Image there was a career that revolved mainly around helping people; making sure they they have a place to sleep, food to eat, or just for moral support to motivate them to take that extra step. That career exists and it’s called social work. Social work is a job for advocates who help those lesser achieve whatever it is they need to live a better life. Today there are around 700,000 social workers in the field, but that wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Jane Addams (Boman 2). Jane Addams can be credited with starting the career of social work, and in the span of her life, has made many contributions to our society. Throughout her life Addams was the co-owner of the Hull House, a community home that housed immigrants, classes, and …show more content…
It was the first “rec center” and it brought the community together while giving the immigrants a place to be understood(Boman 1). Jane Addams was also apart of the Progressive Party of 1912 which protested the rights of the people to the government. Addams motivated many people to advocate for what they believe in and to stand up for what they think is right(Shuman1,2). There were social, economic, and cultural influences on Jane Addams which affected her lifetime achievements. Throughout her life, Jane Addams, had three main social influences that expanded her mind and allowed her to see past personal biases. Those people were Thomas Carlyles, Leo Tolstoy, and Ellen Star. Thomas Carlyles was a philosopher who believed in moral action and the divine will. He thought that all people were good, they just needed a push in the right direction sometimes. Jane Addams was fascinated with this concept and practiced his findings …show more content…
She grew up being raised by a politician and a mill owner, so at a young age she was exposed to large crowds and hard labor which she used throughout her life. She never gave up on people or on a project and she worked day and night if she had too(Boman 3). During the span of her life, Addams was proposed to twice, but to keep her path clear she rejected both marriages. This impacted her because instead of settling down she took the path of her career and continued to pour her heart and soul into her clients and projects. Jane Addams also didn’t have any religious preference and considered them all to be right in their own ways. She worked with to many different cultures to be dedicated to just one, so she wasn’t dedicated to any(Hamington 3). Another cultural influence Addams had was having the privilege to go to college. In her time, women rarely attended school, but Addams went to Rockford College in Illinois and got a degree in medical(Shuman 2). All these cultural influences led Addams to the path of social work and helping people, but it wouldn’t be fair not to add in her economic influences that made all her achievements
Mary Richmond and Jane Addams were two historic social workers that were known for their great work in the history of social work profession. They gravitated their focus on real world social problems. Which in today’s era social workers of today, also gravitas on bringing social justice for the injustice on behalf of the clients.
Two Works Cited Victoria Bissell Brown's introduction to Twenty Years at Hull-House explains the life of Jane Addams and her commitment to insight social change to problems that existed during the turn of the 20th century. As a reaction to the hardships of a changing industrial society, Addams decided to establish a settlement house in the West side of Chicago to help individuals who had suffered from the cruelties of industrialization. Rejecting the philosophies that stemmed from the Gilded Age, such as social Darwinism and the belief that human affairs were determined by natural law, Addams was a progressive who wanted government to be more responsive to the people.
Addams, whose father was an Illinois state senator and friend of Abraham Lincoln, graduated in 1881 from Rockford College (then called Rockford Women’s Seminary). She returned the following year to receive one of the school’s first bachelor’s degrees. With limited career opportunities for women, she began searching for ways to help others and solve the country’s growing social problems. In 1888, Addams and her college friend, Ellen Gates Starr, visited Toynbee Hall, the two women observed college-educated Englishmen “settling” in desperately poor East London slum where they helped the people. This gave her the idea for Hull House.
Why does Jane Addams think women should have the right to vote? Please summarize her argument in your own words.
Jane Addams was a Victorian woman born into a male-dominated society on September 6, 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois. Her father was a wealthy landowner and an Illinois senator who did not object to his daughter’s choice to further her education, but who wanted her to have a traditional life. For years after his death, Addams tried to reconcile the family role she was expected to play with her need to achieve personal fulfillment.
She grew up without a mother, but had a prosperous father. Addams assisted with bringing attention to the opportunity of revolutionizing America’s approach toward the poor. In 1889, alongside her friend, Jane Addams, founded the Hull House in Chicago. The Hull House assisted underprivileged people who needed help, care and love. One of the challenges that Addams faced and wanted to overcome was to mandate legislation on the local, state and federal levels. By doing so it would allow all individuals to receive the assistance needed in spite of race, sex, religion or social class. Her desire was to be a self-sacrificing giver to the poor and advocate for women’s rights and change laws that would help put a stop to poverty. Addams advocated for anti child labor laws to limit the hours that a woman can work, mandate schooling for children and she wanted to protect immigrants from exploration. Addams took action to the needs of the community by starting a nursery, dispensary, playground, and gymnasium and provided kindergarten, day care facilities for children of working mothers and accommodating housing for young working women. In the reading, Democracy and Social Ethics, Addams identified that she saw that there were people being excluded in different aspects of society and was therefore actively involved or proactive in attempting to establish inclusion and equal opportunity for
Numerous of individuals have played an important part in the social work field. However, Jane Addams is an important historical figure in the Social Work field. Jane Addams accomplished many things and it is dynamic to appreciate her life contained by the perspective of society. “Social Work profession is a legacy of Jane Addams” (Johnson, 2005, p. 319). To understand how Jane Addams played important part a person must understand her background. Many individuals do not know who Jane Addams is coming into Sociology or Social Work. Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois on September 6, 1680 (Jane Addams Hull House Museum, 2009). Social work is more than adoption, or child protection service, child support. It is about changing lives and giving your client support and the appropriate resources not limiting their options. The backgrounds of social work are traced to Jane Addams (Johnson, 2004).
Social work pursues to meet the demands and addresses the changing profession of fighting for human rights, improving social policies, and practice. I agree with the Abramovitz article that we have to know and understand the history of the social work profession. If people go without learning and comprehending the past, people cannot make accommodations for the future. Knowledge of the past will keep history alive, it will guide workers and their efforts to reform. The past also helps society in understanding programs that did not work. Society needs to understand the values that historical knowledge can bring positive changes in the future. Advocates for early social workers and their issues and concerns are still relevant in today's
Jane Addams was an important figure during the progressive era. For her, she believed that personal action will help in the search for solutions to the socia...
Besides being an anti-imperialist, she was largely for equality and that everyone could participate in important situations and issues. She was part of many women’s leagues and was the founder of the Hull House. The Hull Houses gave a life to the poor and immigrants who struggled in a competitive world. It gave them education, a home, health care, social circumstances, and safety. She was never married, so she spent her life dedicated to promoting peace. She believed that war, force, and violence only brought pain, struggle,and problems for family. She saw working together instead of using force was way more powerful and successful. War and violence only hindered the world and created a loss in compassion and kindness. At the Chicago Liberty Meeting, which protested imperialism in the Philippines, Jane was the only woman to speak. “To ‘protect the weak’ has always been the excuse of the ruler and tax-gatherer, the chief, the king, the baron; and now, at last, of ‘the white man’” (Addams 1899). The United States often didn’t listen to the anti-imperialists but they continued to peacefully fight for
Research is a necessity when it comes to providing services. Social Workers need it to be able to determine their clients ' needs, to see what resources/services they have access to and if their client doesn 't have much access where can they get it. Research is also used to see how effective an intervention is and whether it would be a right fit for their clients. It provides social service agents with ways to identify problems within their clients, communities, organizations, and the government. Also it helps them to create ways to aid in effective change. It is very beneficial when a social worker needs to "assess the needs and resources of people in their environments, evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting people
Richmond has made several contributions to Social Work, which is why she is known as one of the “founding mothers” of the profession. While Social Work has progressed and changed methods throughout the years, many of Richmond’s contributions are still utilized today. Specifically her ideas of scientific casework and the Person-In-Environment, or Systems theory, she was just beginning to uncover. Richmond is one of the main reasons Social Workers are so highly educated today. She took the charitable volunteer work of upper class women and created a greatly needed profession out of
When they are in need we must do everything in our power to make a change. Sometimes this involve advocating for them to see a change in social problems. The definition of a social worker states that they are trained person that carries out work with the aim of alleviating conditions of those in need (12). This often calls the need for social justice. After learning about social workers throughout history, I realize there’s multiple ways to help those in need (11). They’ve been able to implement social welfare for the public.
The social work profession is defined as “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people (ISFW, ‘Global Definition of Social Work’, 2016).” The definition may be true about the profession but it is more in depth than just that. To me, the profession’s primary focus is to help others through life as much as we can while letting them make their own choices and guiding them. In society, social workers are utilized in many different nonprofit and government roles. They serve the community in many different ways from monitoring parent visits to helping people through mental illnesses. Human beings are so complex and things that happen
Many individuals from communities have devoted their time and efforts to do social work, a lot of these volunteers did their practice in churches before it was recognised as a profession. It was through social investigation and attempts to understand family situations that social work began to develop a profession. A lot of people such as teachers or lawyers believe that what they do is also ‘social work’ that is why social work is a very broad context. Social work is more than just ‘doing good’ and