Basic Concepts of Social Work

Author(s): Philip H. Van Praag

Source: Social Service Review , Jun., 1957, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Jun., 1957), pp. 183-191
Published by: The University of Chicago Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/30017372

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 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL WORK1

PHILIP H. VAN PRAAG

Eeverybody who is acquainted with is: What do we mean by

The big question
the Technical Assistancebasic concepts of social work? Can we
Program
of the United Nations knows that really speak of basic concepts of social
representatives of many professions,work? I do not have the illusion that I
can answer these questions. I can only
trained in many different countries, are
working in many parts of the world. In try to make some introductory remarks
Geneva we have growing co-operation inthat may be of some use.
the field of nuclear energy in which, in a
LIFE HAS MANY FACES AND
body called Euratom, we find scientists
MANY GARBS
trained in many different countries work-
ing together. Why is it that engineers, Life is infinitely varied, dynamic, and
changing. Modern research has given u
doctors, biologists, physicists, and repre-
sentatives of a number of other profes- insight into the fascinating variety of life
sions and scientific disciplines can work with its always enthralling dynamic
anywhere in the world? Anthropology and sociology have re
The first point I am going to makevealed secrets of patterns of culture and o
may appear a very simple and all too ob-taboos and rites in many parts of th
vious statement: It is characteristic of all world. We know of the divergencies be
tween life in Western and in Eastern
these different disciplines that they have
a body of specialized knowledge and a setcountries. Psychology and especially psy-
choanalysis have helped us to under-
of related skills. We may speak of the
basic concepts of medicine, of the basicstand something of these varied patterns.
concepts of agriculture, and so on. It is We know, also, that within one coun-
the most characteristic aspect of a pro-try problems of adolescence may differ in
the cities and in rural areas. Even within
fession that it rests on basic concepts.
This explains why these professional city the difference between groups of
one
workers can work anywhere in the worldcitizens may be striking. In a recently
and why it is possible for workers trained published study of the cultural pattern in
in one country to work elsewhere. a very small Dutch village, hardly
touched
If basic concepts of social work exist in by modern means of communi-
the same way as basic concepts of medi- cation, two American anthropologists
found a marked difference between vil-
cine, biology, and physics, we may say
lages and towns not more than ten or
that social work is a profession in the
true sense of the word. Whether or not twenty miles apart. Differences between
we can speak of basic concepts of social cultural patterns of various parts of the
work is a crucial problem for all whoworld, between communities within a
think that the professionalization of so-small country, or within a city strike one
cial work is badly needed in our time.forcibly.
Not less fascinating is the insight that
1 Paper presented at the International Confer-
ence of Schools of Social Work at Munich, Germany,psychology and psychopathology have
August 2, 1956. given into the development of human
183

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184 PHILIP H. VAN PRAAG

beings and into their

that the dissimilarities.
so-called race line, during a war No
two children are the same. No two men
in which France and Germany fought on
or women are alike. We are all different opposite sides, was held to divide the
?different in temperament, character, people of Baden from those of Alsace,
personality. although in bodily form both groups be-
long to the Alpine sub-race. In a day of
HUMAN BEINGS ARE THE SAME
footloose movements of people and of
THE WORLD OVER
mixed marriages, we still preach un-
No matter how obvious it may
abashedseem
the gospel of the pure race!
that life is infinitely varied, actually
The wordthis
"anthropology" suggests for
is not the whole story. With increased in-
many people only primitive tribes, inter-
sight into and understanding of the
esting dif-customs, or exciting sex
marriage
ferences between cultural patterns and
practices of adolescents. Anthropology
between human beings, we have been
also directs its attention to man in in-
gaining greater insight into thedustrializedrelativity and modern countries, to
of those differences. Ruth Benedict has familiar home situations. At present, our
shown us that culture is not a biologically
understanding of culture as a way of
transmitted complex. The various socialthinking, feeling, believing, and doing by
situations worked out by men in differ-members of cultural groups makes study
ent cultures all seem to be equally pos-
of anthropology indispensable for the
sible on the basis of man's original en-
social worker. In an advanced course for
dowment. Are the underlying dynamicssocial workers in the Netherlands, case
of human behavior, individual and so-
discussions held last year by a social
cial, the same all over the world? We areworker, a psychoanalyst, and a sociolo-
far from knowing all about dynamics.gist showed that the interdisciplinary
Even if we were to know much more than study of family patterns and of the value
we do now, the mystery at the root of all systems found in education and religion
science will remain. It will always remain.
profoundly deepens our understanding
But we become more and more convincedof individual clients. Students in schools
that, basically, human beings withinof social work experience a special kind
communities, countries, and continentsof awakening from the insights provided
all over the world obey the same law ofby study of cultural conditioning. Grace
life. Coyle makes a cogent comparison when
Often, when so-called facts seem to she tells us of the woman who said with
contradict this point of view, we find that evident amazement that it was so curious
further thinking or research proves that that water had a taste everywhere except
the facts presented were selected from all in her home town.2
the facts available in order to prove the It is in the nature of culture that its
thesis of a certain author. We frequently springs are so deep that many of its
meet in our literature biased conclusions meanings are acquired without con-
deduced from material selected by biased scious thought. What seems to be "good,"
scientists. The literature on race preju- "right," and "natural" is accepted with-
dice offers many examples. Race preju-
dice has a cultural basis; it has to do with 2 Grace L. Coyle, "New Insights Available to
the Social Worker from the Social Sciences,"
economic and political problems. Bene- Social Service Review, XXVI (September, 1952),
dict mentions in one of her publications 289-304.

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 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL WORK 185

sentativesincluding
out question. We see the world, of other cultural groups.
our clients, through lenses Modern science has broken with the
so essentially
a part of the inner eye that
Cartesian
we concept
do not of the dichotomy be-
know that they are lenses tweenatmindall.andAn
body. Our insight into
awareness of these lenses comes to us as the interaction between individual and
we grasp and learn to apply to ourselvesculture is changing. At the core of this
change is the fact that we have discov-
the concept of culture. Field work in so-
cial work education shows that students ered that the dynamics of human behav-
ior are the same in different cultures all
can develop understanding of cultural
patterns in communities to which theyover the world. We still need more clarity
have never belonged themselves, but and precision of thinking. We need fur-
they easily combine this understandingther exploration, which is always neces-
with the conviction that their own water sary when a new discovery is made.
supply has no taste. What is true for There are other contributions toward
their clients seems not to be true for a better understanding of the world be-
them. sides those of anthropology. Sociology
We are confronted here with a phe-
may deepen our insight into and under-
nomenon similar to that found in the standing of communities, of subcultures
teaching of psychology: a student con- within a cultural area, of the structure of
fronted with the dynamics of his own per- such communities and subcultures, and
sonality reacts with resistance. It cannot of modes of behavior and their meaning
be denied that we struggle here with for a individuals. In studying sociological
difficult problem. The relativity of this literature one also finds the same under-
way of thinking provokes insecurity, espe- lying dynamics.
cially for those who are already personal-Let me call attention, also, to the ex-
ly insecure. In the age period between panding knowledge of group process. In
eighteen and twenty-five this can be this a part of sociology and social psychol-
serious problem for students. ogy, a whole new vista is opened to en-
The fact that we are better able to rich our concepts. Even at this moment
grasp the concept of culture, to under- when group dynamics is still in its infan-
stand the needs of people with different cy, it seems obvious that our methodo-
cultural backgrounds, to understandlogical the opportunities to help our fellow
dynamics of an individual client or men of awill be enlarged by the results of the
group, does not mean that one set of
growing stream of research on the inti-
values is as good as another for the socialmate group. Some years ago, Leland
worker as an individual. One can learn to Bradford, director of the National Train-
understand the conditioned value judg- ing Laboratory in Group Development
ments of others and continue to hold in Bethel, Maine, stopped in Holland on
his way back from a training seminar in
firmly to a set of values, a religion, a phi-
losophy of life that gives directionAustria.to He said that, although he did not
one's own life. This is important because speak and understand German, he was
a social worker often must offer help tooftena able to follow the process in diag-
client who has a background that differs nostic, training, and discussion groups
considerably from his own. The worker's because the processes in such groups were
awareness of his own cultural condition- so familiar to him. Another observation
ing enlarges his understanding of repre-comes from a group in which I was a

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186 PHILIP H. VAN PRAAG

trainee. There was discussion of an ex- Because we often tend to look for differ-
tremely difficult situation within theences, we do not easily realize that what
group itself. The observer was Gordon we hold in common is our strongest tie.
Lippitt, who was unable to understand have three basic principles in com-
We
the Dutch language but was able to fol-
mon.

low the process and to assist the group 1. All social workers work with the
thesis that men can have moral insight
with its problem by contributing to the
evaluation procedure. and that they are inclined to try to be-
have in accordance with this moral in-
The insights offered by anthropology,
sociology, group dynamics, and other sight. That human beings have a feeling
of responsibility is one of our central
fields of scientific thinking seem to justify
ideas. The scholar in the field of psycho-
the thesis that scientific thinking will de-
therapy knows that many different
velop, and in part has already developed,
toward an integration, at the core of schools of thought exist in this field. He
which is the vision that human behavior is impressed by the fact that there seems
?in the broadest sense of the term?is to be a strong correlation between the
approach to the patient and the philo-
rooted in and motivated by the same en-
dowment and that the developmentsophical
of conviction of the psychothera-
pist. Karen Horney used an approach
this endowment always reveals the same
basic dynamics. different from that of Franz Alexander.
Karl Jaspers uses yet another approach.
In summary, while life is infinitely
varied/dynamic, and changing, and while differences are due primarily to
These
it shows many faces and many garbs,varying
it answers to essential philosophical
is rooted in an endowment which all hu-
and religious questions. But the scholar
man beings have in common. in this field is most impressed by the
rarely formulated presupposition which I
SOCIAL WORKERS HAVE AN UNDER-
would state as follows: that underlying
LYING PHILOSOPHY
all psychotherapeutic theory and prac-
Social work could not exist without
tice is thean
belief that human beings may
have moralin
underlying philosophy. Social workers insight and are inclined to
the United States frequently behave in accordance with it and that
mention
that their philosophy flows fromthey
thetend
con-to try to carry responsibility.
Without
cepts of democracy. But democracy this thesis, we cannot help
for
many of us has some implications that
people. We can at best only enforce cer-
tain required
make us hesitate to depend entirely upon behavior, or we can at-
it for our philosophy of social tempt
work.to condition human beings to a
Let
us assume, however, that social certainwork
kind of behavior.
2. A helping
cannot be practiced if it is not rooted in process is possible only if
philosophical principles from we whichsee man
the as a social individual. Any
aims of social work emerge. philosophy that does not see man as a
An essential question is whethersocial there
individual denies that man can be
helped,
are general philosophical principles because such a philosophy posits
which
that man cannot
can be accepted by all social workers in be influenced and can-
not establish
spite of differences in religious or cultural relationships. Some repre-
sentatives
background. The answer, in my thinking, of modern existentialism, for
is that such general principlesexample,
do exist.deny human solidarity to such

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 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL WORK 187

velopment could
an extent that a helping profession of his personality. There is
also another
not be rooted in this philosophy. question: To what extent is
Jean-
Paul Sartre says, at the end his
of difference
his drama accepted by community
and society?
Huts Clos ("No Exit"), "L'enfer c'est lesBut these problems, so
familiar
autres" ("Hell is other people"). We to have
social workers, do not affect
similar expressions by Albertthe Camus
basic principle.
in
VEtranger ("The Stranger").
It The only
is in these three basic principles,
possible conclusion is that several
then, thatrepre-
social work philosophy is root-
sentatives of the philosophy ed.of
Theexisten-
principles of morality, sociality,
tialism exclude social work. and individuality constitute a foundation
Aristotle's statement that man is a on which social workers can build to-
social individual is not enough. Social
gether.
workers go further than that and believe
SOCIAL WORKERS SHARE A
that the we-situation in human life is in-
COMMON METHODOLOGY
trinsic and necessary?that man's exist-
This short excursion into the field of
ence is impossible without other men,
philosophy leads to my next point. If
and that, without other men, man cannot
become human and cannot remain hu- social work is to be called a profession, it
man. When Aristotle postulated that must have a body of specialized knowl-
edge and a set of related skills. In some
man is a social individual, he meant pri-
respects, we have indeed reached that
marily that man had biological needs
which forced him to be social. But, in stage
our of development. The backbone of
time, thinkers like Karl Jaspers and this body of knowledge and the related
Ludwig Binswanger have stated that the skills is social work methodology.
we-situation, the being together in theIt has been suggested that social work
world with sympathy and love for eachis based on our insight into human be-
other, is a basic condition for humanhavior, but social work practice is not a
simple application of this insight. One
growth and for the development of spe-
cific human values. The significance of
can imagine that, in carving a turkey at
this principle for social work requires
Christmas dinner, knowledge and skill in
little comment. We all know profession-
the field of anatomy can be applied. One
ally, as well as personally, that a we-
can also imagine that an expert in handi-
situation is the strongest stimuluscrafts
to can apply his knowledge and skill if
growth, development, and life. he has to repair a door handle. But' the
3. At the same time we accept the fact
relation between the specialized body of
knowledge of social work and its meth-
that human beings differ. If they did not,
odology is not comparable to the relation
the we-situation would be a unity without
diversity, in which social work would
between anatomy and turkey-carving.
have no place. Social workers from dif- The methodology of social work is the
ferent religious and cultural backgrounds trait d'union between insights emerging
from a body of knowledge and certain
accept the right of their clients to be dif-
ferent and to make their own decisions. aims rooted in the philosophical prin-
The problem for the worker is to enable ciples described above. As a science, the
the client to make his own decisions in so methodology of social work produces the
far as he is able to do so and in so far as tools social workers need, the means so-
his being different is essential for the de- cial workers use to help their clients in

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188 PHILIP H. VAN PRAAG

the most adequate its modern

andmeaning. This development
effective ways
possible. To put it another
confronts us with three way:
problems: Given
certain individuals or 1. We groups
are required to understand
or commu- re-
nities seeking help or among
lationships in human
need of
beings. Meth-help,
methodology tells ods us have to be worked
how to out to take into
help. It tells
us how to help a client account themakefact that, inhis
research
own done onde-
cision, how to helprelationships, a feeble-minded client
the research worker cannot
who is not able to make his own decision avoid being part of the social situation he
or is not fully able to do so, how to help is studying.
members of a street-corner gang become 2. In the prescientific stage of devel-
interested in looking for employment, opment of social work (which is still in
how to help a community discover its large measure with us), social work has
most important needs and how those often cramped life instead of enlarging it.
needs may be satisfied. The scientific approach requires an ac-
To understand individuals, groups, and ceptance by social workers of the objec-
communities, we need the help of the be- tive reality factors outside of social work
havioral sciences. Without these sciences with which it must co-operate.
a diagnosis cannot be made, and without 3. We know that people can influence
diagnosis no effective and adequate helpeach other. When we started to try to be
can be given. Philosophy and religionscientific, we sometimes felt guilty if, for
help us to clarify our thinking about theexample, we used warmth of personality
aims of social work. Methodology is the to accomplish anything with people.
link between insight based upon the be-Now, as we begin to acquire greater un-
havioral sciences and philosophy. derstanding of the dynamics of human be-
One of the most important develop-havior, we see why and how the relation-
ments of our time is that the methodolo- ship between client and social worker is
gies of the different helping professionseffective. It is difficult for many social
have become sciences in themselves. It is workers to think of human relations as
quite obvious that, from a methodologi-an object of scientific study. We are, as
cal point of view, psychotherapy and Bertha Reynolds pointed out, still in the
psychoanalysis are more advanced thanstate of magical thinking in regard to love
social work. It can easily be understood and hate and the influence of one person-
that social work, as its development be- ality on another.3 Traditionally, we think
came more scientific, used?and in partof human relations as mysterious, sacred,
continues to use?techniques borrowed not to be explained on pain of the wrath
from the field of psychotherapy and psy- of jealous gods, but we maintain that we
choanalysis. While psychotherapy andcan, if we will, plan as consciously for the
casework treatment have considerable strengthening of people as for the build-
likeness, social work is developing its ing of bridges. To do so, however, we
own methodology. There are great vari- must have development of the profession-
ations from country to country in the de- al self. And this development is possible
velopment of a scientifically founded so- only if we can give up the illusion that we,
cial work methodology, but such devel- as social workers, are beyond the reach
opment has started in many countries 3 Bertha C. Reynolds, Learning and Teaching in
and will start in others as they learn to (he Practice of Social Work (New York: Farrar 8?
appreciate and make use of social work in Rinehart, 1942).

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 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL WORK 189

in the
of the science of human development of social work and
relationships?
little gods working minorsocial work education.
miracles with
people because we are above These are all
the well-known facts. They
human
passions and the self-seeking
support thewhich we
thesis that basic concepts of
social
study and try to control in work do exist
others. and that we have be-
Proba-
bly the hardest problemgun into the
define develop-
them. It is characteristic of
ment of social work as a science is to the scientific period of social work which
apply scientific method instead of magi-we have now entered that we are begin-
ning to speak the same language. Under-
cal thinking to ourselves and to the evalu-
ation of what we do. It can be a heavy standing is no longer limited to the most
burden to learn what science has to saysimple
of aspects of our work, but is extend-
our motives, but for social work as aedsci- to the essential methodological area of
ence this is truly a matter of "to be or thenot profession. Without basic concepts,
to be." it would not be possible for a British so-
In summary, my point is that social cial worker to practice in India; a Dutch
work has left its prescientific period and social worker, in Italy; an American so-
has entered the scientific stage. It will cial worker, in Germany; or a German
require much research to develop that social worker, in Africa.
specific methodology with which the so-
SOCIAL WORKERS SHARE
cial worker as a professional person may
BASIC CONCEPTS
offer help to his client in the most human
and most effective way. I offer three areas which appear to m
to be held in common by professio
SOCIAL WORKERS SPEAK THE social workers:
SAME LANGUAGE 1. The first concept has to do with the
underlying philosophy which social work-
At the beginning of this paper, I indi-
ers all over the world more and more
cated that practitioners in some profes-
have in common in spite of differences in
sions may work in countries other than
cultural and/or religious background.
those in which they were trained, because
their education has been based on com- Several Jewish students, trained in the
Netherlands, are now working in Israel.
mon concepts. Is this also true of social
Some of them are working primarily with
work? My subsequent statements answer
clients who emigrated from North Africa
this question.
In the Netherlands we have had the or from surrounding Arab countries. In
assistance of social workers from the
spite of the considerable difference be-
tween the cultural backgrounds of these
United States to help us start casework
workers and their clients, they find they
training and practice. Several faculty
can do a satisfactory job. For several
members from the Amsterdam school
years, we have worked at our School in
and several social workers from the field
the Netherlands with groups of Indo-
of practice have taken additional train- nesian students. The problems that we
ing in casework in American schools of had to face were difficult and complicat-
social work. In the Technical Assistance ed, but I think we succeeded in offering
Program of the United Nations, social something which will be useful to these
work experts from different countries social workers in a country so different
have been sent abroad to offer assistance from the Netherlands.

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190 PHILIP H. VAN PRAAG

Social workers need to realize that so- At graduation, a student should have
cial work requires a climate which ema- mastered the content which is so very
nates from the general principles of necessary for good professional practice.
morality, sociality, and individuality,He will not be and need not be an expert
mentioned above. Without this climate, in any one of the separate fields, but he
social work cannot be carried on in a pro-should have grasped sufficient content
fessional and scientific way. Either we re-and have developed sufficient critical
main in, or regress to, an authoritarian ability to be able to pursue his own learn-
practice comparable to the teaching ofing in the future and evaluate new find-
mathematics by rote, or we becomeings that may appear in the separate
moralistic. This kind of social work does fields. Intensive teamwork among repre-
not meet the needs of today's world.sentatives of the several disciplines will
Modern social work, on the other hand, be required to develop these courses. If
is clearly in accordance with the Univer- my thesis that we are growing toward a
sal Declaration of Human Rights pro-more and more unified theory about hu-
claimed on December 10, 1948, by theman behavior is sound, then the conclu-
United Nations General Assembly. A sion seems obvious that this is a subject
basic concept of social work is the inte- in which there can be international co-
gration of the general philosophical prin- operation and exchange. It would be
ciples which are translated from this helpful to organize seminars on curricu-
declaration into social work method- lum in which faculty members of schools
ology. of social work could co-operate on this
In sum, as one school of social work problem. It was a gratifying experience
has put it, we expect our students upon at the Oxford seminar, organized by the
graduation to have developed a social International Committee of Schools of
philosophy to the point at which they Social Work in 1955, that social work ed-
have understanding and conviction ucators from many different countries
about the worth and dignity of the hu- struggled with the same problem and, in
man individual and a recognition and spite of disagreement on various points,
acceptance of individual differences and were able to work productively as a uni-
of the right of individual self-determina- fied professional group. What struck me
tion within the limits imposed by a dem- most was our serious seeking for and our
ocratic society.4 success in finding some generic content.
2. A second basic concept may be 3. A third basic concept derives from
drawn from the unifying knowledge of the the knowledge and skill emerging in the
dynamics of human behavior. The pres- field of methodology and research. Be-
ent artificial distinction and separation cause we are now able to see the common
between courses in the biological, social, dynamics in the several areas of practice,
psychological, and educational sciences we have begun to think about more
must be replaced gradually by basic generic training for social work. This is a
courses in the dynamics of human be- logical result of the development of so-
havior. In these courses, this artificial cial work methodology. Most of us are
separation will give way to integration. familiar with the Hollis-Taylor curricu-
lum proposals. As a result of these and
4 From a statement of objectives formulated by
the School of Applied Social Sciences of Western
related proposals, education in American
Reserve University. schools of social work has changed and is

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 BASIC CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL WORK 191

changing considerably. nificant

It seems toofbe
indicator the developing sci-
ence a
moving in the direction of of generic
social work that
edu-more and more
research is being
cation which provides students with done in the methodo-
the
logical field.
special knowledge and ability toThebegin
development of social
practice. It is significant
work that many
methodology requires that we ask
such questions
schools in the United States bring as these: How do we ar-
group
workers and caseworkers rive attogether
certain resultsin
in our practice?
How do we reach
generic courses in methodology, and apparently
it is unreach-
able families?
obvious that this development And so
will on. The fact that
con-
tinue with the growth ofsocial
the workers are being asked these days
profession.
Casework, group work, and community
to co-operate in research projects in other
organization are not specializations of
fields is also important, but not so impor-
social work, but, rather,tant as the fact that of
applications we are beginning to
social work skills in relation to individu- study our own practice.
als, groups, and communities. This I can well imagine that quite another
growth will lead us to the point at which interpretation or different emphasis on
schools of social work will educate stu- basic concepts of social work would be
dents for the basic profession of socialpossible. I trust that the way in which I
work in the same way as medical schoolshave tried to tackle the subject may
educate for basic medical practice. In the
prove useful as an introduction to further
future, specialization in the social workdiscussion. The fact that we are begin-
profession will take place more and more ning to think of basic concepts of social
in special courses and special settings
work will enlarge opportunities for inter-
national co-operation and exchange of
after the generic professional education
has been acquired. social workers. It will also enlarge oppor-
I mentioned research in addition to
tunities for the training of social workers
methodology. Graduate social workerscountries other than those in which
in
they will be employed.
should have sufficient knowledge of re-
search to evaluate the products of re-School of Social Wobk
search and to participate in the research
Amsterdam, The Netheelands
process with research experts. It is a sig- Received August 30, 1956

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