A definition of social work: A thesis in sociology

								

qualifying features that have transformed charity into social work--the
emergence of the individual as the only and sufficient nexus for its
services and the adoption of scientific guidance?
The first of these has already been touched on in relation to the
first section. Throughout the second the discussion all bears on the
prevention of delinquency or the care of delinquents. There is not
much discussion of pure justice, the burden of the argument is all
that we should “approach every individual prisoner with conscientious
determination to give him the best service of which we are capable,
realizing that his future is largely in our hands.”[48] A public
defender is asked for “in order that every person accused, no matter
how poor, may have a full and fair trial.”[49] And for sentenced
prisoners social work asks something more than mere detention, “we
used to look upon them, in the stage of repression, en masse. * *
* Instead of committing a man to a particular institution he is now
committed to the custody of a board of control * * * to be examined *
* * to determine just where he will fit into school or industry. The
man will be assigned by his board, to the particular prison to which he
is best suited for mental and physical treatment.”[50] “If a child who
is mentally sound comes into court with a mind bent on the commission
of some offence he should be sent to a special school having for its
purpose the education of such children. Let the great departments
of psychology and sociology of our colleges and universities devise
a course of instruction and education that will reclaim a juvenile
delinquent who is mentally and physically sound”[51] and “we should
extend the methods developed in the Children’s Courts to apply to all
ages, wiping out our arbitrary age line by improving the treatment of
the older groups.”[52]
It is in this section that there appears at its plainest the paradox
that the questions purely dependent on what we call personality are
questions of social relationship and all genuinely social questions are
questions of personal life. A public policy is justified in terms of
personal benefit but interest is claimed for personal difficulties on
the ground that they illuminate public issues.
The third division is one that speaks quite unequivocally concerning
the nature of social work, for there is an old and kindly profession
already established in this field and social work must justify its
own entrance there. All of the subjects in this health section are of
interest to the doctor as well as the social worker, but for the doctor
they throw light on the causes and cures of disease, for the social
worker they are a point of departure for active work to establish
better standards of living. Nineteen of the papers presented deal
specifically with that subject. Five more deal with the co-ordination
of various health agencies--a task in social engineering. One speaker,