Noel Timms - Perspectives in Social Work

Routledge Revivals

Perspectives in Social Work

Perspectives in Social Work was originally published in 1977 and provides a text for social workers in training to use. The book argues for a more philosophical approach to both understanding and doing social work and seeks to establish simple and basic elements in social work, asking questions such as: what should a social worker be able to do? What should a social worker know and believe? Does social work actually work? In answering these questions the book offers a wide ranging and critical review of literature of the time and looks at social work as a method of altruism. This book is still topical today and acts as a useful document on the subject of social work both through the discussions within, and through the lens of modern change. It will be of particular interest to those studying the history and changes in social work.

First published in 1977

by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

This edition first published in 2018 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

1977 Noel Timms and Rita Timms

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under LCCN: 77373717

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-36519-3 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-429-43087-9 (ebk)

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-36522-3 (pbk)

First published in 1977

by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd

39 Store Street,

London WCIE 7DD,

Broadway House,

Newtown Road,

Henley-on-Thames,

Oxon RG9 I EN and

9 Park Street,

Boston, Mass. 02108, USA

Set in 11/12 pt Imprint

and printed in Great Britain by

Butler & Tanner Ltd, Frome and London

Noel and Rita Timms 1977

No part of this book may be reproduced in

any form without permission from the

publisher, except for the quotation of brief

passages in criticism

ISBN 0 7100 8505 2 (c)

ISBN 0 7100 8519 2 (p)

We are very grateful to the following who have read an earlier draft of the manuscript: the late Dorothea Storey; Robert Carew; Graham Parker and William Roberts. They have commented very helpfully on our ideas but, it goes without saying, bear no responsibility for what follows. We are in the debt of two consumers whose accounts of service we have used in this book, and of Hazel Cleghorn who has worked hard and patiently at our drafts.

Our objective in writing this text is to enable students on courses of training in social work to acquire an adequate idea of what they (courses and students) are about. We hope to stimulate students to identify and appraise the work of social work. We do not assume this to be an easy task -training for social work is not just a question of communicating a set of skills, even though the acquisition of some skills, administrative and technical (such as recording), is a necessary part of the process; skills are necessary but they are not sufficient for social work training and practice. In our view the field of social work has yet to be cultivated, a great deal of digging and refining is required in many areas of study and practice: social policies require reformulation; imagination and determination are required if the basic groundwork for training in social service is to be secured.

We do not pretend, therefore, that anyone can confidently assert that current social work practice or training is a success story. Indeed we believe that there are genuine grounds for criticism and disquiet at many levels. We can understand why students and practitioners feel driven, some finally, some occasionally, to withdraw from what seems such an unsatisfactory field of action and enquiry, in favour of an alternative occupation or the establishment of an alternative society.

Equally we can understand the resentment of social workers who remain in the field attempting work they believe is both arduous and undervalued by the society in which they operate. There are many allusions now to the battered social worker who struggles with maximum caseloads and minimum resources in a social context of optimum disparagement. The self-righteousness of much recent press reporting on child battering has exploited the sensational at the expense of encompassing the real issues inherent in such tragedies. Yet we believe there are vital issues to be discussed if human life is to be protected and human suffering alleviated, for that is the central justification for the existence of social work itself: i.e. it makes some impact on that problem. Essential to this discussion is the understanding of student and social worker of what he is about in the social context in which he operates - both situation and context require familiarisation. An example of this is the understanding which social workers require in the face of current criticisms of their effectiveness.

There are many reasons why social workers are the target of abuse or criticism. Many members of the public believe that the Welfare State was created to be a panacea for all social ills. They believe that large social service departments are financed by heavy taxation and at the cost of diminishing earnings for themselves. They have high expectations of the productivity of social workers so that all manner of deprivations are seen to be their province. Functions of neighbourliness are now believed to be the responsibility of the welfare, visiting the old and infirm the responsibility of the social services. They are, therefore, suitably outraged when old people die alone or young people are neglected. They cannot envisage the magnitude of the need to be met by the voluntary and statutory social services or the poverty of resources to meet it. Social workers from this perspective seem to them to be failing to work. The media contribute to the myth of social work as a means of salvation through general inadvertence that has surprisingly failed.

The situation of public apathy and ignorance is not of the publics own making. Social workers have a responsibility to communicate the nature of their task because they are employed under social auspices. Their role is educative as well as practical, and if social workers are uncertain about the nature of the tasks they are undertaking they will not obtain the degree of co-operation from the general public that is essential to the tasks they undertake. If social workers are not articulate about the needs they are trying to meet or the resources required to meet them, the work will not be supported.

This text attempts to help social workers to become more articulate and critical concerning the human purposes they are about. There are many reasons why social workers should encourage criticism of their competence and training. The task of serving and supporting clients and users of social service agencies places them in a critical situation. Many of their clients are deprived, damaged or undergoing a period of loss and change and are particularly vulnerable to the power and influence of the helping agency. Exploitation and manipulation, especially when it is conceived in terms of the clients interest can easily characterise the solutions discussed, and laying down rules of procedure or professional conduct may help but not wholly obviate this situation. Public criticism can help social work agencies to understand how its users feel about the way the work is conducted, how rules of procedure may themselves become manipulated or plainly deficient. Without public criticism and accountability social work stultifies. Every social worker should attempt to improve the deficiencies of his organisation by arguing his case within the context of his work through agency pressure and application through normal channels. When these fail the social worker should bring to the attention of the public his limited resources for the task to be done. Residential centres and fieldwork services should not be manned by social workers silently colluding in an inhuman process. All this involves social workers understanding a variety of concepts - need, equality, fraternity, justice, peace, rationing, planning, as well as a range of sociological and psychological phenomena. We do not believe that any social work method can be understood or applied outside the context of a range of social concepts - the dimension of casework even with individuals is a social dimension.