Blog # 3 The Evolution of Macro Practice

While many people think the history of macro social work practice in America began with the settlement house movement and Jane Addams, I would suggest that the roots go back even earlier.  In Pre-Civil War America, cities were beginning to grow in the northeast and an insurmountable economic divide was widening in the south between wealthy plantation owners and the slaves who worked the land.  "Friendly visitors" in the north became interested in social problems such as poverty and urbanization, women in Seneca Falls, New York began to fight for women's rights, while abolitionists in the south fought for an end to slavery  For me, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner truth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman and John Brown were among the first social activists - long before Jane Addams and Mary Richmond began their work.  After the conclusion of the Civil War, the creation of the Freedmen's Bureau and the American Red Cross worked to provide relief to oppressed population (University of Michigan, 2001.)

It was the rapid industrialization and urbanization following the conclusion of
the Civil War and the abolition of slavery that brought about the need for the Settlement House Movement in the northeast and midwest.  The birth of social work was a result of this turn in focus from the charity organizations of the time immediately following the civil war, to more of a social justice focus as evidenced by the settlement house movement (Netting, 2005.)  This need was compounded by the waves of immigrants landing on America's shores in search of a better life.  The establishment of Hull House (1888) in Chicago by Jane Addams and other such settlement houses across the north provided a place for people to not only access services, but to also meet with others, share ideas and concerns and gather their collective resources in a collaborative effort to improve social conditions.  While Addams and others were working on the totality of the problems of the time, preventing disease, problems with housing and child labor laws on a larger scale, social workers like Mary Richmond were working with the individuals to empower them to become advocates for themselves - Richmond brought the focus from the individual to place an emphasis on the greater social concerns.  This would later be considered the root of the systems theory as Richmond examined the interaction between the person and their environment.  These early settlement leaders and pioneers in social work would have a lasting impact on major social issues like women's suffrage, civil rights, labor laws, housing and child welfare (socialworkers.org, NASW) 

In the early 1930's, following the Great Depression (1929), there was a move to focus on social problems.  Franklin Delanore Roosevelt with Frances Perkins authored the policies and legislation that became known as the New Deal.  This New Deal established the Social Security Act giving protections to the elderly, the disabled, children and the unemployed.  There was also a move towards the establishment of self-help groups, beginning with the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous, founded by Robert Holbrook Smith and Bill Wilson.  This particular self-help group, and the hundreds more which have since sprung forth form their model, typify the empowerment approach and the need for consumer participation which evolves after the conclusion of World War II (Hardina.)  Also happening as a result of government's involvement in addressing social problems was the beginning of the community organization movement.  Of course this attention to social problems and government's attention to them, brought about much criticism as some political leaders (think McCarthyism), made claims that social programs were communist or socialist in nature.  These community organizations would however, continue to play an important role in macro social work throughout the 1960's and 70's.  During the Kennedy administration and later during Johnson's "War on Poverty" the social justice and civil rights movements would become pivotal events in the evolution of macro practice as we know it today.  Johnson's War on Poverty gave birth to organizations such as Head Start, JobCorps, Upward Bound and Legal Aid through the Equal Opportunity Act and social welfare programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD.)
Unfortunately, the country would once again face difficult times and the "Reaganomics" of the 1980's would wreak havoc on social programs.  Attacks by the Reagan administration on the welfare system would abound as the income gap between the socio-economic classes in America would continue to widen.  A look to Americans to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" placed the responsibility for one's situation squarely on their own shoulders, removing blame or responsibility from our government.  The "War on Terror" that began after the attacks of September 11th would see more cuts in social programs as America's financial resources were diverted to our nation's defense.  This would make it even more difficult for social workers to find the services and programs to assist their clients.  These cumulative cuts would continue to burden the disappearing middle and ever-growing lower class leading to where we are today.  The income gap has never been as wide as it is.  For macro social workers, the need to partner with our community members and neighbors for social change and self-advocacy is apparent.  The recent "Occupy" movement has swept the country and is already showing the power citizens can achieve when they organize collaboratively for a common goal.    

This 1964 Johnson campaign ad could easily apply to the economic situation in America today.

Sources:

academic.cengage.com/resource_uploads/downloads/0534640435_52807.pdf. 

Hardina, Donna. 2003. Linking citizen participation to empowerment practice.
        Journal of Community Practice. 11(4) doi. 10.1300.J125v11n04_02


Historyofsocialwork.org. 2009


Netting, F. Ellen. 2005. The future of macro social work. Advances in Social
       Work. 6 (1). 51-59


socialworkers.org/pressroom/features/general/history.asp


Valocchi, Stephen. A way of thinking about the history of community organizing.
        trincoll.edu/depts/ten/valocchi.htm