The History of Social Work

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• 3.
• The History of Social Work

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Three Historical Phases

• Era of Moral Reform formation of Canada until
  1890.
• Era of Social Reform 1891 to 1940.
• Era of Applied Social Science 1940 to the
  present.

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PHASE 1 Era of Moral Reform

• Pre-industrial economic development
• Private charities associated with religious
  organizations predominated in poor relief
  provision.
• Distinguished between the deserving and
  undeserving poor.
• Desire to systematize charity giving lead to
  Charity Organization Society

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COS Goals

• Restore people to moral rectitude and Christian
  values.
• Restore the bonds of obligations between classes.
• Organize and control charity work.

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Settlement Houses

• Idea was to have educated middle-class youth live
  and work in poor communities.
• First Canadian settlement house was Evanglia in
  Toronto (1902)
• Settlement house workers were the precursor to
  community organizing in Canada.

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PHASE 2 Era of Social Reform

• Notion of helping shifted to public welfare
• Trained social workers replaced charity
  volunteers
• Departure from moral judgments toward a
  scientific analysis of social problems

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Social Casework

• Mary Richmonds 1917 text entitled Social
  Diagnosis influenced early social work
• Strongly influenced by medical model
• Charlotte Whitton played influential role in
  promoting this in Canada

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Psychology and Social Work

• Freudian thought increasingly influenced social
  work
• Many schools taught psychoanalytic therapy based
  on Freud and Richmonds theories and principles

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Social Gospel Movement

• Social gospelers and settlement house workers
  influence a more socially oriented approach to
  social work
• J.S. Woodsworth applied social gospel ideas in
  his social service work

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PHASE 3 Era of Applied Social Science

• After WWII a rapid expansion of social services
  necessitated increased numbers of social workers
• New model of social work practice emerged based,
  in part, on critiques of traditional approaches.

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Expansion of Social work

• Rapid expansion of social services in post-war
  period
• Numbers of social workers rose from 3,495 in 1951
  to 85,955 today
• Now 34 universities and 46 colleges have social
  work programs