Social Pragmatism
Perspectives of John Dewey
Features of Social Pragmatism
 Social
conditions can be improved through
mutual trust and cooperation;
 Collaborative
approaches to social policy
are essential for sustainability;
Features Continued
 Effective
social policies and programs are
the product of experimental methods
based on assessment and evaluation
(program outcomes); and
 Strong
social benefit and education
programs are necessary for both social
capital and democracy.
Features Continued
 1)
Structural,
 2)
Flexible, and
 3)
Evaluative
Dewey’s Notion of Social
Capital
 1)
Pragmatism and meliorism,
 2)
Systematic experimental method and
evaluation, and
 3)
Community collaboration and
interdependency.
Meliorism
 Social
conditions can be improved under
any circumstances.
 It
is always possible to make things better
through community-based initiatives
Meliorism
 Only
meliorism can underlie the
philosophy of action that allows for the
possibility of reform and progress through
human effort. Dewey writes that progress
is not inevitable, it is up to men as
individuals to bring it about. Change is
going to occur anyway, and the problem is
the control of change in a given direction.
Intelligence and
Experimentation
 Intelligence
must be understood in terms
of inquiry, experimental action, and its
results. Inquiry, and the theory of inquiry,
are among the most important tools at our
disposal for learning to live together in
ways that take into account the constraints
of our environing conditions, as well as the
full range of human needs and aspirations.
Experimental Method
 Experimental
method is not just messing
around nor doing a little of this and a little
of that in the hope that things will improve.
On the contrary, it is the attempt to
uncover and rectify our social ills
Continuous Social Planning
 An
immense difference divides the
planned society from a continuously
planning society. A social plan must be
derived by cooperative evaluation. The
attempt to plan social organization and
association without the freest possible play
of intelligence contradicts the very idea in
social planning .
Associated Activity
 Holistic
or comprehensive approach to
understanding social problems is the value
of seeing individuals as part of an organic
whole. Collaboration plays a crucial role in
promoting public and civic
interdependency in socially and
economically healthy communities.
Associated Living Continued
 Interdependence
and interaction within
communities is part of radical connection
which is essential to the establishment of a
democratic and socially responsible
society. Associated or joint activity is a
condition of the creation of a community.
Role of Education
 Education
plays a major role in this regard
by helping individuals to learn to live more
cooperatively and to appreciate their role
in the social process that allows them to
work together to accomplish tasks that
cannot be accomplished individually.
Social Fabric
 Jane Addams
and Dewey saw networking
as fundamental to effective communities in
a process that involved a constant
reweaving of the social fabric.
 Both knew the value of understanding the
needs of social service beneficiaries within
the context of their social networks.
Social Fabric Continued
 This
person-in-environment perspective
continues to play a prominent role in social
work and social welfare education and
practice.
Social Capital Process
 Dewey
argues that we may be drawn
together to solve our own problems, but it
is the togetherness, not the solution, that
is the primary result.
 In our attempts to build and further
democratic community, the process of
shared activity and values held in common
is what matters.
Cooperative Problem Solving
 Cooperative
problem-solving efforts of an
engaged and informed public. If a
community fails to promote cooperative
inquiries then apathy will follow with
consequences that are detrimental to
community development.
 Moreover, for interaction and cooperation
to result in a community, it must be shared
action.
Development of All Society
 An
economy, a government, or a society,
then, is not fully free unless it makes
available to all its members the
prerequisites of their growth - both their
growth as individuals and the growth of the
social groups through which they live.
Democracy
 The
success of the community depends
upon cooperative efforts to seek the
common good in a democratic way. In
attempts to build and further democratic
community, the process of developing
shared activity and values held in common
is what matters.
Democracy Continued
 We
need to foster the kind of long-term
focus that sees beyond particular issues to
the cultivation of dialogue and long-term
cooperation.
 We
should continue to trust in community
life in spite of occasional and even severe
setbacks because democracy is a moral
ideal.
Democracy Continued
 Democracy
is the faith that the process of
experience is more important than any
special result attained.
Democracy Continued
 The
foundation of a democratic community
life is built upon how people interact and
communicate. It is a form of moral
association instituted in the relations and
interactions of the community, establishing
a mode of associated living or conjoint
communicated experience.
Democracy Continued
 Democracy
must begin at home, and its
home is in the neighborly community
which is dependent on close personal
interaction.
 It is the family and community that are the
primary agents of nurturing and forming
strength of character and intelligence
required of a viable democracy.
Discourse

Engaging in free, honest, and open discourse
opens up new ways of approaching common
problems and often leads to the discovery of
shared interests and values. This promotes
social inquiry that allows for an honest
evaluation of ideas.
 It is precisely when such a process is not
followed that the prevailing ideas of the
privileged become institutionalized, thereby
weakening social capital.
Individual and Community
Responsibilities
 Both
individuals and groups have a
responsibility to be active participants in
their local community. This is an important
aspect of the human experience: To learn
to be human is to develop through the
give-and-take of communication an
effective sense of being an individually
distinctive member of a community; one
who understands and appreciates its
beliefs, desires and methods, and who
contributes to human resources and
values.