SWRK 1000H Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Aggregate Demand, General Service Corps, Friend Request
28 Jun 2018
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Swrk1000H Lecture Three: Tuesday, September 27, 2016
“A New Ideology: Helping People”
•History is in the past. Our present is better, because of us, our creativity, drive,
determination, passion, commitment, and interventions.
•(p. 30) “Vagrants, orphans, paupers, and elderly people were placed in institutions,
sometimes called almshouses or
poorhouses, that provided minimal levels of care and no attempts to rehabilitate. Similarly,
asylums were built to care for people referred to as insane, usually without any real hope that
those admitted would ever leave. Frequently, conditions in these institutions bordered on squalor,
circumstances that certainly would not be tolerated today. “
Do conditions bordering on squalor exist today? For whom?
⁃native communities
⁃prison systems (solitary confinement in low living conditions)
⁃transgender community
Three political ideologies that shape social policy and social work practice
Conservative: individuals are responsible for their own problems. There is nothing wrong with
existing social policy, and the social system overall. Instead, the individual must learn to better
manage resources, time and money in order to adapt to a system that generally works for all.
⁃example: Stephen Harper, Donald Trump
⁃if you try, you will succeed, if your skin colour was different, if your gender was
different, etc.
Liberal: “more humanistic” means people‟s needs must be met by a larger, better social safety
net, which is accessible to all Canadians. Rather than changing the system, liberals advocate for
adding to the system, by increasing social service provisions for individuals.
⁃social welfare, etc
•Thomas Sowell: “Liberals want to stamp out the last vestiges of segregation. At what
price?”
⁃what worked and what didn’t work
⁃focused on preaching that we should know better instead of focusing on actually
changing the system.
⁃liberals are more focused on talking about change instead of making change
⁃emphasis of blame on the system instead of the individual
⁃suggested that minimum wage law might actually encouraged poverty
⁃conservative actually stop people from being disadvantaged, liberals want to help people
from being disadvantaged
Fabian socialist (or social democratic): state must administer universal programs and
implement equal distribution of goods in order to ensure equity. Reduces gap between rich and
poor by reconfiguring distribution of income. For example, introduction and increasing of the
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
minimum wage moves towards more equity (although a long way off from actually achieving).
Universal free healthcare. Generous unemployment benefits. Low-cost or free postsecondary
education. Collective bargaining rights for workers, increased taxation on wealth/wealthy,
democratic rights and responsibilities for all.
⁃changing the entire nature of the system to equity and equality is possible
⁃start from scratch
⁃if there was an equal distribution of taxation, there would be no choice for locations for
companies such as walmart
⁃the more you tax and the more money you have to give to the government and people for
spending, the more the economy thrives, reduces unemployment
Drawing on Keynesian economics: government spending can be used to increase aggregate
demand, thus increasing economic activity, reducing unemployment and deflation.
Critiques of this ideology: many social programs noted above still rely on market economy,
making this ideology a form of social liberalism.
When we believe a value statement to be a “universal truth”....
•Who are “we” as social workers?
•What do “we” as social workers do?
•What do “we” as social workers believe in?
•What are our “sticky points”? What might we not agree on?
•How can we as social workers come up with a general list of “core values”, if we cannot
agree on what they are?
Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) Code of Ethics: 6 core values
Value 1: Respect for Inherent Dignity and Worth of Persons (p. 34): are there „sticky points‟?
Think of a scenario where this might be put into question for you.
⁃respect the right to self determination - choices to make their own choices and decisions
⁃focus on the strengths of individuals, groups and communities
⁃we have the right to oppose limitations on self determination when they are harming
themselves or others in some way
⁃we have to respect self determination of the individual unless they are harming
themselves or those around them (sticky points)
Value 2: Pursuit of Social Justice (p. 34): what assumptions are being made here?
⁃challenge discrimination based on age, sex, skin colour, spiritual beliefs, sexual
orientation etc, and respect them at all times
⁃challenge unjust policies and practices
⁃easier to challenge unjust policies and practices if you are in a position of privilege (more
resources, more access)
⁃if you aren’t in a position of privilege, you have a target on your back, seen as a threat
Value 3: Service to Humanity (p. 35): how might power play a role in the Social worker/client
relationship? Think of a scenario in which power and authority might be used (abused?) and or
justified, because it appears to serve a „just society‟.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Similarly, asylums were built to care for people referred to as insane, usually without any real hope that those admitted would ever leave. Frequently, conditions in these institutions bordered on squalor, circumstances that certainly would not be tolerated today. For whom? native communities prison systems (solitary confinement in low living conditions) transgender community. Three political ideologies that shape social policy and social work practice. Conservative: individuals are responsible for their own problems. There is nothing wrong with existing social policy, and the social system overall. Liberal: more humanistic means people s needs must be met by a larger, better social safety net, which is accessible to all canadians. Rather than changing the system, liberals advocate for adding to the system, by increasing social service provisions for individuals. social welfare, etc. Thomas sowell: liberals want to stamp out the last vestiges of segregation.
