UTA SSW, SOCW 5306: Generalist Macro Practice
Professor Dick Schoech
Copyright 2005 (permission required before use)
Suggest printing slides for class using: Print | Handouts | 3 slides per page | grayscale options

 Generalist macro practice history, change process, roles, levels of intervention
 Theories, values, perspectives
 The community as client
 Social conditions as problems/opportunities
 Assessing social conditions
 Intervening in social conditions
 Administrative practices

 Definitions of Community
 Relevant theories
 Functions of communities
 Changes occurring in communities
 Organizations vs. Communities
 Goals of social work where community is client

 A group of individuals or families that share certain values, services, institutions, interests, or geographical proximity (text, p. 260)
 Shared physical space or interest
 Social interaction
 Sense of identity
 A functional special unit that meets people’s sustenance needs, helps form collective identities, and patterned social interaction (Fellin)
 Neighborhoods (geographical) vs. communities

 Socialization
 Production, distribution, consumption of goods
 Social control
 Mutual support
 Social participation (
Roland Warren ) (text, p. 261)

 Ecological Social Systems
 population characteristics
 physical environment
 social structures
 Action theories – focuses on relationships, interactions, values, shared meaning
 Power Theories – Focus on who influences or decides (text, p. 280.

( Warren, Fellin )
 Urbanization, suburbanization, immigration (text p. 273)



Diversification of population
Minority populations younger (50% of Mex Am are below age 25)
Movement from rural to rapidly growing Urban areas
 Transfer individual/family functions to govt/business, sewing, cooking, child care, elderly care, etc
 Stronger ties to the larger community, (national, international, global village)
 Changing values
(Divorce, blended families, violence)
 New structures (virtual communities)

 Focus on assets and capacities of
 Governments
 Religious groups
 Professional groups
 Social service agencies
 Business/trade groups
 Civic groups
 Consumer groups
 Educational organizations

 Produce community that helps people cope and grow towards self fulfillment
 Produce people who are functioning well physically/ psychologically/ socially/ spiritually
 Produce people with little need for human services
 Provides social services if needed
 Community well functioning (course pack, p. 52)
 Ontario healthy communities
( http://www.opc.on.ca/ohcc/ )
 Neighborhood Knowledge LA
( http://nkla.sppsr.ucla.edu
/ )

 Community is client and tool/resource
 Societal changes result in communities causing problems
(client) rather than preventing or solving them
(tools/resources)
 Social workers determine when to use 1+ of many community approaches to solve a social problem


Use generic social work process with communities
Terms: change agent, target system, client system
(stakeholders), action system. Text p. 266
 Think of organizations in community practice as similar to individuals in family practice