The Work And Impacts Of Gertrude Wilson Social Work Essay

The Work And Impacts Of Gertrude Wilson Social Work Essay When pursuing a degree in social work, a student experiences equal exposure to group work and individual case work. The curriculum set out by the Council for Social Work Education (CSWE) requires that a healthy mixture of the two be taught in order to grant a degree in social work (CSWE, 2010). Every person becomes involves with different groups during their life, but within social work, groups are a tool for helping bring people together and solve problems, not only for recreation. One of the people responsible for the foundation of group work education in America was Gertrude Wilson. Gertrude Wilson was born in 1895, three years before the first course on social work was available at Columbia University in 1898. She was raised in a town with fewer than 200 people in Dana, Illinois (Chambers, 1986). Miss Wilson grew up seeing women like Jane Adams and Frances Perkins having an impact on the social fabric of America through the settlement house movement. She entered Illinois Womens College in 1915, but ended up receiving a Bachelors degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago (Chambers). After two years of teaching high school, she became a secretary for the Young Womens Christian Academy (YWCA) in Pennsylvania. Ten years later, she returned to Chicago as the administrator of the new Women in the Workforce branch of the YWCA. Miss Wilson has stated that her experience with the YWCA opened her eyes to the ability of groups to influence peoples lives for the better (Greenwood, 1985). It was during her time with the YWCA that she met Grace Coyle, a sociologist, who convinced her to leave the YWCA and take a position teaching at Western Case University in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935. Wilson attended the University of Chicago part time while teaching in Ohio and received her M.A. from its School of Social Service Administration in 1938 (Chambers, 1986). She became a member of the American Association for the Study of Group Work (AASGW) and assisted Coyle with some of the first research done on groups in social work. Shortly after receiving her degree, Wilson moved to the University of Pittsburgh. It was here that she published her first two, and what many believe, most influential books (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). Her first book, Case Work and Group Work was published in 1941.When Wilson began writing, the field of social work was dominated by case work, a more individual based approach that applied methods of psychoanalytic theory rather than examine environmental factors. Along with Coyle, she was among the first to argue that personal problems were not solely internal, but also found in external sources such as family organization and interaction. She advocated an integrated approach that involved both case work and group work to treat separate issues together rather than individually (Wilson G. , Case work and group work, 1941). Case Work and Group Work was not written with the intent to make group work seem more important than case work. In the first few pages of Case Work and Group Work, Wilson decried the short-visioned little cults of method and function that claim their superiority at the expense of healthy clients (Wilson, 1941). Hers was an argument to consolidate the two approaches rather than create separate disciplines. Group social work existed, but still lacked any single academic foundation for study. She presented the book before the AASGW, the Psychiatric Social Workers Association (PSWA), and multiple schools of social work around the country. At the National Conference on Social Work in 1942, Gertrude Wilson further expanded on what she began discussing in Case Work and Group Work. Wilson believed that group work could bring about changes in the values of individuals and society as a whole. She argued that a worker could dynamically influence the environment of the group for the better by directing certain processes towards specific social goals (Wilson G. , 1942). At this conference she defined three different ways in which the worker might influence the group by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦directing the process toward the accomplishment of a social goal conceived in a democratic philosophy. They are 1) developmental, as it provided for normal social growth; 2) protective or corrective, in that it could be offered to people without groups; and 3) instrumental in achieving of socially desirable ends. (Wilson) Her view put forth the idea that the good of the one and the good of the many were dependent on each other and social workers had a social responsibility to address both in order to build society (Weil, K., Southerland, 1991) After several years at Pittsburgh University, Miss Wilson and her colleague Gladys Ryland published Social Group Work Practice. Group work had lacked this academic foundation for so many years. It offered a systematic method of applying group work for social work practice. As the first book to actually offer a process for applying group work, it became the first textbook for group work and was used in schools of social work across the United States. It was called the Green Bible due to the color of its cover and size (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). Many still consider it the most influential book on group work in social work history (Chambers, 1986). The 700-page book can be divided into two sections: practice methods and case studies. The first half of the book described group work methods and theories about groups. For the first time, a social group work method was described. This was based on Wilson and Rylands experience with groups and Grace Coyles research. Miss Wilson expressed the key goal of group workers as such: The workers aim is to help the members of groups develop the capacity to carry on their own group life and achieve goals (Wilson, 1949). This goal is still considered important and appears in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics to this day NASW, 2009). The second half of the book contained analyses of different groups, their specific activities and how the social group work method applies to them. Miss Wilsons research over the years is seen here in the detailed case studies included in this section. The case studies cover groups from preschool to retirement, reflecting the extent that Miss Wilson went to in researching the book. Significantly, much of the case study material was drawn from work in recreational and informal educational agencies because group social work was not practiced often in a clinical setting at that time (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). The case studies included in Wilsons book may be dated, but the concepts of group work that they represent have withstood the test of time. The last half-century has seen a great deal of social change and numerous group work textbooks since Social Group Work Practice, but Wilsons original ideas about group work have remained largely unchanged and few modern texts can refer to group work without referencing the work of Gertrude Wilson, especially this book. One of the most tempestuous times in Gertrude Wilsons life was during the time that she and Gladys Ryland were putting Social Group Work Practice together at the University of Pittsburgh. During the late 1940s, anti-communist politicians began attacking the field of social work because of its progressive views and support of New Deal policies to assist the needy (Andrews Reisch, 1997). One of the main targets was Marion Hathaway, the director of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh (Reisch Andrews, 2001). Wilson was among the several educators and students that supported Hathaway and her support (along with many other faculty members) caused friction between the School of Social Work in Pittsburgh and the university chancellor (Wilson, 1978). Wilson was one of the many professors who resigned from the college in 1950 under pressure (Wilson). Ryland was terminated after refusing to resign a few months after Wilson left (Andrews Reisch). Wilson did not let this controversy stop her career. She joined the School of Social Welfare at Berkeley in 1951. It was here that she developed a professional education program focused on training new social workers. Originally known as the Certificate Program in the Social Services, it contained specific courses over a two-year period that ended with a two-week seminar on campus (Greenwood, 1985). The Council on Social Work education (CSWE) in 1952 adopted this program as the model for national accreditation (Weil, Southerland, Chou, 1991). At Berkeley, Wilson taught courses in both theory and practice in group work. She was a frequent speaker at seminars and conventions all over the United States and she guest-lectured at the Columbia, Smith, and Tulane Schools of Social Work. Even after retirement, she served as a consultant to social agencies, schools of social work and professional associations. Wilson used her own experience to constantly refine what she considered a dynamic aspect of social work (From practice to theory: a personalized history, 1976). Wilson wrote dozens of conference papers, journal articles, chapters in books, and monographs although she will most likely always be remembered for Social Group Work Practice with Gladys Ryland in 1949. She was one of eight social work pioneers chosen for the NASW Oral History Project in 1978. Each participant took part in a 1-2 hour interview that was recorded and placed in the Library of Congress. Berkley performed a similar interview on videotape in 1982. Both recordings are very difficult to obtain. Although she officially retired from Berkeley in 1963, the college was very gracious following her death from cancer in 1985 (Greenwood, 1985). Gertrude Wilson was an amazing woman who pushed social barriers as an educator and activist. She was one of very few women with a full professorship in the 1930s. Her work in the first half of the 20th century still influences social work today in the 21st. She had a passion for helping people that encouraged her to study a field of practice that was barely recognized until the 1940s. Not only did she pursue that field, she made it possible for others to do so as well by writing the first textbook on the practice of group work. Her certificate program at Berkley was the foundation for modern undergraduate social work curriculum in universities across the nation. These are all accomplishments she made in her field that show her impression on the practice, theory and future practitioners of social work. Personally, I am inspired by her resolve to follow her passion even though there wasnt a road to follow; she dug it out herself so that she could reach her destination and so that others could follow her. It is this attitude that inspires me in my pursuit to implement school social work in Oklahoma. It will never exist in Oklahoma if people do not fight for it and have a practical way to practice it once it does.

Eugenics: An Excuse To Be A Racist Or A Means To A Better Tomorrow? :: essays research papers

Eugenics: An Excuse to be a Racist or a Means to a Better Tomorrow? The term eugenics was coined in the late 19th century. Its goal was to apply the breeding practices and techniques used in plants and animals to human reproduction. Francis Galton stated in his Essays in Eugenics that he wished to influence "the useful classes" in society to put more of their DNA in the gene pool. The goal was to collect records of families who were successful by virtue of having three or more adult male children who have gain superior positions to their peers. His view on eugenics can best be summarized by the following passage: What nature does blindly, slowly, and ruthlessly, man may do providently, quickly, and kindly. As it lies within his power, so it becomes his duty to work in that direction. They sought to establish this by discouraging marriages that were unfavorable in terms of eugenics by attaching to them the stigmas associated with marriage between cousins. Margaret Sanger, the pioneer of the movement for birth control, came from a family that would have been viewed by Galton to be unsuitable for reproduction according to eugenics. She was the sixth of eleven children born into her poor Irish family. She felt that women's reproductive freedom was essential. She coined the term voluntary motherhood and opened the first birth control clinic in the country in Brooklyn in 1916. Like many others who supported the birth control movement, she also supported the idea of eugenics trusting that the "human race could be improved through 'controlled breeding'." Sanger felt that all the problems of society were centered around uncontrolled breeding. She decided that women had the right to know about methods of contraception and about the workings of their own bodies. Her views are best summarized by her statement regarding women's reproductive freedom: The basic freedom of the world is woman's freedom . . .. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother." Angela Davis felt that birth control was not only advantageous to minority and lower-class women, but to women of "all classes and races." She did not however think that fewer children would help the plight of the human race and "could create more jobs, higher wages, better schools, etc., etc." She felt that if women were not troubled by several childbirths and miscarriages that they could pursue other avenues of life outside of the constraints of marriage and motherhood.

Basque Conflict Essay

Introduction I. Conflicts are not entities in themselves. They have to be viewed and analyzed within the context of various factors; those that lead to conflict in the first place and also those that keep them fuelled. II. The Basque conflict in Spain is a result of cultural repression and intolerance. III. We propose to examine the Basque conflict with a particular focus on the Spanish interests in the matter and intent to present the historical context of the conflict in a socio-political manner, then move to the cultural implications of the issue, then analyze the cultural conflict that has both been born of and furthered Basque nationalism. I. Causes of Basque conflict A. Ideology B. Culture II. Consequences of Basque conflict A. Kidnappings-for-ransom B. Extortion C. Terrorist acts II. Solutions A. Refusing to negotiate with who it refers to as terrorists B. A propaganda war C. Increase anti-terrorist activities D. Grant full independence to the Basques subject to a plebiscite within the Basque country .Conclusion I. The government has to show it is ready to concede some more autonomy to the Basques. II. Peace is not possible in the years to come in Spain without a radical reconsideration of the government as well as the unilateral support from both Spaniards and Basques of the dismantling of the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. Script Conflicts are not entities in themselves. They have to be viewed and analyzed within the context of various factors; those that lead to conflict in the first place and also those that keep them fuelled. The Basque conflict in Spain is a result of cultural repression and intolerance. The Comunidad Autonoma Vasca, or Basque region in the South of France and the northeastern edge of Spain is currently riddled with violent conflict. In this presentation we propose to examine the Basque conflict with a particular focus on the Spanish interests in the matter. We intent to present the historical context of the conflict in a socio-political manner, then move to the cultural implications of the issue. The Basque Independence Party (Batasuna) with its military wing Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) has employed military means to achieve its goal of Basque self-determination. The Basque organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) was formed in 1959 and began waging a small scale war against the Spanish government. The causes for conflict lie in ideology and culture according to Fukuyama and Huntington respectively. The arguments of Friedlander and Cohen do not agree with these two theorists as they both posit that individuals do much less to influence history than the overarching powers of collective peoples. The argument that Fukuyama brings forth in his work; â€Å"The End of History†, conjectures that history is composed of a string of ideological shifts brought about by conflict in an evolutionary manner. He argues that history is the cyclical build-up of new competing ideologies which escalated into a military conflict which leads to a victorious ideology and then the arrival of new competitors. In order to finance its operations, ETA has used kidnappings-for-ransom, extortion, and (less frequently) robberies. The main targets of such money-rising activities have been Basque entrepreneurs, who have since begun to abandon the Basque Country in large numbers in order to escape extortion or abduction by the terrorist group. In addition, the terrorist conflict has been frequently cited as deterrence for domestic and foreign direct investment in the Basque Country. Finally, although terrorist attacks have occurred in almost all Spanish regions, most of ETA’s violent activity has been concentrated in the Basque Country. Almost 70% of the deaths caused by ETA in Spain during 1968-1997 occurred in the Basque Country. During the period 1968-1997, ETA’s activity measured as number of deaths per inhabitant was 37 times larger in the Basque Country than in the rest of Spain. Now let’s look at the options open to the Spanish Government because it is obvious that ETA will not just go away. Firstly, refusing to negotiate with who it refers to as terrorists. This is the course of action presently taken by the government in Spain at the moment. It does not however mean that the Basque conflict will disappear. By ignoring the problem it won’t go away. People in Spain are getting fed up living in continual fear of a bomb attack. Secondly, a propaganda war. This could have the scope of showing Basques that their lot is better by remaining Spanish, and also isolate the more militant nationalists from the bulk which are wary of the conflict. Thirdly, increase anti-terrorist activities. This has been done in the past and it does not seem to have worked except to drive ETA even more underground. Anti-terrorist groups are too much of a liability as has been shown by the â€Å"dirty war†. Everything has to be done within the law something favoring the separatists. The state could attempt to eliminate all the separatists but it is hardly possible, whilst eliminating them of their leadership has not worked due to the separatists’ system of having autonomous branches all capable of committing anti-state activities. Then, grant full independence to the Basques subject to a plebiscite within the Basque country:- This is a â€Å"hard to swallow† option for any Spanish Government. Firstly a plebiscite in the Basque country would most probably (although not certain) result in favor of independence, secondly it would mean an electoral defeat for the party putting it in action in Spain itself. The Basque country is too important both for economic and industrial reasons and also for the ethnically Spanish people living there. The government has to show it is ready to concede some more autonomy to the Basques .It is our belief that peace is not possible in the years to come in Spain without a radical reconsideration of the government as well as the unilateral support from both Spaniards and Basques of the dismantling of the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna. We believe that in some cases this unilateral front will need to engage in military action. The terrorist leaders of ETA are identifiable and can be eliminated publicly and legally Reference List Flash Points/World Conflict Basque-Spain Conflict http://www.flashpoints.info/countries-conflicts/Spain-Basque-web/Spain-Basque_briefing.html United States institute of Peace The Basque Conflict: New Ideas and Prospects for Peace http://www.usip.org/resources/basque-conflict-new-ideas-and-prospects-peace The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country Author(s): Alberto Abadie and Javier Gardeazabal Source: The American Economic Review, Vol. 93, No. 1 (Mar., 2003), pp. 113-132 Published by: American Economic Association Stable a

The Integration Of Italians Into American Culture

Italian-American culture has been immortalized in movies, literature, and songs. One of the movies that shows the integration of Italians into American culture comes from the 20th century and was well acclaimed for its acting and cinematography. The 1955 film Marty accurately portrays Italian-American lifestyles and stigmas, specifically males, in that time period and demonstrates how the Italian people assimilated into American culture. Getting married was one of the most important things that an Italian man can do. At 35 years old, Marty has yet to marry or have children, and is living with his mother in his childhood home. In this time period, it was critical to marry someone who was also Italian. This custom was practiced more before the time period of Marty but it was still an important factor to consider when picking a bride. The viewer sees how important this is to Marty’s mother, as she asks questions of Clara before church. 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