HISTORY OF SOCIAL WORK

UK-USA-INDIA
PRINCE SOLOMON
MCCSWD
INTRODUCTION

• religious motive which were called ‘charity, ‘Poor Relief’,

‘Philanthropy’, and ‘Social reform’
• the emphasis being primarily on the soul of the giver to attain
salvation rather than the good done to the recipient. “In some
Mohammedan countries at present day reliance on providing for
the relief of need by alms of the faithful still continues.
• Christianity and Judaism there is a call to comfort the weak
hearted, to raise up them that fall, and to loosen those whom
Satan has bound: a call which has contributed most powerfully to
our modern desire to rehabilitate the offender and the disabled,
to provide kindly care for the old and the ailing and to understand
and to help rather than condemn the social misfit”
History of Social Welfare before Professional
Social Work in United Kingdom
Phase I - Social Welfare during Prehistoric era (up to 1200 AD)

• From the Garden of Eden the concept of sharing is innate in

human beings. The feelings of belonging, the readiness to mutual
protection, were just as essential as the selfish desire to dominate
other weaker human beings.
• Though there was mutual aid in that society often the old, the
sick, the crippled and the handicapped were killed or abandoned
by the tribe since they were a burden to the community.
Phase II – Church and Charity (From A.D. 1200to
A.D. 1500)
Phase III – Charity from Church to Government
(From A.D.1501 to A.D.1600)
Phase IV -The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601

• (a) The able-bodied poor who were forced to work in the house of
correction and to whom citizens were forbidden to give alms.
• (b) The impotent poor who were unable to work; namely are, the
sick, old, blind, deaf-mute, lame, and mothers with young
children. They were given out-door relief such as food, clothes,
and fuel in their own homes.
• (c) Dependent children, who were orphans abandoned by their
parents, or whose parents were poor, were placed in ‘free homes’
(any citizen who was willing to take them without charge).
Phase V – Poor Law Reform of 1834
The need for Poor law reform was influenced by…..

• “(a) Economic Theory of laissez-faire presented by Adam Smith

advocated that the state should not interfere with private
economy and certain of his followers pleaded for the elimination
of poor relief.
• (b) Thomas R Malthus (1798) in his famous ‘Essay on Population’
pleaded that the poor relief tended to encourage paupers to have
more children in order to get relief for them, and tended to raise
the price of food, which again impoverished the working class.
• (c) A parish minister in Scotland, Reverend Thomas Chalmers
(1780-1847), organized a programme of private charity on the
principle of neighborly aid”
Poor law reform… cont…

• Severe opposition to the Poor Law practice, the rising number of

paupers, and the heavy increase in the poor tax burden led to the
appointment of the ‘Royal Commission for enquiring into the
administration and practical operation of the Poor Laws’
• The factory Act of 1833 prohibited the employment of children
less than nine years.
• The Prison Act of 1877 made prison by provide better food,
ventilation, the cleaning of cells, bedding and blankets, and
medical care during illness.
Poor Law Reform….
Growth of Voluntary Institutions

• During the 19th century certain social reformers like Francis

Place, Robert Owen, Richard Cobden and many others started
certain movements to earn rights for the laborers and the
formation of trade unions.
• The mushrooming of institutions private charities was greatly
criticized as a waste of money and having overlapping activities.
• In order to overcome the chaos and the lack of coordination
between the many charitable church and philanthropic societies
Charity Organization Society (COS) (G.R.Madan, Indian Social
Problems, 2010, p. 39) was formed in London in 1869.
Charity Organization Society (COS)

• The innovation caused the unmasking of many ‘professional

beggars’ and people received aids from the public.
• A group of citizens were working as volunteers in the city, which
was divided into districts. The example of the London COS was
followed in other large cities in England and Scotland and later it
reached the USA.
• In 1884 the first settlement house in the world known as,
‘Toynbee Hall’ was established. Its objective was to promote
education and culture, gather information regarding the
conditions of the poor and the need for social reform, and the
general awakening of popular interest in social and health
problems and social legislations.
Charity Organization Society (COS)

• The growth of voluntary institutions created a need for trained

workers to serve the people, giving birth to Social Work education.
“Octavia Hill was conducting training in England as early as 1873.
Series of lectures followed in London throughout the 1890s.”
• Thus, the first recognized Social Work education was started in
the year 1903, the school of Sociology in London, with a two year
course of theory and practice that grew from the efforts of the
COS and “professionalizing effect” (M.Healy, International Social
Work, 2001, p. 21).
History of Social Welfare before Professional
Social Work in United States of America
Development of Social Welfare before 1900

• From the beginning of the seventeenth century the colonist from

England and other countries brought with them the customs,
traditions, laws and institutions from the mother country.
• The traditional resources of the mother country such as church,
charities, hospitals, and alms houses did not exist in the
settlements.
• According to the Elizabethan Poor Law, it is the responsibility of
the local church to take care of the destitute. Every town made
provisions to the maintenance of the poor by supplying food,
clothing, firewood and house hold essentials to persons with legal
settlements.
Alms-house

• The introduction of alms-house care did not improve the

conditions of the poor. In alms-houses, old, sick, tramps,
vagabonds, blind, deaf-mutes, cripples, idiots and
insane, orphans, foundlings, unmarried mothers with
their children, prostitutes, and criminals were all put in
these houses− often without separation of the sexes or
age-groups.
Poor Relief

• “a) Private Charity Societies took initiatives to start orphanages and asylums,
because they objected to the placement of children and helpless invalid and
old people in mixed alms houses where they are forced to live with people
with other deviant behaviors. Private relief societies were often affiliated
with churches, fraternal orders or national benevolent associations, and they
became the leading progressive element in American Social Welfare during
the 19th century.
• b) The states themselves assumed responsibility for certain classes of the
poor such as the insane, feeble-minded and convicted offenders for whom
there were no adequate facilities.
• c) Some local public relief authorities, under the influence of state boards of
charity, began to question the old concepts of poor relief….” (Friedlander,
Introduction to Social Welfare, 1950, p. 87).
Private Charities

• After the reform in the poor relief act, private charities took the lead role in
addressing the issues of the disadvantaged. However the activities of these
private or religious agencies were often limited to aid for special local
groups
• In 1817 a constructive remedy for people in economic need was set up, the
New York Society for the Prevention of Pauperism, aiming to scientifically
understand the causes of poverty and to develop a model for rehabilitation
instead of mere palliative of financial issues.
• The society assigned volunteers called ‘visitors of the indigent’ as its agents.
It established an employment bureau, a savings bank and encouraged the
foundation of Mutual Aid-Mutual Life insurance groups to protect their
members against economic hazards.
• Church and Charitable Organizations Association for improving the
condition of the Poor was started in 1843 in New York. The
Association assigned ‘friendly visitors’ in every sub district of the
city in order to determine the need and the individual measures
necessary in each individual case.
Birth of COS in United States of America

• In the economi depression of 1873

• Reverend S.Humphreys Gurteen, who had been previously in London and
was, acquainted with the Charity Organization Society, organized in 1877,
the first society of this type in the United States in Buffalo, New York.
• Although the founders of these societies believed that poverty was caused
by personal fault, the friendly visitors found there were other factors that
caused destitution. They recognized that unhealthy neighbourhood and
housing conditions prevented the maintenance of health and morals and
low wages did not allow for the purchase of adequate food and clothing −
even with careful housekeeping and thrifting
C.O.S

• The introduction of C.O.S. gained momentum in promoting and enforcing

social legislation for improvement of housing, clearance of slum. The
societies established employment bureaus, loan societies, workshops,
laundries, ‘wayfarers’ lodges, shelters, training centers for the
rehabilitation of the handicap, blind, deaf, and crippled. They also created
domestic training of girls, hospitals, dispensaries, visiting nurses, recreation
and summer camps, nurseries for young children, and related facilities.
Settlement House Movement

• The development of modern industry brought masses of workers and their

families into the city. They lived in overcrowded quarters without comfort or
space for their children, while relatives and friends were left in native rural
villages and towns where they had come from. Large number of the
immigrants coming as immigrants to the USA lived in overcrowded flats and
unsanitary conditions.
• There was not much mutual understanding among the different racial and
religious backgrounds, and they spoke different languages. In 1887
Neighbourhood Guild of New York City was founded based on the idea of
Toynbee Hall in England. Soon Hull-House in Chicago, founded by Jane Addams
and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889, became popular
HULL HOUSE MODEL

• They met the needs of the neighbourhood through various programs: day
nursery and kindergarten, discussion and study groups, School of music,
dramatics, and arts, classes in rhythm and dancing, and workshops for
children and adults. Later the Hull-house organized playgrounds and
summer camps for children. School reforms activities which grew from the
experiences of Hull-House (Friedlander, Introduction to Social Welfare,
1950, p. 112).
• Residents of settlement houses became the champions of Social reforms and
they became the pioneers of social Action Many active workers and
volunteers of the Charity Organization Societies felt the need for a deeper
understanding of the behavior of individuals and of social and economic
problems. This led to the organization of the first Social Work courses in
New York in 1898
EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION
evolution of Social Work education in the world

• In 1998 the NASW declared it the 100th anniversary of the Social Work
profession.
• a) Social Work education evolving in the United States and Europe was an
indigenous response to the conditions of livelihood and the rapid
development in the nineteenth century.
• b) Social Work was introduced by the Americans and the Europeans to other
countries in Asia and Africa as experts to address the problem of
“underdevelopment”.
• c) The introduction and reintroduction of modern Social Work in the
countries of former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc, including Russia, the
nations of Eastern Europe, China, and Vietnam under the foreign influence
(M.Healy, International Social Work, 2001, p. 20).
• “two social movements in Social Welfare that began at the end of the
nineteenth century shaped the development of the profession of Social Work:
the Charity Organization Societies and the settlement house establishments,”
(Van Wormer, 1997). Van Wormer, K. (1997). Social Welfare: A World View.
P.162
• The social movements gave birth to social organizations in the Charity
Organization Society in 1869 and the settlement house, Toynbee Hall in 1884
in London. Within less than a decade, the United States adopted the concept
of COS in 1877. This is one of the earliest welfare model transfers shared in
human services. The Hull House was founded in 1889 following the visit of
Jane Addams to Toynbee Hall
• http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1931/addams-
bio.html
“Social Work education emerged In 1897, Mary Richmond (Mary
almost simultaneously in Richmond, 1917) urged for more of
Britain, the United States, and an organized training during her
the European continent at the speech at the National Conference on
turn of the century, quickly Social Work. The summer institute
started by the Hull house in Chicago
progressing in each location
became a summer school in
from lectures to full-time philanthropic work in the year 1898,
training” (De Jongh J. , August founded by New York COS, in
8-11,1972, pp. 22-36). De Jongh, J. response to Mary Richmond.
(August 8-11,1972). A retrospective view of
Social Work education. . In I. I. Work(IASSW)
(Ed.), New Themes in Social Work Education
(Proceedings), XVIth International Congress of
Schools of Social Work, pp. 22-36. The Hague,
Netherlands, New York: IASSW.
Important Years and Events
International Conference

• In 1928 the first International Conference of Social Work was held

from July 8th to 13th in Paris, and it drew 2,481 delegates from 42 countries
(Organisation of the International Conference of Social Work, First
Conference July 8-13, 1928).one section of the conference was
devoted to Social Work education. The world meeting in Social
Work and Social welfare became regular after the first conference.
• The 1928 conference was also the birth place of three major
organizations, International Associations of Schools of Social Work
(IASSW), International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), and the
International Council for Social Welfare (ICSW).
Origin of Social Work education in INDIA
can be traced under three main heads

• 1) Social Welfare in the ancient and medieval period

• 2) Social Work during British period
• 3) Social Work after Independence.
1. Social Welfare in the Ancient and Medieval Period

• “The responsibility for individuals in need of special assistance was shared by

the rulers, the rich, and also by individual members of the general
community” The rulers took charity as a sense of pride and religious duty by
providing welfare measures for the people.
• “Religion emphasized the values of charity, philanthropy, and mutual help.
The giving of alms, the feeding and care of destitute, were considered acts of
religious merit. The temple gave shelter to the homeless.
• The joint family provided for the care of the aged members and for the
physically handicapped, the chronically ailing, and the mentally deficient.
Caste and community councils were often responsible individuals in need of
help
 Cont……
• Kulavaka Jataka tells that Buddha was born in to a noble family. While he was
young he gathered thirty men of the village and influenced them to do public good.
They got up early and rallied forth with their clubs to roll out the stones that lay
on highways and village roads, they cut down trees, made rough places smooth,
dug water tanks, and built halls.
• Kautilyas Arthasastra refers to the constructive work for public good as the joint
efforts of the villagers. One of the important forms of Social Work in ancient India
was free food and education for poor lads by learned teachers was called
Vidyadana − It is considered to be the best of all gifts. Even the poorest man gave
something to eat to hungry students.
• During the thirteenth century the Muslims instilled the same spirit of social service
through the field of religion and education. Payment of Zakat or “poor tax”, was
the essential reward of Islam
 2. Social Work during the British Period

• During the death of Aurangazeb in 1707, India was the scene of conflict. The
British who came as traders, took advantage of this conflict and succeeded in
establishing their defacto rule over India. The British rule and power in India was
transferred from East India Company to the crown in 1858. The Social Work
profession during the British period passed through various phases
• (i) Social reforms: 1780-1880
• (ii) Social service Organisations: 1880-1900;
• (iii) Welfare of the Harijans, Tribals and Industrial workers:1900-1920;
• (iv) Preventive and Protective legislations: 1920-1936;
• (v) Dawn of Professional Social Work in India 1936.
 Social Reforms 1780 to 1880

• Social reform in India was the endeavor of the powerful influence of early Christian
missionaries. The work of Christian missionaries aroused various leaders of modern
thought. The missionaries attacked the various evil social customs prevailing at the
time. The impact of Western education also affected the Indian mind. Indian
reformers learned about the liberal ideas and equality of rights among sexes in
European countries − they were affected by their social system.
• The Indian society is caste-ridden, convention-ridden and priest-ridden. Those who
suffered the worst from these evils were women.
• Kulinism was the practice by which it was socially possible for even a hundred
women to be given in marriage to one Brahmin by reason of his KUL (high status).
Widows were subjected to a life of austerity and subjection if they refused to
immolate themselves (Natarajan S. , 1959, pp. 23-24).
• Raja ram Mohun Roy (1722-1833) was the first Indian who raised a defensive
reaction against the social evils. As a religious reformer educationist and Social
Worker, he is the symbol of the efforts of the Indian mind to face the challenges
of transition. He published the first tract against SATI in 1818. He was also the
founder of Brahmo Samaj (1828), a sect against idolatry which included social
reform as an integral part of the mission.
• Justice Ranade (1842-1901) was a great social reformer. In 1887 an organization
for social reform came to being known as Indian Social Conference. M.G.
Ranade would give an address and summarize the social picture. The subject
covered a wide range: infant marriage, abolition of dowries, the position of
widows, education of girls, temperance, social purity, intermarriage between
castes, and charities, and Hindu-Muslim unity (Manshardt 1967 p.33).
Social Service organizations (1880-1900)

• The social reform movement spread throughout the country, and there was
emphasis on the expansion of education. The British educators had introduced
a new pattern of thinking based on rational thinking, democracy, and
liberalism. The work of missionaries and their rationalistic way of thinking,
linked with modern science, had a great appeal to the Indian intellectual.
There were significant changes taking place in the economic life of the
country.
• The villagers started to migrate in increasing numbers to the new industrial
towns. Pandita Ramabai, an Indian Christian missionary, established the Arya
Mahila Samaj in poona under prarthana samaj. Jotibal Phule – a non Brahmin
worker and a campaigner for caste reforms-organized a number of Social
Work institutions, orphanages, and school for girls. In 1887
 Social Welfare agencies from 1900 – 1920

• In 1904 the Indian Social conference was attended by Muslims, Sikhs, Arya
Samajists and Brahmos, Theosophists, Buddhists and Rationalists from all
over India.
• In 1905 the Servants of Indian Society was founded, in 1908 the Bombay
Association established a Seva Sadan, in 1911 the Social Service league was
founded, and in 1922 after the India Industrial Welfare conference
Social Work from
1920-1936

From Social Goverment

Social Gandhiji and Women Professional
Ameliorative Welfare Prohibition and Welfare
Legislation Social Work Welfare Social Work
to Prevention Agencies Programmes
 BIRTH AND EARLY GROWTH OF PROFESSIONAL
SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION IN INDIA

• A settlement house-like agency, the Nagpada Neighbourhood House, was founded

in 1926 in the slums of Bombay, India by Dr. Clifford Manshardt-an American
missionary.
• From the experience he gained in the settlement, Manshardt was very convinced
“that the standard of Social Work in India could not be raised appreciably until a
permanent School of Social Work was set up to engage in a continuous study of
Indian social problems and to offer training for Social Work on a graduate basis”
• Clifford Manshardt sought the help of an Indian industrialist for finance and
opened the first professional Social Work school in the name of Sir Dorabji Tata
Graduate School of Social Work in Bombay in 1936.
•