Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Page 20

Fundamentals of Social Work

Dear Students of Social Work,
Social Work Theories – The Beginnings 1
Social work practice is very much about context and addressing social
concerns and issues which are often at the nexus of the environment and
the individual. What made social work a social science was its professional
approach to the work of helping people. Social work adopts the empirical
method used in the natural sciences and has therefore come to be defined
as a disciplined science and not just a philanthropic effort. Mary Richmond
was one of the earliest proponents of using a logical, evidence based
method for helping which marked the start of social work theories. Attention
was paid to defining the problems in people’s lives so that a rational, rather
than a purely moralistic approach was used. It is useful to understand that
the development of this form of professional practice was intersected in
the 1930s by increasing interest in psychoanalytic theory as the theoretical
structure for defining individuals’ problems (Smalley, 1967, pp.ix-x) 2. This
approach tended to draw on psychological insights and viewed human
weakness as the critical variable in understanding human problems. It went
in search of a cause and often looked for individual behaviours that fitted
into a diagnostic category. Each diagnosis focused on a human lack or
weakness, ranging from the relatively benign to the severe.
But social workers soon realised the importance of recognising individual
strengths in their work. So in 1958, the Commission of Social Work Practice
included as a main objective of the field to “seek out, identify, and strength en
the maximum potential in individuals, groups and communities“ (Bartlett,
1958, p6) 3. This was the start of the strength-based approach to social work
practice as there was a recognition that confining social work to individual
pathology while ignoring strengths was not only remedial in its approach but
also failed to capitalise on the strengths and resilience in people. Germain
and Gitterman (1980) 4 then built on the social work tradition of focusing on
the interface between the individual and the environment, introduced the
ecological concepts such as adaptation and called for attention to be given
to the transactions that occured between people and their environment.
1

2
3
4

Adapted from Chapter 1 (History, Critique, and Useful Conceptions: Towards a Strengths
Paradigm) of “The Strengths Model: A Recovery-Oriented Approach to Mental Health
Services (3rd Edition)” by Charles A. Rapp & Richard J. Goscha. (2012).
Smalley, R. E. (1967). Theory for social work practice. New York: Columbia University Press.
Bartlett, H. M. (1958). Toward clarification and improvement of social work practice.
Germain, C., & Gitterman, A. (1980). The life model of social work practice. New York:
Columbia University Press.
19