July, 1950
In this country we are apt to imagine that the
Welfare State is a unique British conception.
Attendance at an international gathering such
as the International Conference on Social Work
held in Paris in July, quickly dispels that illusion,
for there it was shown that in many other
countries a similar experiment is, in a greater or
lesser degree, being worked out, even though the
stage of development reached is nowhere so
advanced as in Britain. All the 1,500 representatives of the forty nations present were
concerned with the same problems and asking
the same questions.
How is the growing concern of the State with
social welfare affecting the character of social
work and the functions of the social worker ?
How can the social worker’s training and status
be made appropriate to the new recognition
accorded to her work and to the new responsibilities she must be ready to assume ? What is
to be the relation between the public social
services provided by the State and the voluntary
social service agencies which formerly held the
field ? How can such voluntary agencies be
subsidized from public funds without at the
same time being made subservient to State
direction ? What part can the social worker
play in humanizing State services and freeing
them from bureaucratic rigidity ?
The fact that it was these questions, rather
than questions of methods of relieving distress
and poverty, which the Commissions reporting
to the Conference had been asked to consider,
is in itself an indication of the shape of things
to come?or rather of the shape of things which
are actually here already. More specific problems affecting specialized fields of social service
were dealt with only at the fifteen sectional
meetings known as ” Carrefours ” held each
afternoon.*
The answers collected from various participating countries, as summarized by the chairmen
of the six Commissions, can be read in the
Conference Report when it is published later. We
have space here only for noting a few of the more
striking conclusions to which attention was drawn.
Social work, it was generally recognized, must
adapt itself to a new concept and evolve a new
technique, in view of the fact that it is now largely
concerned not with ” services to the few ” but
with ” services for the many not (chiefly or
exclusively) with the provision of material
necessities and the relief of material distress,
but with the provision of social and cultural
opportunities and with the interpretation to the
individual of the State services available for
meeting his various needs as a citizen.
The keynote of social work must, nevertheless, continue to be the recognition of the value
of personality and the paramount importance
of right human relations. In this connection
the effect of a complete system of social security
on self-reliance and initiative troubled some of
the members of Commissions. The advance
of the Welfare State was, moreover, viewed with
apprehension in certain countries, particularly
in those (e.g. the Latin) in which the individual
tends to oppose himself to the State and asks
the social worker to protect him from it, in
contrast to the Anglo-Saxon conception of the
State being “himself” acting in a corporate
capacity. The further dangers inherent in a
voluntary body receiving subsidies from the
Government were also noted in some reports,
and phrases such as ” responsibility without
authority ” and ” uniting without absorbing ”
were used. The same fear of state control was
expressed in answers to questions as to the
desirability of the State assuming responsibility
for the training of social workers.
Speaking on ” Social Work of the Future
Mrs. Alva Myrdal (United Nations Department
of Social Affairs, Lake Success) made an
interesting point by including in the functions
which properly belong to the social work field,
that of directing the residential care of old
people, deprived children, handicapped patients,
etc., and of providing social service in prisons
and hospitals. Personnel in Homes and Institutions had, she stressed, been too long left
without adequate training to enable them to
put into practice intelligently, the new ideas
and concepts enunciated by administrators and
psychologists.
The term ” mental health ” was not used as
such in any of the speeches on the Reports, but
the concepts underlying it were implicitly
accepted throughout. A welcome assurance
was also given by the representative of the
World Health Organization, as to the existence
of a growing recognition that physical health
activities must be accompanied by preliminary
Work in the fields of education, economics and
social welfare.
There were some 1,500 members of the
Conference?an impressive body of ” people
who matterthough too large a one for
allowing of the intimate personal contacts, the
quick give and take of opinions and the sharing
?f experiences, which give added value to smaller
gatherings. Even the ” Carrefours “?some of
which were attended by as many as 100 people?
were too large to function as ” groups The
ever-present language problem was another
barrier which slowed the pace and made it
difficult to secure sustained attention at the
plenary sessions, despite the highly skilled
services as interpreter given by the Honorary
President, Dr Rene Sand, with inimitable zest
and charm. The distinguished service of Mile
de Hurtado in organizing the Conference was
also warmly applauded, and members heard
with great satisfaction the news that she was
shortly to receive the award of the Legion
d’Honneur.
A.L.H.
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Social Workers in Paris
July, 1950
In this country we are apt to imagine that the Welfare State is a unique British conception. Attendance at an international gathering such as the International Conference on Social Work held in Paris in July, quickly dispels that illusion, for there it was shown that in many other countries a similar experiment is, in a greater or lesser degree, being worked out, even though the stage of development reached is nowhere so advanced as in Britain. All the 1,500 representatives of the forty nations present were concerned with the same problems and asking the same questions.
How is the growing concern of the State with social welfare affecting the character of social work and the functions of the social worker ? How can the social worker’s training and status be made appropriate to the new recognition accorded to her work and to the new responsibilities she must be ready to assume ? What is to be the relation between the public social services provided by the State and the voluntary social service agencies which formerly held the field ? How can such voluntary agencies be subsidized from public funds without at the same time being made subservient to State direction ? What part can the social worker play in humanizing State services and freeing them from bureaucratic rigidity ?
The fact that it was these questions, rather than questions of methods of relieving distress and poverty, which the Commissions reporting to the Conference had been asked to consider, is in itself an indication of the shape of things to come?or rather of the shape of things which are actually here already. More specific problems affecting specialized fields of social service were dealt with only at the fifteen sectional meetings known as ” Carrefours ” held each afternoon.*
The answers collected from various participating countries, as summarized by the chairmen of the six Commissions, can be read in the Conference Report when it is published later. We have space here only for noting a few of the more striking conclusions to which attention was drawn. Social work, it was generally recognized, must adapt itself to a new concept and evolve a new technique, in view of the fact that it is now largely concerned not with ” services to the few ” but with ” services for the many not (chiefly or exclusively) with the provision of material necessities and the relief of material distress, but with the provision of social and cultural opportunities and with the interpretation to the individual of the State services available for meeting his various needs as a citizen. The keynote of social work must, nevertheless, continue to be the recognition of the value of personality and the paramount importance of right human relations. In this connection the effect of a complete system of social security on self-reliance and initiative troubled some of the members of Commissions. The advance of the Welfare State was, moreover, viewed with apprehension in certain countries, particularly in those (e.g. the Latin) in which the individual tends to oppose himself to the State and asks the social worker to protect him from it, in contrast to the Anglo-Saxon conception of the State being “himself” acting in a corporate capacity. The further dangers inherent in a voluntary body receiving subsidies from the Government were also noted in some reports, and phrases such as ” responsibility without authority ” and ” uniting without absorbing ” were used. The same fear of state control was expressed in answers to questions as to the desirability of the State assuming responsibility for the training of social workers.
Speaking on ” Social Work of the Future Mrs. Alva Myrdal (United Nations Department of Social Affairs, Lake Success) made an interesting point by including in the functions which properly belong to the social work field, that of directing the residential care of old people, deprived children, handicapped patients, etc., and of providing social service in prisons and hospitals. Personnel in Homes and Institutions had, she stressed, been too long left without adequate training to enable them to put into practice intelligently, the new ideas and concepts enunciated by administrators and psychologists.
It was disappointing that although one Carrefour dealt with social service for the physically handicapped, no placewas given to discussing the needs of the mentally handicapped.
The term ” mental health ” was not used as such in any of the speeches on the Reports, but the concepts underlying it were implicitly accepted throughout. A welcome assurance was also given by the representative of the World Health Organization, as to the existence of a growing recognition that physical health activities must be accompanied by preliminary Work in the fields of education, economics and social welfare.
There were some 1,500 members of the Conference?an impressive body of ” people who matterthough too large a one for allowing of the intimate personal contacts, the quick give and take of opinions and the sharing ?f experiences, which give added value to smaller gatherings. Even the ” Carrefours “?some of which were attended by as many as 100 people? were too large to function as ” groups The ever-present language problem was another barrier which slowed the pace and made it difficult to secure sustained attention at the plenary sessions, despite the highly skilled services as interpreter given by the Honorary President, Dr Rene Sand, with inimitable zest and charm. The distinguished service of Mile de Hurtado in organizing the Conference was also warmly applauded, and members heard with great satisfaction the news that she was shortly to receive the award of the Legion d’Honneur. A.L.H.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.
See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/scanning/