Objectives
To successfully complete this learning unit, you will be expected to:
1. Explain the changes in social welfare policy at the turn of the century, continuing to evaluate how the public interest was served at a public and private level.
2. Examine the rise of social work as a profession, growing out of 19th-century reform efforts and establishing new levels of ethical care and support.
3. Analyze the end of the Reform Era and the elements which brought it about as a way to understand the impact of outside events on social policy initiatives.
Learning Activities
Study 1
Read Chapter 5, pages 120-163, in the Axinn & Stern text: The new century brings new advances in social policy targeting families, immigrants, workers and a new set of veterans from World War I.
Study 2
Continue to work on your project draft, incorporating a policy reform action plan, in which you recommend remedies to the existing policy through the formulation of a new policy that acknowledges the strengths and weaknesses of the past. The project draft is due at the end of Unit 8.
Discussion 1
Social Work Profession
Search the Internet for Web sites which describe the rise of social worker professionalization. Post the URL here and explain why is is helpful to your understanding. Also, explain what specific structural changes may have contributed to professionalization.
Discussion 2
Welfare Resources
What societal changes seem to account for the refocusing of welfare resources at the end of the 19th century? What has been the impact of the rise of social work as a profession? How does your analysis contribute to a deeper understanding of the changes that affected welfare reform in the late 20th century?