2)When we focus the concept of social justice on the individual and their unique needs and life situations are considered while developing action plans and allocating services. If the social welfare system were truly dedicated to the individual, few if any would get lost in the system and social welfare would be a temporary fix. However, our current social welfare system uses a broader group focused approach which tends to blur the lines between social justice and diversity. Thus creating discrimination within the system, and often creates a situation where people become reliant on social welfare throughout their entire lives.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Week Two
1)There are conflicts between what is taught in social work education regarding social justice and the roles and duties that social workers practice. This can be seen in the fact that we are taught to look at the individual and their particular circumstances, while being given remedies that are more group focused. Such as those in the social welfare system, which are often stereotypical and do not take the individual into account. In such cases bureaucracy reigns and members of the most needy aspects of our society become lost.
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You make two really good points here. Maybe if social education focused on more individual interventions and these interventions were utilized, we could reduce the amount of need. I would be interested in seeing what kind of positive affect this would have on social welfare.
ReplyDelete- K Hasselmeier
I think our social welfare system focuses more on groups too, which does take away from what help there is. Discrimination causes certain groups to live up to certain stigmas, or in other words, self fulfilling prophecies.
ReplyDeleteI agree that our social welfare system focuses more on groups, which is sad. I wish it were easier to tend to each individual! If only it were possible!
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought up people becoming dependent on the system. I think this is a very important issue that will continue to be an issue. It seems that people often have ideas on how we can fix the system, but can't figure out possible ways to implement the ideas.
Well said and I agree in looking at "groups only" individuals do get lost in the "system". In addition individuals I think lose the confidence and/or ability to advocate for themselves in expressing what they truly want as a "consumer" of that service.
ReplyDeleteI also think that groups get more attention and funding but I don't necessarily think its a bad thing. I think with the population increasing and the need for aid increasing social workers are just trying to efficiently help out the most people they can with the resources that they have. I think if social workers see a few people who need extra help within the groups then they should pull them aside and work with them on an individual level but the reality is that they cant do that with every single person.
ReplyDeleteI agree that many people become institutionalized while receiving help in many different programs. This goes from someone who may have lived off of welfare for most of their life to someone in substance abuse rehab that has been there for an extended period of time. Many become comfortable within these situations and are not pushed to get out of poverty or transition back into the world substance free. With in these small social worker and client interactions we are a lot of times just putting a band-aid on the situation for that moment in time, not really accounting for anything substantial in the long run. I feel the true change needs to come from over all social policy change rather than from within each organization.
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