Harry Specht

Social Work and the Popular Psychotherapies

The profession of social work is on the verge of being engulfed by the popular psychotherapies. Origins of popular psychotherapies lie in early nineteenth-century American social movements and not in Freudian psychoanalysis as is commonly believed. A good grasp of the historical development of social works engagement with the popular psychotherapies will help the profession clarify its mission in a modern community. This mission requires social work to separate itself from the popular psychotherapies.

Assessing Theoretical Models of Community Organization Practice: Alinsky as a Case in Point

The Uneven Growth of Community Organization Theory is Attributed to the Absence of an Analytic Framework for Comparing and Evaluating Existing Practice Models. A Paradigm Potentially Useful to This End is Offered. The Practice Variations and Rationales Associated With Saul Alinsky are used to Illustrate the Organized Statements Made Possible by the Paradigm.

Social Work Assessment: Route to Clienthood––Part II

Applicants for social agency services should not be designated as “clients” before they have completed the psychosocial assessment process. In Part I of a two-part article, the authors discuss three of four decision points that occur during assessment. The authors offer alternative terms for the stages of the process.

British Social Services under Siege: An Essay Review

This essay, written in February 1981, reviews a recent work which sharply criticizes the social work profession in the United Kingdom. It assesses this critique in view of the monetarist policies of the present (Thatcher) government which threaten to reduce funds for the social services at a time when they are most needed. While allocations decrease, the responsibilities of personnel increase, and the survival of social work is placed in greater jeopardy.

The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974: Implications for Policy and Planning

HUDs 1974 revenue-sharing program has profound implications for community development. The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 provides communities with new resources to meet needs in housing, public works, and social services. More important, it requires that cities and states develop new methods and processes for resource allocation and program planning. The authors provide an overview of the Act; following that, the analysis focuses on the citizen participation requirements of the Act and the effects of the legislation on the relationships among citizens, general-purpose government, and special-purpose agencies.

Demographic Correlates of Citizen Participation: An Analysis of Race, Community Size, and Citizen Influence

Studies of relationships between the size and racial composition of communities and the impact of citizen participation on local decision making in community development programs have produced contradictory results. This paper reviews and attempts to assess these conflicting findings in light of data based on the citizen participation ex- periences in the Model Cities Program nationwide. Analysis of the Model Cities data reveals (a) no correlation between racial composition of the community and the degree of citizen influence on decision making during the Model Cities planning period, and (b) a moderate positive correlation between community size and the degree of citizen influence. Theoretical explanations for these findings are explored.

Author's Reply: A Less Complex Statement of Social Work's Mission

Social Service Review published 54 pages of Jerome Carl Wakefields exposition on Rawlsian theory and social work practice in a two-part article in 1988.1 And now we have another 11-page article, part of which is a critique of my article on social work and the popular psychotherapies, but most of it is more of the same on Rawls just in case you missed it or could not get through it in 1988. Some readers might, understandably, find it difficult to digest all 65 pages of Professor Wakefields verbal gymnastics and contradictions. As an example of the latter, he begins his critique with a ringing endorsement of my article. He says:

‘Institutional racism’ and educational policy

In recent years American universities have come under increasing attack from many students and a small proportion of faculty for being a spawning ground of ‘institutional racism’, a charge that implies various malefactions. The language of this accusation is often so inflammatory that different meanings of the term are fused and consequently policies to deal with the problems at issue are confused. Having spent a good portion of the last two years listening to the accusations, proclamations, and demands made in the name of institutional racism, we should now like to examine what some of the basic issues seem to be about and their policy implications for the university.

Book Review: A Relevant War against Poverty: A Study of Community Action Programs and Observable Social ChangeA Relevant War Against Poverty: A Study of Community Action Programs and Observable Social Change. By ClarkKenneth B. and HopkinsJeanette. New York: Harper & Row, 1969. 275 pp.

part in bringing these changes about. Throughout, one feels respect for knowledge and the desire to transmit it, respect for skill based on knowledge, a warm concern to help in~ividuals directly, and a strong social conscience. This is not a book to be read quickly. It should be in every caseworkers personal library to be picked up at leisure with margins used for penciling the readers own reactions. It should also be given serious study in its entirety by all advanced students and all teachers of casework, whether the medium of teaching be field or class.