Social Worker Response

19th and 20th Century Social Worker Responses to Poverty In the 19th century, the U.S. was faced with a spate of immigrants (Ehrenreich, 2014). In fact, immigration patterns in the early 19th century included high levels of immigration from across the world, while legislation by the late 19th century limited immigration from many parts of world and encouraged immigration from Europe. Meanwhile, land was abundant in the early 19th century, leading to relatively high wages and a labor shortage. Yet, by the turn of the 20th century, industrialization had decreased the need for labor in agricultural sectors, while unions began to become popular, indicating a trend away from labor shortage and towards poor working conditions and poverty for many
The first role concerns direct help to impoverished families and was the primary role of social workers in the mid- and late-19th century. In this role, social workers targeted nearby impoverished families by providing them with food and finances. This approach can be characterized as being neighborhood-by-neighborhood and was rarely national or even regional. Social workers tended to help those people who lived close to them or whom they knew. The second role of social workers at this time was to attempt to better understand why poverty levels were as high as they were. They, thus, approached poverty from almost a sociological standpoint, attempting to trace the origins of poverty in their social structures, rather than attempting to understand why particular people were impoverished as psychologists and other would later do. The role of the social worker as researcher was much more prevalent in the 20th century than in the 19th century, especially before other disciplines arose in the mid- and late-20th
This research project has brought to light just how disorganized social work as in the mid-19th century. Yet, such disorganization does not mean that social workers were unsuccessful in their efforts to combat poverty and other social ills. Specifically, social workers at the local level appeared to have made a significant impact on the lives of many impoverished families, especially in light of the low demand for labor by the late-19th century and the large number of immigrants and domestic settlers entering new lands. The organization of social work led to more regional and national programs and movements to alleviate poverty, which of course could make greater impacts for more people than localized and individual efforts. It is much easier to appreciate the tremendous gains that social work as a discipline has had in the past century. What started from individuals recognizing a human rights issue, poverty, to social work organizations and educational programs, the field has grown tremendously in the past