The Spirit of Social Work

In an introduction, Robert Nordstrom highlights Taft's 1928 article & offers questions that social workers should ask about their profession today. The text of Taft's 1928 address to the All-Philadelphia Conference on Social Work discusses the motivation & traits of social workers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Families in society 1994-04, Vol.75 (4), p.243-248
Main Author: Taft, Jessie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Disciplines
Helping Behavior
Motivation
Personality
Professions
Social History
Social Work
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In an introduction, Robert Nordstrom highlights Taft's 1928 article & offers questions that social workers should ask about their profession today. The text of Taft's 1928 address to the All-Philadelphia Conference on Social Work discusses the motivation & traits of social workers & how those influenced the development of the field from the 1800s-1920s. Social work evolved from feel-good alms giving. The need to go beyond the momentary alleviation of poverty to address underlying causes (eg, illness, unemployment, poor education, alcoholism) encouraged a more systematic relief system & the use of case workers to evaluate & assist families. Developments in psychology, criminology, & education accelerated the move to case work. Social workers began to concentrate on the pschological & environmental motivations of individuals. Distance & objectivity were desirable, but guilt & self-satisfaction continued to be strong motivating impulses in social workers, which was acceptable if honestly recognized. Social workers began to take into account their own roles & desires as part of the their work. E. Blackwell
ISSN:1044-3894
1945-1350