Generalist Practice and
Introductory Theory
Chapter 4
Introduction
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The profession was actually founded on a
generalist premise that social workers
needed to consider and work with both
the individual and the environment as they
attempted to improve the life quality and
functioning of individuals, groups, and
communities.
Introduction
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When a person comes into a social worker’s
office requesting help or when the social worker
visits an individual in a homeless shelter, the
purpose of the meeting is to enhance the
person’s well-being or social functioning.
When the social worker meets with a state
legislative committee or a local school board, the
professional purpose is to help them design
programs that will alleviate poverty and
oppression and meet the basic human needs.
Introduction
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Social workers don’t pick and choose what
problems and issues they would like to
address. They see a problem, even a very
difficult problem, and try to help people
solve it. They must prepare themselves to
help people with individualized personal
problems on the one hand and very broad
problems that affect whole organizations
and communities on the other. (KirstAshman and Hull)
Need for a Theoretical Framework
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CSWE has required that schools teach a series of
classes under the title of Human Behavior and
the Social Environment (HBSE).
HBSE sequence has been a basic mechanism to
help the professional focus on the perspective of
the person and the environment with a proper
understanding of the important interaction that
goes on between people and the context in
which they live.
Need for a Theoretical Framework
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Dual perspective: assists the social
worker to incorporate theories into
practice that explain how individuals grow
and develop socially, biologically,
emotionally, and spiritually.
The dual perspective has encouraged an
understanding of social structures,
systems, and cultural norms that play such
an important part in the lives of all people.
Framework
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In the early days of social work the interactive
perspective was evidenced in the Charity
Organization Societies (COS) and the Settlement
House Movement (SHM).
The COS focused on changing the individual,
while the SHM chose to change social systems.
An important shift occurred when social work
adopted Freud’s psychodynamic model placing a
greater emphasis on the individual (medical
model approach).
Framework
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Since the l970’s the profession has added the
systems and ecological models as a way of again
stressing the importance of balancing the focus
of social work practice between the “person”
and the “environment”.
Systems theories addresses the impact that
organizations, policies, communities, and groups
have on individuals.
Ecological theory is a subset of systems theory
that makes some important contributions to
social work, (micro, mezzo, macro perspectives).
Introductory Inner and Outer
Forces Paradigm
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The inner and outer forces paradigm attempts to
explain why people seem to act at times in
strange and unpredictable ways.
The basic assumption in the inner and outer
forces model is that there are forces developed
both within the person and from the person’s
environment that cause them to behave in
certain ways.
The real origin of the forces may never be
identified, but the recognition that the forces
exist and continually interact to produce
behavior is significant.
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The framework can assist in assessing and
treating problems of a troubled person.
Another use of the inner and outer forces
framework is in prevention.
A third use of the inner and outer forces
framework is creating a classification
system for the new theories that are
developing in the area of human behavior.
Life Cycle and the Inner and Outer
Forces Model
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An important addition to the inner and
outer forces model is the life cycle
concept.
It is recognized that there are stages of
human development that seem to be
universal.
Erik Erikson, who adapted his formation of
a life cycle from basic Freudian theory,
developed an eight-stage classification .
Eight Stages of the Life Cycle
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Trust (0-1 years)
Autonomy (1-3 years)
Initiative (4-6 years)
Industry (7-11 years)
Identity (12-17 years)
Intimacy (18-22 years)
Caring (23-45 years)
Integrity (45 + years)
Social Functioning
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The inner and outer forces framework is a
tool to help the social worker explain some
of the reasons why individuals may not
function well in their environment.
The aim of social work is to improve and
enhance social functioning.
Social work has determined that “social
functioning” is its central purpose.
Levels of Social Functioning
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Social work places its primary attention on
an individual’s relationship with other
human beings.
It focuses on how and with what
effectiveness the person performs various
social roles.
Threats to, or actual impairment of, role
function are the situations to which the
profession addresses itself.
Levels of Social Functioning
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Social work assumes humanity’s worth and
preeminence and takes the position that people
inherently have the potential for dealing with
their problems.
Social work is not antiseptic. It does not aim to
make life free from stress-producing problems or
to relieve people of their responsibilities.
Problems can be building blocks. Crises are
frequently the mainspring of adaptive behavior.
A Base for Generalist Social Work
Practice
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Generalist social work practice requires the
worker both to be able to explain human
behavior and to decide on a course of
intervention to improve social functioning.
Since the generalist social worker must work
with the micro, mezzo, and macro systems, it is
important the each new social worker be
grounded in the traditional social work methods.