Social work practice relies on many tools such as knowledge and frameworks which help guide and develop key social work skills. Theories are a major source of knowledge and frameworks, there are many theories with and used in social work practice with varying strengths and weaknesses. Due to the amount of theories at the use of social workers many do compliment as well as conflict with each other, requiring social workers to have a vast and complex understanding of them to navigate together. Ecosystems and critical theories are umbrella terms for theories and frameworks, meaning they have many application variations of themselves. Ecosystems and critical theories are complex theories and need social workers to do much theoretical work with …show more content…
The most used model is a 3 tiered one, with ‘micro’ beginning with direct interactions with relationships and environments, followed by ‘messo’ with the semi-regular interactions of less frequented environments and relationships and lastly with the ‘’macro’ where indirect interactions with relationships and environments happens. Different variations of ecosystems focus on different tiered systems relationships, environments and the number of tiers. Ecosystems focus on contexts and the complexity of relationships and environments, what is maintaining them and their effect on the behaviours and development of the person. Ecosystems works by changing a layer to change all the layers relationships and interaction dynamics as a system can have a good relationships and environments across the tiers with the right influences and changes (Compton & Galaway, 1999). Critical theories within Allen (2009) are concepts which work to discover, question and change cultural and structural norms and barriers which create oppression and exploitation, with the focus mainly on power creation, disruption and removal. Critical practice works to help a person understand society’s impact on them and their context within society, whether it is present or historical. Critical theories …show more content…
Ecosystems and critical theories share the ideals of a person and the society impacting each other as a dynamic. They also share ideas of change being beneficial for people who require social work intervention and contexts being powerful. Ecosystems and critical can both reduce accountability as a negative behaviour may place expectations on a family instead of on an individual within ecosystems or with critical the behaviour may be blamed only on society as a scapegoat. Ecosystems and critical theories now begin to conflict and differentiate with each other. As critical looks at changing structures and perceptions while ecosystems focus on relationships. Ecosystems don’t look for cause or blame unlike critical which can and does. Ecosystems have little internal conflict while critical does, as it tries to balance social justice and social liberty; as someone’s social justice may impact on someone else’s social liberty and vice versa. Ecosystems can be mechanical and rigid while critical is flexible and fluid. Ecosystems works with the idea that everyone influences everyone equally and the power is evenly distributed unlike critical where power is unevenly distributed making others more influential and imposing on others. Ecosystems and critical theories can complement each
Social Work is the study of people and how they interact with the systems in their environment and other people. Social Workers use theories, sets of ideas or concepts, of human behavior and apply them within their professional social work ethics to the problems facing clients in order to help them gain balance in the systems in their lives. Theories help to organize knowledge enabling social workers to help make sense of problems. There are many different theories. They have been grouped into broad categories called theoretical lenses (Rogers, A. 2013).
Individual, family and relational, community and cultural, and societal are all part of the risk and protective factors in an ecosystemic framework of historical oppression, resilience, ad transcendence.
Open University (2011) K(ZW) 315 Critical Practice in Social Work, CDA1, Panel Discussion on Critical Practice (Tracks 1-5), Milton Keynes, The Open University.
In the article “Critical social theory approach to disclosure of genomic incidental finding” published in Nursing Ethics described nurse researcher role in disclosure of incidental findings in genomic researches. This situation created ethical dilemma. Technology in medical fields has developed to extents of genetics researches which also created complication of extracted gene-related information. This relatively new field in medicine has an opportunity to improving health, prevent disease and just as screening of population. However, with this advantage comes disadvantage as well. Many genetic testing revealed not only desire information about health but also some incidental findings which created dilemma in nursing practice regarding ethical
Theory has been defined as, “an organized set of assumptions, beliefs, or ideas about particular phenomena in the world (Teater, 2015).” Theory is used to understand and explain possible and perceived instances, behaviors and outcomes (Teater, 2015). Social workers use theory in order to understand, as well as, introduce interventions and solutions to their client’s individual situation. It is important for students entering into the social work profession to have a base knowledge of theories, with basic understanding of their similarities and differences to appropriately apply theory in practice. The theories which will be focused on in this paper include Systems Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Theory.
Various theorists under the umbrella of critical social theory believe that all subordinate groups are oppressed on personal, cultural and institutional levels by visible and invisible structures as well as by conscious and unconscious means. (Mullaly, 2010 ).
Social workers should have a strong knowledge base comprising of information gathered from variety of empirically tested theories which allows them to effectively appreciate the nature of people’s problems. Theory is a vital component in social work practice that guides the way in which social workers view and approach their clients, at micro, mezzo and macro level. Theory helps predict, explain and assess situations and
Ecological theory is a theory developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner that states that the “systems” around you are vitally important in human development. Within the theory there are many systems including the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Each system is defined by a different aspect of a person’s surroundings that would affect their development. The systems begin with the aspect that is closest to you, your day-to-day life. The Microsystem includes all of the places, people, and experiences that are found in your daily life. These include school, work, parents. friends, neighbors, and so forth. The next most impactful system is the exosystem. The mesosystem is defined by two entities within your microsysytem affecting each other. The next system is called the exosystem. The exosystem is full of things that don’t affect you directly but will eventually
This is why social workers must also be critical thinkers. Critical thinking applied to the social work profession involves “the ability to define an issue, stressor, or problem; to distinguish, appraise, and integrate multiple sources of knowledge to formulate a tentative practice direction” (Gitterman & Knight, 2013). Theories, as well as research, “about phases of individual, family and group development; about ethical, racial, religious, spiritual, and sexual identity development; and about individual, family, and group development” provide social workers with a basic starting point for a more complex and situational-based intervention plan that will later be developed. In social work practice, intervention plans and assessments are not blindly developed, but rather based off theory and research. Therefore, although social work is a profession of artistry and creativity; it is also a scientific profession enhanced by the use of theory and
Social ecological perspectives are often described as a web of relationships (k218, Learning guide 3, 3.1). They make us aware that each individual has many defining factors making up who they are. Social ecological perspectives have the child/young person at the centre and show how they are connected to the family, community and society as a whole. They demonstrate the layers that go into making the individual and show that everybody has a unique set of circumstances that affect the person they are, their achievements, social standing and even their health. Social ecological perspectives give us the opportunity to quantify these factors and offer a tool to collate the data, giving us the chance to see how factors such as employment, housing or demographic area can affect life chances in both the short and long term. Social economic perspectives tell us that to fully understand the individual we must also understand their environment and how they are connected to it. Rather than just looking at the child or young person on a standalone basis we must look at what factors affect their behaviour, where they are living, what the home or community environment is like and try to respond appropriately to this.
Systems ideas is referring to three different types of systems, each created in a different era; general systems theory, ecosystem perspectives and complex systems theory (Healy, 2005). Systems Ideas in social work originated with general systems theory in the 1940’s and 1950’s, formulated by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy in the 1970’s (Payne, 2005). Systems Ideas are very relevant to human related professions such as; doctors, social workers and other institutions. The systems Ideas theory aids social workers to find an individual’s “fit” and “adapt” to the current society (Payne, 2005). There are many people involved in an individual’s social system, from friends and family to institutions such as schools and doctors. These can also be put into further categories formal and informal theories. Formal theories consist of systems such as institutions like social worker and doctors but informal theories include friends, family and community. In complex situations, systems ideas and theory is more appropriate to use than other more casual models of practice.
(2009) Critical social work: Theories and practices for a socially just world. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Therefore, the theories I used in my work with the clients were psychosocial, ecologically-oriented, competence-centered and completely client-centred (Mullaly, 2007, p. 48). My practice at SEWA was aimed at studying and addressing the correlation between clients and their “impinging” environment as a cumulative to the problem in question (Maluccio et. al., 1992, p. 31). For example, in addressing maternal health issues of a rural pregnant woman, as a social worker I would probe her existing knowledge and access to health. Thereafter, I would provide her information about services in the vicinity. In the process, I would also recognise case-relevant factors such as husband’s decision making power and help her address it by providing awareness to husband. In this manner, my role as a social worker was to identify and deal with social issues as a collective of individual and environmental problems. However, SEWA was a revolutionary movement and therefore as social workers we were encouraged to address such grassroots issues as system issues from feminist and anti-oppressive viewpoints. As a result, I was also responsible to collate and present these experiences at policy advocacy forums. Besides, defence, collectivization and personal change practices (Olivier, 2010) were also practised at
The work of a social worker is complex and all encompassing. Social workers work in many capacities seeking justice, liberation, and equality. There work is global, as they work to put policies in place to govern practices. To keep up with societal shifts and generational changes there learning is continuous. As new questions rise so does the need for the continuation of research, not only to answer these questions but to implement into
In Horkheimer’s “Traditional and Critical Theory”he begins with the question “What is theory?”. He explains how theory is something that should be based on fact and should not conflict with facts. He also makes the point that experiences should line up directly with theory, and if they do not one should be re-examined. A theory is a set of propositions that are only true if they equally match with the object they represent. In this essay he makes a distinction between traditional and critical theory. He begins by making the claim that the type of theory used in natural sciences is traditional theory. Traditional theory is mainly focuses on the things that are true or things that can be agreed upon, experiences are not heavily weighted. Like natural sciences, these things are without contradiction, they are facts. Social theory on the other hand is less concerned with facts and more with reason. In this essay I will be examining the distinction between the two in the social sciences and why Horkheimer feels this distinction is important.