Meaning, definitions and objectives of Social Work

Social work as profession of the most recent times has not developed in isolation.
It has developed its body of knowledge by pulling various ideas from different relevant
disciplines.
‘The basic concepts of social work’ deals with the fundamental knowledge about some of the
important concepts which are incorporated/included in the study and practice of social work
profession.
Meaning of social work
The meaning of social work is so complex and dynamic that it is almost impossible to give a
universally accepted meaning.
Generally accepted meaning of social work Social work
 Social work is a profession primarily concerned with the remedy to psycho-social
problems and deficiencies which exists in the relationship between the individual and
his social environment.
 This phenomenon always existed in the society in one form or the other, but achieved
its scientific basis in the last decades of 19th century.
 People in distress, destitution and deprivation have been helped in the past by
individuals, joint families, caste communities, religious institutions motivated by
religious philosophy that assumed ‘charity’ as a reward or medium for salvation,
humanism, philanthropy, humanitarian feeling, democratic ideology, equality of all
citizens; regard for human personality; respect for other’s rights including the
indigents, the handicapped, the unemployed, emotionally challenged and above all,
those in need.
 The charitable work taken up by individuals and some voluntary organizations came
to be termed as social work in the due course of time.
 The most frequently seen misconception about social work is that people mistake
charity, alms giving and voluntary activities as social work, but this in reality is not
social work, as it does not provide any permanent solution to the person’s problems
and does not empower a person to face his problems by himself.
 Social work aims at making a person self-dependent and self-reliant. It attempts to
explore the casual factors behind the problem and tries to solve them scientifically.
Therefore, it is visualized that social work is scientific process for helping to the
needy suffering from material deficiencies, physical disabilities, mental disorders,
emotional disturbances and so on by using knowledge in human relationship and
methods and skills in dealing with them. Speaking in a nut shell, social work intended
to assist individuals, families, social groups and communities in sorting out their
personal and social problems and permanently solving those problems through a
systematic process.
Definitions of Social Work
Friedlander (1951) defined, “Social work is a professional service, based on scientific
knowledge and skill in human relations, which assists individuals, alone or in groups, to
obtain social and personal satisfaction and independence”. This definition of Friedlander is
considered as one of the most comprehensive definitions of social work.
According him, social work is a profession like other professions, through which a trained
social worker with scientific knowledge and outlook in handling human relations, helps
individuals and groups to have social and personal satisfaction.
Stroup (1960) defined social work as “an art of bringing various resources bear on
individual, group and community needs by the application of a scientific method of helping
the people to help themselves”.
In his definition Stroup gave a different look to social work saying it an art. He said that it is
an art of bringing the people into the position where they themselves will be able to solve
their problems.
Indian Conference of Social Work (1957) unanimously defined social work as “a welfare
activity based on humanitarian philosophy, scientific knowledge and technical skills for
helping individuals, groups or community, to live rich and full life”.
Objectives of social work
Objectives in general are the statements or formulations of what we are trying to do.
For the convenience of the readers understanding, the objectives of social work can be
classified into the following two groups:
1. Objectives prescribed by the social work scientists
Witmer prescribed two objectives of social work such as
i) To give assistance to individuals while removing difficulties which they face in
utilizing basic services of the society and
ii) To facilitate effective utilization of community resources for their welfare.
Friedlander gave three objectives of social work i.e. i) To change in painful situation of
individuals, ii) To develop the constructive forces both within and around the individual and
iii) To enhance the democratic and humanistic behaviour of the individual.
Gordon Brown has given four objectives of social work such as: i) to provide physical or
material support ii) to help in social adjustment, iii) to help in solving the psychological
problems and iv) to make adequate opportunities for the individuals in problems for raising
their standard of living which can prevent problems from intruding.
2. Generic objectives of social work:
These are generally and universally accepted objectives of social work which basically try:
i) To solve psycho-social problems
ii) To fulfil humanitarian needs like love, affection, care, etc.
iii) To solve adjustmental problems
iv) To create self-sufficiency
v) To make and strengthen harmonious social relations
vi) To make provision of corrective and recreational services
vii) To develop democratic values among the people
viii) To provide opportunities for development and social progress
ix) To conscientize the community
x) To change the environment in favour of individual’s growth and development
xi) To bring change in the defective social system for social development and
xii) To provide socio-legal aid to the needy who cannot afford to meet them.
If we critically synthesize all the objectives given above, we can compress them just into two
statements such as:
1. Enabling the individual and his impaired being so as to make him fit to live a self-
sufficient and satisfied life and
2. Modifying his social environment in his for so that it becomes conducive for him to live
happy and adequate life
Basic characteristics and Scope of Social Work
Characteristics
The general characteristics of social work as given by the United Nations in an international
survey of training for Social Work are:
 It is a helping activity, designed to give assistance in respect of problems that prevent
individuals, families and groups from achieving a minimum desirable standard of
social and economic well-being.
 It is a social activity carried on not for personal profit by private practitioners but
under the auspices of organization-government or nongovernmental or both,
established for the benefit of members of the community, regarded as requiring
assistance.
 It is a liaison activity, through which disadvantaged individuals, families and groups
may tap all resources in the community, available to meet their unsatisfied needs.
Scope
Scope of social work implies to what extent we can intervene social work. It may also imply
to the areas or fields where social work can be applied by using its methods, tools and
techniques. Social work as professional practice extends from a single individual to the
largest body like UNO. The scope of social work can be broadly classified into
1) The agencies-non-governmental, semi-governmental or governmental which render social
work services
2) The ways (methods) through which they render services such as Case Work, Group Work,
Community Organization, Social Action, Social Research, Social Welfare Administration etc.
3) The various types of services (fields of social work) that they render to diff individuals,
groups and communities keeping in mind the objectives, philosophy and values of social
work.
Following are some of the scope of Social Work:
1. Public Assistance
It is a kind of help provided in accordance to the economic and social needs of the applicants.
It depends upon the certain conditions and legalities. Therefore public assistance is granted
on the basis of ‘means test’. Through means test ways and means of living like income
source, livelihood and others of individual are identified and measured before providing
public assistance by the state or government. In some countries including India such services
include the assistance given to old, blind, disabled and destitute.
2. Social Insurance
Like public assistance social insurance also covers certain contingencies of life like old age,
unemployment, industrial accidents and occupational diseases etc. It doesn’t insist upon any
means test. Under this scheme of service, benefits are provided only to those persons who
pay a certain amount of contribution. It is partly financed by the state. Practically, social
insurance covers some risks such as medical care in time of illness, medical care and cash
allowances during employment injuries, pension during inability, and pension during old age
after retirement, cash allowances to wife and other dependants in case of death. Here, the
benefits of the applicants are pre-determined.
3. Family Welfare Services:
Family is both an institution as well as an association. It is the oldest and enduring among all
social institutions. It is the first and most important of all forms of associations in the context
of human development. Social work renders a significant role in the sphere of family
organization. It provides for some material assistance and counseling service to the family
relating to marriage, health, economic problems and bringing up siblings. Having the
knowledge on human relationship the social worker bears the responsibility of establishing
harmonious relationship between the individual and his family. Thus, social worker has to
play a crucial role in the field of family organization.
4. Child Welfare Service
Social workers also provide many welfare services for the children. Those include residential
institutions for their care and protection, education and rehabilitation of socially handicapped
children viz, orphans destitute fondling children of unmarried mothers. Child Welfare service
also includes temporary homes for children, day care centres, recreational and cultural
facilities, holiday homes for the children of low income families.
5. Community Welfare Service
Community is another important unit for social work practice. The community welfare
service includes the establishment of urban community development centers dealing with the
welfare aspects of slum improvement such as slum clearance, sanitation, health education and
care, seeking employment for women, dormitories and night shelters for migrant homeless
people, holiday home for children and community welfare service in rural areas etc.
6. Women Welfare Service
Women are the driving forces of a nation. Long before the dawn of Indian freedom it was
realized that social reform with emancipation of women was the ‘sine-qua-non’ of political
independence of the country. Pioneering in this regard was done by Raja Rammohan Roy,
Keshav Chandra Sen, MG Ranade etc. Gandhiji also gave a new impetus to the cause of
emancipation of Indian womanhood. With the independence it was also realized that women
welfare was essential to build a strong nation. The benefits of general welfare reached the
women but it was inadequate to meet their requirement. Therefore women specific
programmes have been initiated for the welfare of the same. The programme of women
welfare in India includes safe motherhood, women protection, family counselling, marriage
counselling and income generation programme for women etc.
7. Labour Welfare Service
The term labour welfare is very comprehensive in the sense of its understanding. It involves
different interpretations due to different social customs and degrees of industrialization.
According to the report of the ILO worker’s welfare should mean to such services, facilities
and amenities which may be established in on the vicinity of the undertakings to enable the
persons employed in them to perform their work in a healthy, congenial surrounding and
provided with amenities conducive to good health and high morals. Social work has a wide
field of application for labour welfare which includes the activities such as family
management counselling, counselling on safety maintenance, advocacy for labour rights,
health education, value education etc.
In India, labour welfare activities have been undertaken by mainly three agencies namely, the
government, the employers and the employees’ (labours’) union. The first one is statutory
and rests two are voluntary in nature.
8. Welfare Service for the Handicapped
Handicapped people or the disable are another needy section of the Indian population. Hence,
social work or social welfare has a formidable role in working for them. The welfare service
for disabled includes institution for the care and rehabilitation of physically and mentally
retired, hostels for the working handicapped, small production units for the differently able,
special schools fo0r mentally retire children and orthopedically challenged and counselling
service for mentally depressed etc.
9. Welfare Services for the Aged and Infirm
People in the twilight of their age require numerous supports from the society. Social work in
this regard has a greater role in understanding their needs and working for their satisfied and
comfortable life for a happy ending. The activities of social work for the aged and infirm
include running old age home, recreational facilities, physical support, psychological support
etc.
10. School Social Work:
At times there are instances of problems due to impaired relationship between students and
their social environment and teachers and their social environment. There are also many other
problems in the school environment which are responsible for educational malfunctioning in
the schools. Social work as profession steps in to such environment and attempts modify the
situation in favour of the learners and teachers where required. The activities of social work
intervention in schools include counseling service to the children and their parents,
counseling to the teacher on the perspectives of the emerged problems, etc.
11. Correctional service:
Correctional Setting refers to the institutions like jail, probation home, parole home, juvenile
shelters etc. where people (including children) with unusual behaviour and reaction are
placed to bring correction to their attitude and behaviour. Social work has vast scope for
intervention in this field of service. It includes recreational activities, counselling, vocational
training for the unemployed criminals, after care service, rehabilitation etc.
12. Youth Welfare Service
Youth is the stage of life in which through training, youth can contribute the best for the
betterment of the society and for the betterment of their own. The life of youth should have
the opportunity to for self-expression, companionship, community life and national service.
For the welfare of the youth in the country, there are various types of youth welfare
organizations in the country such as Scouts and Guides organization, NCC, NSS, Students’
Union, Sports and Athelitic Associations, Dramatic Clubs etc. which cater the multifarious
needs of the youth. Nehru Yuva Kendra is trying to bolster the youth network in the country.
Youth are designed as the most important instrument of National Integration programme.
Attempts are made to unite youth through observation of youth festivals. Youth counselling
service, Youth health service, National Fitness Corps, Services for poor students, National
Physical efficacy Drive, National Employment Scheme etc. are the various programmes
undertaken for the welfare of the youth in the country. Social work has recognized the youths
as important human resource of the nation. Through all these programmes the welfare
agencies where social work is the guiding spirit are on move to serve youths in our country.
13. Welfare for the weaker sections:
Social work as a profession is increasingly being recognized for its unique service to the
people and being asked to perform new and varied tasks. The concern of social work for
prevention as well as treatment of individual and social problems gives the profession an ever
increasing number of important responsibilities to assume in helping to social policy in
addition to improving services to the people. In meeting these multiple responsibility to the
society, social work has achieved its best results not through its working alone, but in
cooperation with the other professions and groups whose common concern is welfare of the
people.
Professional Social Work
Social work is not merely a leisure time activity, it has developed into a full-fledged
profession with definite knowledge, techniques and skills, which are acquired by Social
Worker. The following are the attributes of a profession:
 There should be tested body of knowledge, consisting of techniques and methods
communicable through an educational discipline which should not only be academic
but practical in nature
 Standards for training, jobs and services should be set up
 There should be a sense of belonging, group consciousness and responsibilities,
professional ethics for every professional
 Profession should provide the professional with continued occupation
 It should be responsive to public interest and work toward social ends
 The goal should be the welfare of the people, improved human relations, built on
understanding and tolerance.