Social Welfare and Social Work 00/01

UNIT 1. History of Social Problems and Social Welfare 1. Bethlem/Bedlam: Methods of Madness?, Roy Porter, History Today, October 1997. "Bedlam" is a name historically linked to the first psychiatric facility in England--a linkage that has a distinctly negative connotation. Roy Porter dispels that image as erroneous and presents an enlightening historical analysis of how earlier generations cared for those believed to be insane or mad. 2. Roslyn's Mutual Aid Lodges: Between Assimilation and Cultural Continuity, 1887-1940, Deborah Jo Burnham, Journal of the West, October 1997. Though not as formally structured as settlement houses in large cities, mutual aid societies, as well as ethnic and religious self-help organizations, performed an essential role in the assimilation of immigrants into the United States during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This description of one such lodge in Roslyn, Washington, is a classic example of how these lodges functioned and what social services they provided. 3. "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum", James R. Chiles, Smithsonian, August 1998. The problems of poverty and homelessness have existed in every generation throughout our nation's history. James Chiles offers us a graphic and unromantic version of the life of the "hobo" before and during the Great Depression of the 1930s. 4. Every Picture Tells a Story, Daniel D. Huff, Social Work, November 1998. Many social reformers during the early decades of the twentieth century used the medium of black and white photography to chronicle the horrible living conditions forced upon people in urban ghettos and in the rural countryside, as well as the inhumane work environments found in mines and in factories throughout America. In this article, Daniel Huff summarizes the contributions of these early "social photographers." 5. When the Laws Were Silent, William H. Rehnquist, American Heritage, October 1998. Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, authorized the physical removal and internment of ethnic Japanese living along the West Coast. William Rehnquist, the chief justice of the United States, describes the historical context of this embarrassing chapter in our nation's history. He portrays in personal terms the obvious racial discrimination and clear violation of civil rights that occurred. UNIT 2. Current Social Problems: Poverty and Discrimination 6. Poverty 101: What Liberals and Conservatives Can Learn from Each Other, David Kuo, Brookings Review, Fall 1997. David Kuo's admonition to conservatives and liberals to listen to each other also serves as a useful overview of the problem of poverty in the United States. This article contains important background information to help in understanding the issues surrounding options for welfare reform. 7. D.C.'s Indentured Servants, Martha Honey, The Progressive, December 1997. True poverty, which is the lack of a reasonable amount of financial resources, is not confined to the unemployed, the homeless, and the single parent. Martha Honey demonstrates that poverty also exists in unexpected places: in the nation's capital among the employed foreign domestic servants. 8. Government Can't Cure Poverty, Robert L. Woodson Sr., USA Today Magazine (Society for the Advancement of Education), January 1998. In this article, Robert Woodson provides a conservative persFaherty, Vincent E. is the author of 'Social Welfare and Social Work 00/01', published 1999 under ISBN 9780072350746 and ISBN 0072350741.