Title: Social Work: A Helping Process
Headings: Social Work: A Helping Process
Social Work: A Helping Process
The nature of social work, now a full-fledged profession, has been explained by Boehm (1958) in the following words:
The basic functions of a helping process are:
Provision of resources too, according to them, has two aspects:
Social work, thus, seeks to:
Accordingly, the functions of social work have been outlined by Pincus and Minahan (1973) as follows:
Community organisation is practised for providing:
Community organisation adopts three modes to fulfill its objectives:
The group worker needs skills in:

Content: ADVERTISEMENTS: The concept of helping contained in the concept of dan got further boost in the Kautilya’s Arthashastra which holds the king responsible for care and protection of the helpless, the weak, the aged, and also the members of the families of the decreased soldiers and workers. During Ashoka’s times, helping process got institutionalised in the appointment of ‘Gopas’ (social workers) who kept records of castes, births, marriages and looked after people when sick. Officers-in-charge of liquor and prostitutes were responsible for helping the victims of these social evils too. One of the edicts on pillars by King Ashoka that “…I consider the promotion of the people’s welfare my highest duty…” gives a clear picture of welfare activities during his time. Islam also prescribes ‘zaka’ (charity). Similarly, in British India and in England and USA, people helped the needy individuals and the destitute out of humanitarian, religious and philanthropic motives. It was the Association for Improving Conditions of the Poor (AICP) in USA, founded in 1843, which recognised that mere charity does not and cannot solve the problems of the unprivileged and the unfortunates as this approach of helping through charity created a permanent liability on society. The beneficiaries of charity, because of being dependent on it, lose their self-respect and endure on charity for their whole of life. This was against the democratic values.