of their relief without a very certain guarantee -of the desired results.</p> - -<p>And when it comes to that we can but remember that -the blackest nights of human oppression have not led to -the brightest mornings of human brotherhood, though -there has been many a fine gesture of uprising. What -Mr. Wells remarks in his “Outline of History” apropos of -the results of the French Revolution seems to be true of -any attempt to emancipate life at a blow. “When these -things of the ancient regime had vanished, it seemed as if -they had never mattered. * * * the immense promise and -air of a new world with which the Revolution had come -remained unfulfilled.</p> - -<p>“Yet, after all, this wave of revolution had realized -nearly everything that had been clearly thought out before -it. It was not failing for want of impetus but for want -of finished ideas. Many things that had oppressed mankind -were swept away forever. Now that they were -swept away it became apparent how unprepared men were -for the creative opportunities this clearance gave them. -And periods of revolution are periods of action; in them -men reap the harvest of ideas that have grown during -phases of interlude, and they leave the fields cleared for -a season of new growth, but they cannot suddenly produce -ripened new ideas to meet an unanticipated riddle.”<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> -Despite the years of thinking that have elapsed since 1789, -the Russian revolution finds itself in the same case. The -present party that has attempted its clean sweep of previous -organization is rich in coherence and intention but not -in organization and expedients.</p> - -<p>Much of what social work is now doing is developing -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>expedients of social practice equally applicable and equally -necessary under any form of government. The question -of whether social work as such should occupy itself with -the development of such expedients or with revolutionary -projects belongs not with the discussion of its overdoing, -but of its doing too little. The advocates of revolution say -“hands off” but they really despise social work for -temporizing.</p> - -<p>To those who charge it with temporizing, the third and -last group of its critics, social work listens very gravely. -They touch it where its conscience is tender. The first -group, those who charge it with unworthy patronage and -intrusion do not touch its principle at all. It knows better -than any one else the sort of thing that may easily be done -in its name, knows that its recruits are unregenerate -human beings who will have to learn to put aside personal -for scientific curiosity and resist their enormous temptations -to tyrannize. It knows that the things for which -that first group condemns it are things which will always -continue to menace it but things which, on the whole, it -is growing away from. The second group, those who -charge it with interfering with natural selection and wasting -opportunity on lame ducks do not shake its conviction. -It knows perfectly well that not social work but the abundance -of mere food and shelter and the ingrained sympathy -or solidarity, or what you will, of civilized man is what -prevents the elimination of the unfit and that these unfit -can only be made innocuous and self-supporting by methods -and arrangements worked out by the intelligence of the -especially fit.</p> - -<p>But when this third group tell social work that it is not -extending benefits but in the long run delaying their extension, -when they tell it that there is a dragon “privilege” -which can grow new heads of offence faster than it can -cut them off, when they say that social work must be either -utterly entangled in its own red tape or corrupted by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> -flesh pots of Egypt not to see that it is simply compounding -with the mammon of unrighteousness to allow the continuance -of privilege and abuse, then indeed social work itself -is troubled. It has known all along that those are wrong -who say it is a mistake to serve the disadvantaged, but to -be told that it—social work—is not serving them, that is -a very different matter. The charges are two, first that -it is selfish and pharisaical, and second that it is practically -bought for the defense of privilege. The first complain of</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The organized charity scrimped and iced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the name of a cautious statistical Christ.”<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Social work is confessed by the definition, to be “cautious” -and “statistical.” Used in this opprobrious sense the words -make a reproach that could scarcely be more bitter, but who -would want a doctor to pour out without stint the strichnia -needed by his patient’s heart? The development of -methods, standards and technique has been referred to in -these pages as matter only for congratulation. But obviously -these have their dangers like everything else. Our -childish humanity has been tempted, from the days of the -medicine man on, rather to claim the confidence of a gullible -public by the impressiveness of its ceremonies than -arduously to achieve that confidence by the excellence of -its performance. The temptation to aim at an impression -is especially strong in the case of social work because it -often does for people the sort of things that friends are -at the same time sporadically attempting. When with every -intention of producing efficiency social work tries to establish -“standards” it again has to risk the shift of emphasis -from the work to the technical measurement and the resulting -tendency to attempt what can be put through in -good form instead of what most needs to be done.</p> - -<p>But the greatest resentment is probably not caused by -these lapses, which social workers themselves know better -than outsiders. “Organized charity” did not, as it is so -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>easy for those who know only the present to assume, originate -suspicious scrutiny. Charity was “cautious” in the -sense of the bitter couplet long before the present organized -charity movement. The fierce old English poor law took -no chances on “impostors”<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> and the dread of them by the -private charities of the continent in the sixteenth century -has already been referred to in these pages. It is, of -course, easy to see the necessity for “investigation” when -charity is on a large scale. But it is easier to resent for -oneself, or one’s friends, the mortification of being suspect; -and to many people “organized charity” has never meant -anything more than an attempt to prevent overlapping and -imposture. But in the scientific charity movement precaution -soon sank into insignificance beside the more positive -purpose of learning enough about a situation to tackle -it intelligently. This is a trifle harder to understand and -even easier to resent. When we want help we usually have -a pretty definite notion of just what help we need, we are -in a touchy mood to begin with, and unless we are very nice -people indeed we resent any questioning of our preference. -It is a matter of common knowledge that those who do not -appreciate the difficulty of the doctor’s task and the time -required for cures drift from one dispensary to another -and try physician after physician in search of one who will -treat their troubles as they think they should be treated -and give them the relief for which suffering dares not -cease to hope. What wonder if a yet greater dissatisfaction -is felt with the deliberateness of the social worker. -And if, as we have said in the definition, he is to proceed -by “scientific” methods he must be as “cautious” and -“statistical” as the doctor.</p> - -<p>But granting the need of caution in procedure it is -shocking and repellant, on the face of it, that this organized -charity should make the throbbing woes of a fellow creature -the subject of dehumanized records. It is bad enough that -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span>people should be required to strip their predicament bare, -exhibit all their helplessness and violate reticence to expound -whatever can “throw light on the situation”—but -why must it be recorded? But it is shocking enough to -learn that someone we care for is known as a certain sort -of case in a hospital and yet we have now so far appreciated -medical exigencies as to accept it as a necessity. In other -matters also we may come to realize that there is no impertinence -in impersonal treatment for purposes of serviceable -classification, and for all classification the prerequisite -is records.</p> - -<p>A final source of misunderstanding is the double nature -of the social worker’s task. Not only in relief work but -in other lines as well he is not free to do as he would, he -cannot always command the means. He can decide what -he thinks would best be done but then he has to consider -what sort of approximation to that best the resources of -his association or community allow. The Webbs, in outlining -a proposed reorganization of the English relief system, -say that “Nothing has contributed so much to make -the visits of the Poor Law Relieving Officer odious as the -<i>mixture</i> of his inquiries—as to the sickness of the person -who is ill, or the lunacy of the person of unsound mind, and -at the same time, as to the means of the family and as to -what relations could be made to contribute.”<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> This -stewardship for public or contributed funds and for doing -things quite irrelevant to any intention of social work do -more than anything else to make it seem “scrimped.”</p> - -<p>Social work, then, may take heart of grace. It is, once -again, being condemned chiefly on misunderstanding and -for the rest on its mere shortcomings. All human undertakings -must expect that and try to amend and carry on.</p> - -<p>It may summon its courage and meet the last charge, -the one that seems to make it most uncomfortable, a -charge that not only says it bails the sea with a sieve and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>locks the door when the horse is out of the stable, but goes -farther and ascribes motives—“the social worker is called -an apologist for the status quo; he is called a little brother -of the rich; he is accused of taking tainted money;”<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a>—and -why? Because social work continues in what its critics -consider “remedial” work instead of addressing itself to -wholesale and summary prevention.</p> - -<p>Whose fault is that? Let any one who blames it on -social work turn to the reports of the national conference. -Let him turn to the “Survey.” He will find no lack of interest -in prevention. The fact is that social work is paid -for by voluntary subscriptions, philanthropic foundations, -and state appropriations. So far all these sources of support, -the potential representatives of the people in the -legislature no less than wealthy donors, are more accessible -to an appeal for relief of existing misery than to an appeal -for the prevention of possible catastrophes. This ties the -hands of social work even in the simple matters in which -it might alone do more “preventive work.” But social work -cannot alone, in any but a secondary sense, prevent the -situations it is called upon to relieve. It works prevention -as hard as it can and puts it up to the community in plain -terms, but the situations which, at our present stage of -progress, largely occupy its services could only be prevented -by a living wage and regular employment, work that -would not poison or exhaust the worker, sanitary and decent -housing, clean milk, and so on through the list of those -simple requisites of a civilized life which are now inaccessible -to a large part of our population. Social work cannot -give employers the will or the ability to pay a living wage; -it cannot provide the masses with decent housing and unadulterated -food nor, all at once, with a corresponding standard -and habit of living. And if it should stop all it is doing -now, in order to devote itself to prevention, neglected children -would grow up unhealthy and vicious, the feeble-minded -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span>would multiply and every calamity of today become -a fruitful source of multiplied disaster tomorrow. One -might as well ask that all physicians cease treating from -day to day the many diseases that afflict us, the better to -devote themselves to a wholesale campaign of prevention. -The social work of our definition has its own specific work -to do from day to day. It must, like medicine, care for the -handicapped in each generation and prevent the spread of -contagion while it uses the margin of its energies for prevention -and progress.</p> - -<p>Social work <i>as we have described it</i>, is not synonymous -with social reform. It has no more responsibility for reform -on “general principles” than has any other profession -or calling. That it should ever be thought to have is a -tribute to its thoroughness and convincing proof of its -devotion to prevention.</p> - -<p>We are told, as though to settle the case against social -work, that there are even social workers “who, while they -may not say it publicly, do not hesitate to say privately -that they regard social work as a mere “palliative,” and -while they get their living from it, their real hopes are -pinned to the coming social revolution.”<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> The personal immorality -of anyone who would continue to get a living from a -calling he believed to be sailing under false colors is not -our business, but, if social work is what our definition says, -there is no reason why any social worker need hesitate to -say, either privately or with all the publicity he can command, -that his hopes are pinned to the coming social revolution, -or to the effects of New Thought or the Seventh -Day Advent or anything else to which he may have happened, -according to his lights and temperament, to have -pinned them.</p> - -<p>Social work attempts to serve persons in need of help; -it shepherds the rear of the social procession; it cares for -the casualties; it also claims opportunity for the unprivileged -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>and asserts the rights of the individual lost in the -mass. In so doing it finds itself effecting progress in the -many ways already discussed. They are usually indirect -ways. These critics assume that it could induce progress -directly by an attempt to bring about radical social changes -that would do away with the need for its services. They -quote against it Tolstoy’s indictment of our social system—“The -present position we, the educated and well-to-do -classes, occupy is that of the Old Man of the Sea, riding -on the poor man’s back, only, unlike the Old Man of the -Sea, we are sorry for the poor man, very sorry. And we -will do almost anything for the poor man’s relief; we will -not only supply him with food sufficient for him to keep -on his legs, but will provide him with cooling draughts concocted -on strictly scientific principles; we will teach and -instruct him and point out to him the beauties of the landscape; -we will discourse sweet music to him and give him -lots of good advice. Yes we will do almost anything for -the poor man, anything but get off his back.”<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></p> - -<p>Such a picture makes everyone unhappy to reflect on and -in face of it thoughtful social workers take stock of their -position. But they can only conclude that to accuse social -work per se of insincerity and temporizing, of clinging to -a snug berth, because it does not attempt to end this intolerable -situation by revolution is to imagine it both -greater and less than it is. We have already seen that it -is only a calling like others with a day’s work of its own. -Reforms merely free it from old duties and open the gates -to new ones and there is no reason to suppose that changes -the most radical would do away with the need of it or the -human impulse that perpetually recreates it. Whether -revolutionary methods would free us from present abuses -and confront us with a new set but, as it were, upon a -higher level, is, of course an open question and a relevant -one. But it is a question of pure expediency facing the -social worker of each generation as it faces anyone else and -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>it in no way involves the integrity or the permanency of -the function of social work.</p> - -<p>The alternatives in the interest of which social work -is by these critics condemned are the labor movement and -social revolution. But these are hardly genuine alternatives. -Both of them have the allegiance of people in many -callings, but each provides a day’s work to a comparatively -small number of organizers and other workers. There is -no logical reason why a social worker should not be active -in the service of either or both and yet remain in his calling, -as the bricklayer, lawyer, or laborer may.</p> - -<p>The labor movement and social revolution and social work -are three things of three entirely different kinds. The -labor movement is a tide in human affairs. It is the projection -in practical issues of certain interpretations and -ideals of life. Social revolution is a cataclysmic expedient -for precipitating, in finished form, readjustments which -the labor movement and certain other influences tend -gradually and adaptively to effect. The one is a great -movement now under way, the other a vast enterprise or -a vast dream. For them is spilt the martyr blood that is -the seed of every church militant. They throw down a -gauntlet; they raise a banner; they stir our hearts. But -why not let the social worker also plod on with a good conscience -and a hope for his labors.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seem here no painful inch to gain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far back through creeks and inlets making,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Comes silent, flooding in, the main.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And not by eastern windows only,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When daylight comes, comes in the light;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But westward, look! the land is bright.<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Social work is a group of callings representing a certain -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span>function of civilized society whatever form that society -may take. Its nearest analogy is educational work. Whatever -form society may assume education seems likely to retain -the functions of rendering available the experience and -conclusions of the past and developing the capacities of each -generation as it comes on. Similarly we can ascribe to -social work, under whatever system of society it may be -conducted, the functions of completing inadequacy, extending -benefits and rescuing the individual from the category. -In a community where no one was poor or out of work, -where abundance of pure food and decent housing were -available for all, where wholesome recreation was attainable -and attractive, and physical and mental hygiene as -much a matter of course as school attendance, the tasks of -the social worker would not be what they are now; they -would be changed beyond our imagining. But they might -still be present. In some distant sunny noonday of a -healthy happy world it may even be possible that the supernormal -will need rescue from victimizing by the mass. -Even today social work is concerned for the superior child -handicapped by a public school routine that forces him to -keep step with the average and the dull.</p> - -<p>What is overlooked by those who fail to see this permanency -in social work is that it has a day’s work of its -own. Since its object is personal service, it tends to focus -in the present and since that personal service is primarily -the relief of need, it is relative to the standard of the times. -“Radicalism is not an absolute but a relative school of -thought. It stands for the things that the government is -not ready to do. Hence it is that no government is really -radical.”<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Social work is radical in the sense that it proffers -services that have not yet become duties. It is by the -same token that it is also relative and will, despite changes -in social organization, continue to relieve new needs, to extend -new benefits and to rescue individuals from newly-felt -forms of regimentation.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span></p> -<p>That social work, as a calling, does not make itself tributary -to any one social philosophy casts no suspicion on its -integrity. Nor is it strange that the majority of social -workers individually should continue to hold, on the subject -of revolution, the opinions of the majority of their -fellow citizens. That social workers should become so -much interested in their own methods of relief as to forget -the prime object of all their system, that they should become -so devoted to the success of particular undertakings -as to be unobservant of other and perhaps better attempts -to relieve needs is a reproach to the guilty persons but it -no more touches the principles and functions of social work -than similar faults of practitioners in other lines condition -the presumptive functions of their respective callings. -Were this a discussion of social work in practice it would -be necessary to consider the degree to which its practitioners -have realized its possibilities. But a study of the -nature and functions of social work such as this purports -to be would lose itself in confusion in any attempt to determine -precisely how far instances have run true to type. -The teaching offered by the schools and the interests reflected -in the National Conference prove beyond a doubt -the direction of its main stream.</p> - -<p>The charge we have just been discussing is the last of -the major accusations commonly brought against social -work, and the definition we have been using has now been -shown to describe a social work that can meet its critics -squarely and retain a claim to a function of its own in social -economy and a certain character and integrity.</p> - -<p>It is one of those human activities which are pursued, -as we say, for their own sake. It can be justified on utilitarian -grounds but the justification never amounts to more -than permission to follow our inclination untroubled. Yet, -unlike other such activities, unlike recreation, art and learning, -it does not reach out to life at its happiest and most -conscious, its fullest and finest, but seeks, “Rather the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> -scorned—the rejected—the men hemmed in by the spears.” -Social work lifts burdens, fills needs, extends benefits.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the road,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The slave with the sack on his shoulder, pricked on with the goad,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"> - -<hr class="tb"></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth.”<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<p>Social work is interested in all people that need help and -classifies them according to their needs, with no ulterior -interest. It tries to serve them in their individual capacity -as human beings with lives of their own. It is always -extending benefits in excess of any recognized obligation. -These we have heretofore said were the habits of charity, -using the word in a broad and primitive sense. When -charity adopted a scientific method and took to studying -the social sciences for light on its problems social work -began. Although it has been necessary to refer to charity -often and at length in establishing the nature of social -work, it is not well to dwell on it in general discussion, -because, first, it has lately been applied only to the relief -of poverty and cannot be used in a wider sense without -explanation and, secondly, through centuries of association -with an idea of meritorious liberality towards persons inferior, -it has acquired connotations which do not belong to -social work.</p> - -<p>Social work as we now have it makes use of modern science. -From the social sciences it takes perspective, -generalization and knowledge of the complication of influences -responsible for any given situation. By statistical -methods it relates cause and effect. The discovery of such -a relationship always emphasizes causes and in consequence -social work extends its protective function in the direction -of prevention. By so doing it becomes not only a minister -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>to misery but also one of the forces operating to make the -world a better dwelling place for all of its inhabitants.</p> - -<p>Social work because it is tentative and experimental -seems to be imperfectly developed and still on trial. There -is a temptation to anticipate for it more certainty, more -obvious consistency and more clearly formulated purposes -when it shall have become better established. But any -such anticipation fails to take account of its wholly relative -nature. Social work is always feeling its way beyond -clearly formulated obligations, ignoring imposed consistencies -and groping in unexplored regions where sure-footedness -is not possible. Social work will take many more -forms and all of them will prove temporary.</p> - -<p>This makes social work hard to compare with the established -professions with the ministrations of which its services -have many points in common, with medicine for example. -Although several sciences are helpful to social -work it specializes in the application of no one of them. -It is only in the very loosest sense applied sociology and -might with almost equal suggestiveness be called applied -eugenics or social psychology or any one of half a dozen -other things. Conversely its observations and experiences -are valuable to a dozen arts and sciences but build no science -of their own. Nor does it build any systematically -cumulative body of principles exclusively for its own use, -as does the law. This is no disgrace to social work, which -may be equally respectable with the well established professions -and yet quite <i>sui generis</i>. But it operates in indirect -ways as a handicap.</p> - -<p>It is a familiar observation that any new science, any -new departure in human knowledge must use the vocabulary -already available and so can only receive its first formulation -in terms of things that have gone before. The -failure of social work to produce any compact body of doctrine -pertaining to its range of undertakings has kept it -long in the stage of analogy and tutelage. It evidently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> -feels a temptation to shape itself after the fashion of the -best respected types of human activity instead of simply -envisaging its own objects as clearly as possible and enlisting -every available means to attain them.</p> - -<p>Its essential inability to develop any compact body of -doctrine may also be handicapping it in a more fundamental -way. It is said that social work does not get its proportionate -share of the best students taking professional -training. May not this be because a course which offers -an acquaintance with the high lights of half a dozen subjects -and mastery of none is not likely to recommend itself -to able students as promising to lead to dignified and responsible -work? Social work can only hope that when more -time and more ability have gone into the development of -its separate fields such discipline may be developed along -special lines as will give it better intellectual status and the -power to attract and hold recruits by something beside that -appeal to their imagination or their humanity exerted by its -general possibilities. “I treat philanthropy seriously,” -wrote one of its historians, “because of what it implies; its -professors have commonly not been very efficacious.”<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> -But scientific social work is something more than philanthropy -and its history is yet to be made.</p> - -<p>Whatever is in store for social work it is pre-ordained -that its functions can only persist by adaptive variation of -its practices, that it will never be perfected, never be satisfied, -never even, in any final and completed sense, successful. -Its object is to correct the mistakes of nature and man in -the making of human lives and its undertakings grow with -our hopes for life. Such presumption can never succeed, -but its mere instalments of success would be triumphs in -a lesser enterprise. For social work each new triumph -opens only a new range of possibilities. It might well take -as its motto the proud words of Masefield, “Success is the -brand on the forehead for having aimed too low.”<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[61]</a> Philanthropy and the State, p. 303.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[62]</a> John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, p. 577.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[63]</a> Ibid., p. 575.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[64]</a> William McDougal, An Introduction to Social Psychology, p. 14, et seq.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[65]</a> Porter R. Lee, at the National Conference of Social Work, 1920, p. 468.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[66]</a> Charities Review, 1898, p. 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[67]</a> Hamlet, Act III, Sc. 2, line 379.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[68]</a> Emil Muensterberg, Impressions of American Charity, in Charity and the Commons, -1907, p. 268.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[69]</a> H. G. Wells, The Outline of History, Vol. II, p. 339.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[70]</a> John Boyle O’Reilly, In Bohemia, quoted in The Cry for Justice, p. 497.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[71]</a> S. A. Queen, Social Work in the Light of History, Chap. II.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[72]</a> Sidney and Beatrice Webb, The Prevention of Destitution, p. 281.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[73]</a> Arthur J. Todd, at the National Conference, 1920, p. 271.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[74]</a> Charles A. Ellwood, at the National Conference, 1920, p. 271.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[75]</a> Count Leo Tolstoy, quoted in The Cry for Justice, p. 88.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[76]</a> Arthur Hugh Clough, “Say not the struggle nought availeth,” in Poems.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[77]</a> Frank Parsons, Legal Doctrine and Social Progress, p. 212.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[78]</a> John Masefield, A Consecration, in Poems.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[79]</a> Philanthropy and the State, p. 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[80]</a> John Masefield, Multitude and Solitude.</p> - -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="APPENDIX_I">APPENDIX I</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hanging-indent1"><b>Edward T. Devine in “Social Work”</b> says (p. 21): “Social -work, then is the sum of all the efforts made by society -to ‘take up its own slack’ to provide for individuals -when its established institutions fail them, to supplement -those established institutions and to modify them -at those points at which they have proved to be badly -adapted to social needs. * * * It may be well done -or badly done; according to the most enlightened system -which intelligence and experience and sympathy -and vision can devise or according to the archaic -methods of careless and lazy emotion. * * * It includes -everything which is done by society for the -benefit of those who are not in position to compete on -fair terms with their fellows from whatever motive it -may be done, by whatever agency or whatever means -and with whatever results.”</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1"><b>Edward T. Devine and Lilian Brant in “American Social -Work in the Twentieth Century”</b> say (the first words -of the book): “In the United States of America ‘social -work’ has come into use in recent years as a comprehensive -term, including charity and philanthropy, public -relief, punishment and reformation and all other -conscious efforts, whether by the state or on private -initiative, to provide for the dependent, the sick, and -the criminal, to diminish the amount of poverty, disease, -and crime, and to improve general living and -working conditions.”</p> - -<p class="indent"> -These statements obviously are not trying to distinguish between -“social work” and the more primitive forms of “charity” -and “philanthropy.” -</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">The pamphlet “<b>Social Work</b>,” issued by the American Association -of Social Workers in 1922 disclaims any intention -“to give an authoritative definition of these terms -(i.e., charity, philanthropy, and social service) or of -‘social work,’” but it does authoritatively indicate that -“social work as a profession” may have occasion to -differentiate itself from charity and philanthropy (pp. -3 and 4). “In discussing social work as a profession it -is necessary to clarify certain conceptions which are -popularly confused with it. As is the case with any -activity that has emerged into professional status and -differentiated itself from the kind of activity in which -any one of ordinary intelligence might participate, -social work must live down a variety of names and conceptions -which were common to it in its early and unprofessional -forms.” “So we come to the term ‘social -work’ for a connotation which at least has implicit implications -of a process requiring specialized knowledge -and skill sufficient to be called professional.” “It is -well also to point out here that emphasis must be -placed on ‘process’ as an aid to keeping in mind the -fact that not what is done, but how it is done, is what -constitutes the test of professional activity.”</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1"><b>“Education for Social Work,” by Jesse Frederick Steiner</b> -(University of Chicago Press, 1921) gives, as its first -chapter, a five-page statement of “The Nature of Social -Work” which does not lend itself to quotation -otherwise than <i>in toto</i>. It reports about the same -conclusions as this thesis, which was prepared before -Mr. Steiner’s study.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1"><b>Porter R. Lee</b> speaking to the National Conference of Social -Work in 1915 (see Report p. 597) described three conceptions -of the social worker. First, “Any person is a -social worker if his work has conscious social purpose,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> -although his vocation may be any one of the historic -forms of human activity. The second conception includes -as social workers those who are engaged in so-called -preventive work, that is to say, those whose -efforts are directed towards social legislation, toward -the development of the social point of view in the general -public and toward readjustments in social institutions -and social habits. * * * social work in this sense -is not concerned with those who are disabled by adverse -conditions of life but with the adverse conditions. -The third conception of the social worker on the other -hand identifies him primarily with efforts on behalf of -the subnormal. To one holding this conception the -social worker is one who endeavors through case work -to reestablish disabled families and individuals in a -routine of normal life. This does not preclude interest -in social legislation and other forms of preventive -work, but these are not the first task of the social -worker. When social work as a generic term first -came into general use leaders in the work for dependent -families, neglected children, the defective, the -delinquent and the destitute sick comprised almost the -entire group to which it was applied.” In the 1920 -Conference (see Report p. 466) Mr. Lee said: “The subject -matter of social work is the adjustment of men to -their environment. * * * The necessity for social -work arises because of the difficulties faced by men -in making this adjustment. These difficulties are -sometimes in the man and sometimes in the environment. -Some factors in the environment bear too -heavily upon all men, some bear too heavily upon a -smaller number. * * * A large part of social work -is conducted with the purpose of softening the effect -of environmental factors which bear with undue severity -upon all men. Another large part of social work -aims at the development of greater resourcefulness in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> -all men in meeting environmental demands. The -greater part of social work, however, is at present devoted -to the development of a higher adjusting power -in those persons who are most handicapped by environment -or a modification of those particular environmental -factors which handicap them.”</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1"><b>Miss Mary E. Richmond in “What is Social Case Work?”</b> -(Russell Sage Foundation, N.Y., 1922) breaks up what -Mr. Lee calls “preventive work” into three parts (pp. -223, 224). “The other forms of social work all of -which interplay with case work, are three—group work, -social reform, and social research. Case work seeks -to effect better social relations by dealing with individuals -one by one or within the intimate group of the -family. But social work also achieves the same general -ends in these other ways. It includes a wide -variety of group activities—settlement work, recreational -work, club, neighborhood and local community -work—in which the individual, though still met face -to face, becomes one of a number. By a method different -from that employed in either case or group -work, though with the same end in view, social reform -seeks to improve conditions in the mass, chiefly -through social propaganda and social legislation. -Whether the immediate object be better housing, better -working conditions, better use of leisure, or a long -list of other objectives, the main purpose in these different -social reforms still is to advance the development -of our human kind by improving social relations. -Finally, social research with its precious freight of -original discovery in all the fields covered by social -work, has also the secondary task of assembling known -facts in order to reinterpret them for use in social reform, -in group work and in case work.”</p> -</div> - -<p>A fair amount of searching has failed to reveal many -statements which do as much as the above toward defining<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> -social work in succinct and specific terms. One finds instead -descriptions which, while satisfactory enough for the -purposes for which each was intended, ascribe to it no -really distinctive character but rather present it in generalizations -equally true of other disinterested undertakings, or -by making it synonymous with applied sociology or applied -religion simply throw the burden of definition onto those -other terms leaving the matter as indefinite as before.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="APPENDIX_II">APPENDIX II</h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="center">A</p> - -<p>A list of the schools belonging (in 1921) to the “Association of -Training Schools for Professional Social Workers,” organized 1919, -President. Prof. J. E. Cutler, Western Reserve University.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Boston School of Social Work, Boston.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Carola Woerishoffer Graduate Department of Social Economy and -Social Research, Bryn Mawr College.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">College of Commerce and Journalism, Ohio State University.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Department of Social Work, Carnegie Institute of Technology.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Department of Social Work, University of Toronto.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Missouri School of Social Economy, St. Louis (part of the University -of Missouri).</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">New York School of Social Work, New York.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Pennsylvania School of Social and Health Work, Philadelphia.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Philanthropic Service Division, School of Commerce and Administration, -University of Chicago.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">School of Applied Social Science, Western Reserve University.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">School of Public Welfare, University of North Carolina.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">School of Social Work and Public Health, Richmond, Va.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Smith College Training School for Social Work, Smith College.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Training Course in Civics and Social Work, University of Pittsburgh.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Training Course for Social and Civic Work, University of Minnesota.</p> - - -<p class="center">B</p> - -<p>The number of schools which make a separate department of each -of the seventeen subjects referred to in the text (not the number of -courses in these subjects) is as follows. The list is somewhat misleading -in appearance as it gives prominence to the subjects most -often treated <i>separately</i> rather than to those most often or most fully -treated. As a matter of fact separate treatment sometimes means the -somewhat casual addition of a subject after the central interests of -the program have been pretty well integrated.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Industrial work, including industrial supervision and employment; -personnel work, service departments and nursing</td> -<td class="tdr">10</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Community work or service, or organization</td> -<td class="tdr">9</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span>Medical social work</td> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Child welfare</td> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Social research and investigation</td> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Social case work, social relief and social guardianship</td> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Family welfare work</td> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Mental hygiene and psychiatric social work</td> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Community organization and recreation, physical education and recreation</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Penology or delinquency or criminality</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Settlement work, educational and vocational guidance.</td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdi">Public health work</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p class="center">C</p> - -<p>A list of forty subjects taught in the training schools as preparation -for work in specific fields. The figures accompanying the following -list of subjects do not indicate the number of courses in the -subject but the number of schools in which the subject is taught.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Public health</td> -<td class="tdr">12</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Psychiatric social work</td> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mental testing</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Medical social work</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Abnormal psychology</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Personal hygiene and first aid</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Social hygiene</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Community organization</td> -<td class="tdr">13</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Recreation and special means of recreation</td> -<td class="tdr">10</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Municipal problems</td> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Rural social problems</td> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Municipal government</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Neighborhood work</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Community art</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Case work</td> -<td class="tdr">13</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Family welfare</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Industry</td> -<td class="tdr">14</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Child welfare</td> -<td class="tdr">10</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Vocational guidance</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Education</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Immigration</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Race problems<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span></td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Social legislation</td> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Elements or special features of law</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Dependents, defectives and delinquents</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Penology or criminology</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Probation</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Organization and administration of various sorts</td> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Political science</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Social and political philosophy</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Socialism and social reform</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">The social institution of religion</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Food and diet</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Home economics</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Housing</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Record keeping and methods of presentation</td> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Biology</td> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"> </td> -<td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Standard of living, etc.</td> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -</tr> -</table> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="BIBLIOGRAPHY">BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> -</div> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Addams, Jane; Newer Ideals of Peace. Macmillan, N.Y., 1907 (2d -edition 1911).</p> - -<p class="indent"> -Twenty Years at Hull House. Macmillan, N.Y., 1911.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil. Macmillan, 1912. -</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Bosanquet, Mrs. Bernard (Helen Denby); Rich and Poor. Macmillan, -London, 1896.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -The Standard of Life and Other Studies. Macmillan, 1898. - -<p class="indent"> -The Strength of the People, A Study in Social Economics. Macmillan, -1903. -</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Cabot, Richard C., M.D.; Social Service and the Art of Healing. Moffat, -Yard & Co., 1915.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Carver, T. N.; Sociology and Social Progress. Ginn and Co., N.Y., -1912.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Devine, E. T.; The Family and Social Work. Survey Associates, -N.Y., 1912.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -Misery and its Causes. Macmillan, N.Y., 1913.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -Social Work. Macmillan, N.Y., 1922.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -With Lilian Brandt; American Social Work in the Twentieth Century. -The Frontier Press, N.Y., 1921. -</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Gray, B. Kirkman; A History of English Philanthropy from the Dissolution -of the Monasteries to the Taking of the First Census. -P. S. King and Son. London, 1908.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -Philanthropy and the State or Social Politics. Edited by Elinor -Kirkman Gray and B. L. Hutchins. P. S. King and Son. London, -1908. -</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Henderson, C. R.; Social Programmes in the West, Lectures Delivered -in the Far East. University of Chicago Press, 1912.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Lallemand, Léon; Histoire de la Charité. 4 Vols. Alphonse Picard et -Fils. Paris. Vol. I, 1902; Vol. II, 1903; Vol. III, 1906; Vol. IV, -1910.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Lloyd, H. D.; Man, the Social Creator. Doubleday, N.Y., ’06.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Loch, C. D.; Article on “Charity” in Encyclopedia Britannica.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">McDougal, Wm.; An Introduction to Social Psychology. J. W. Luce -and Co., Boston. 10th edition, 1916.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Philanthropy and Social Progress, Essays by Jane Addams, Robert A. -Woods, Father J. O. S. Huntingdon, Professor Franklin H. Giddings<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span> -and Bernard Bosanquet. Thos. Y. Crowell and Co., N.Y. -1893.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Parmelee, Maurice, Ph.D.; Poverty and Social Progress. Macmillan, -1916.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Parsons, Frank, Ph.D.; Legal Doctrine and Progress. B. W. Huebsch, -N.Y., 1911.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Patten, Simon N.; The New Basis of Civilization. Macmillan, N.Y., -1907.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -Heredity and Social Progress. Macmillan, N.Y., 1903. -</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Queen, Stuart Alfred; Social Work in the Light of History. J. B. -Lippincott and Co., Philadelphia, 1922.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Richmond, Mary E.; Social Diagnosis, Russell Sage Foundation, N.Y., -1917.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -What is Social Case Work? Russell Sage Foundation, N.Y., 1922. -</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Sinclair, Upton; The Cry for Justice. Winston, Philadelphia, 1915.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Social Work, An Outline of its Professional Aspects. Published by -the American Association of Social Workers, 130 E. 22nd -Street, N.Y.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Steiner, Jesse Frederick; Education for Social Work. University of -Chicago Press, Chicago, 1921.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Todd, Arthur James, Ph.D.; The Scientific Spirit and Social Work. -Macmillan, N.Y., 1919.</p> - -<p class="indent"> -Theories of Social Progress. Macmillan, 1918. -</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Warner, Amos G., Ph.D.; American Charities. Thos. Y. Crowell and -Co., N.Y., 1894.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Wald, Lillian D.; The House on Henry Street. Henry Holt and Co., -N.Y., 1915.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Webb, Sidney and Beatrice; The Prevention of Destitution. Longmans, -London, 1911.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Weyl, Walter E.; The New Democracy. Macmillan, 1912. (2d -edition, April, 1914).</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">The American Journal of Sociology.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Catalogues of Training Schools in the Association of Training Schools -for Professional Social Work:</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Charities Review.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">New York Charities Directory, A Reference Book of Social Service. -Published by the Charity Organization Society of New York. -28th edition, 1919.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Proceedings of the National Conference of Social Work, 1917-1920. To -1917, National Conference of Charities and Corrections.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Social Service Directory of Philadelphia, 1919, corrected for 1920; Published -by Municipal Court.</p> - -<p class="hanging-indent1">Survey Associates, N.Y., 1887 to 1905 Charities; 1905 to 1907 Charities -and the Commons, 1907, Survey Magazine.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" > - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2>Transcriber’s note</h2> - -<p>Minor punctuation errors have been changed and standardized -without notice. The following -Printer errors have been changed:</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><b>CHANGED</b></td> -<td class="tdl"><b>FROM</b></td> -<td class="tdl"><b>TO</b></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_8">8</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“their dependants”</td> -<td class="tdl">“their dependents”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_9">9</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“eleomosynary purpose”</td> -<td class="tdl">“eleemosynary purpose”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_9">9</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“School of <i>Philanthrophy</i>”</td> -<td class="tdl">“School of <i>Philanthropy</i>”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_10">10</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“milleniums of Christianity”</td> -<td class="tdl">“millenniums of Christianity”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_12">12</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“examine the public attittude”</td> -<td class="tdl">“examine the public attitude”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_14">14</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“found to differ form”</td> -<td class="tdl">“found to differ from”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_19">19</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“practicaly all departments”</td> -<td class="tdl">“practically all departments”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_19">19</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“the ruin of adolescense”</td> -<td class="tdl">“the ruin of adolescence”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_21">21</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“worker has reponsibilities”</td> -<td class="tdl">“worker has responsibilities”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_23">23</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“his reptuation and honor”</td> -<td class="tdl">“his reputation and honor”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_25">25</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“individually unpredicable”</td> -<td class="tdl">“individually unpredictable”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_36">36</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“recognizes an interpendence”</td> -<td class="tdl">“recognizes an interdependence”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_47">47</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“should direct and stimluate”</td> -<td class="tdl">“should direct and stimulate”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_50">50</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“can develope in”</td> -<td class="tdl">“can develop in”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_50">50</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“which developes only”</td> -<td class="tdl">“which develops only”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_53">53</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“of sweeping judgements”</td> -<td class="tdl">“of sweeping judgments”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_57">57</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“sheer dependance”</td> -<td class="tdl">“sheer dependence”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_57">57</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“form of dependance”</td> -<td class="tdl">“form of dependence”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_59">59</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“degree of interdependance”</td> -<td class="tdl">“degree of interdependence”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_59">59</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“inclinations corrollary”</td> -<td class="tdl">“inclinations corollary”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_63">63</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“dependant have been”</td> -<td class="tdl">“dependent have been”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_65">65</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“flieth by noon-day”</td> -<td class="tdl">“flieth by noonday”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_70">70</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“caution in proceedure”</td> -<td class="tdl">“caution in procedure”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_74">74</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“Tolstoi’s indictment”</td> -<td class="tdl">“Tolstoy’s indictment”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_75">75</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“with a good con-conscience”</td> -<td class="tdl">“with a good conscience”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_80">80</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“not this be becasue”</td> -<td class="tdl">“not this be because”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_89">89</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“Historie de la Charité”</td> -<td class="tdl">“Histoire de la Charité”</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Page <a href="#Page_89">89</a>:</td> -<td class="tdl">“fils. Paris”</td> -<td class="tdl">“Fils. Paris”</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>All other inconsistencies are as in the original.</p> - -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL WORK ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div> -<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div> -<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/69557-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/69557-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 2ab7df6..0000000 --- a/old/69557-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null |
