Theories of Social Work
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Theories of social work — presentation transcript
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1. Theories of Social Work — Presentation Transcript1. Theories of Social Work S.Rengasamy Madurai Institute of Social Work Social WorkersCelebrating Community –Honouring Diversity2. Social Work is a practical job. It is about protecting people and changing their lives, notabout giving theoretical explanations of why they got into difficulties … Social work is aboutsocial change at the individual as well as at community level. Change is complex, diversifiedand risk prone. To understand it, social worker need knowledge. imagination, comprehension& creativity….in short, a radical shift in understanding “Knowledge as process” as opposed to“Knowledge as product” is needed. But our understanding of social work (especially with thefaculty and students of social work colleges in non metropolitan cities of India and studentswith low level mastery of English language) is frozen with the simple definition of social work...it is the art and science of helping the people to help themselves. Compilation andinterpretation of social work definition accessible to the students (PD Mishra 1994) conveys ameaning that social work is a “helping” “assisting” „enabling” activity, which in turn suggestssocial work is seen as a benign and uncontentious activity, willingly accepted. Thisunderstanding fails to reflect the major transformations social work discipline has undergoneas well as its global outlook. There is nothing wrong in simplifying a concept, but if it ignoresthe complexities associated with the concept, that will end our further seeking. Whatever maybe a definition of social work, it is normally based on certain perspectives and understandingof that perspective / theory will help us to appreciate that definition. It is this clarity thatnormally make one to commit in his/ her professional responsibilities.3. To answer these questions one need to What is the need know why people are suffering.What is our...
Document Transcript
1. Theories of Social Work — Presentation Transcript1. Theories of Social Work S.Rengasamy Madurai Institute of Social Work Social WorkersCelebrating Community –Honouring Diversity2. Social Work is a practical job. It is about protecting people and changing their lives, notabout giving theoretical explanations of why they got into difficulties … Social work is aboutsocial change at the individual as well as at community level. Change is complex, diversifiedand risk prone. To understand it, social worker need knowledge. imagination, comprehension& creativity….in short, a radical shift in understanding “Knowledge as process” as opposed to“Knowledge as product” is needed. But our understanding of social work (especially with thefaculty and students of social work colleges in non metropolitan cities of India and studentswith low level mastery of English language) is frozen with the simple definition of social work...it is the art and science of helping the people to help themselves. Compilation andinterpretation of social work definition accessible to the students (PD Mishra 1994) conveys ameaning that social work is a “helping” “assisting” „enabling” activity, which in turn suggestssocial work is seen as a benign and uncontentious activity, willingly accepted. Thisunderstanding fails to reflect the major transformations social work discipline has undergoneas well as its global outlook. There is nothing wrong in simplifying a concept, but if it ignoresthe complexities associated with the concept, that will end our further seeking. Whatever maybe a definition of social work, it is normally based on certain perspectives and understandingof that perspective / theory will help us to appreciate that definition. It is this clarity thatnormally make one to commit in his/ her professional responsibilities.3. To answer these questions one need to What is the need know why people are suffering.What is our...