A definition of social work: A thesis in sociology

								



Transcriber’s note


On Page 87 the line: “Settlement work, educational and
vocational guidance.” is missing a corresponding number.

  UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

  A DEFINITION OF
SOCIAL WORK

  ALICE S. CHEYNEY

  A THESIS


IN SOCIOLOGY


PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

  PHILADELPHIA
1923

  COPYRIGHT 1923
BY
ALICE S. CHEYNEY

CONTENTS

  Chapter                                           Page



    I. WHY THIS DEFINITION IS ATTEMPTED                5



   II. THE CHARITABLE ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK           8


III. THE SCIENTIFIC ELEMENT IN SOCIAL WORK          16



   IV. THE TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE

        OF SOCIAL WORK                                27



    V. THE TESTIMONY OF THE TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR

        PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORKERS                   47



   VI. THE ANSWER TO ITS CRITICS                      55


APPENDIX                                            81


BIBLIOGRAPHY                                        89

CHAPTER I
WHY THIS DEFINITION IS ATTEMPTED

What social worker has not been asked to define social work and found
himself at a loss? It is easy to describe his own particular tasks but
it is not easy to characterize the profession as a whole or to say why
its very diverse phases are identified with one another. Why should we
apply the term “social work” to hospital social service and probation,
but not to nursing and interpreting, services which seem to stand in a
similar relation to medicine and the courts?
Definitions of social work are not yet to be found in dictionaries
or encyclopedias. A certain amount of characterization appears in
current literature, by implication or by mention of one feature here
and another there. Some general descriptions say of it things which,
though true, do not distinguish it.[1] Probably no strict definition
is possible. The field of social work is constantly extending; its
functions are multiplying by geometric progression; its means are
undergoing continuous adaptation and in all its phases it shades off
into other kinds of work or attracts allied work to its own likeness.
The inconvenience of this state of affairs is a constant subject of
complaint and for at least three reasons we badly need some sort of
definition.
In the first place whenever we talk without first agreeing on
the meaning of terms we are wasting time and giving unnecessary
opportunity for bad blood. The term “social work” is now used in
several entirely different senses. One man, in using it, is referring
to a characteristic technique, which to him is its distinguishing
feature, such, for instance, as social case work; another is thinking
of a certain function in social economy, for instance, the relief
of distress; a third is designating a policy in social reform, a