Essay Example on Social Work Profession and Education History

The stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression began to bring the commitment of social work back to larger social needs such as poverty while taking a step back from an individualized social work focus Payne 2005 As the New Deal was established the social work profession shifted from private and voluntary agencies to work within government systems With the Social Security Act of 1935 the social work profession surged to 80 000 doublings in a ten-year timeframe bringing about better salaries and need for further educational standards Glicken 2011 As the social work profession entered into the 1940s and 1950s professional organizations began to materialize such as the Council of Social Work Education CSWE in 1952 and the National Association of Social Workers NASW in 1955 

With the development of these professional organizations schools of social work and the social work profession began to shift again this time away from larger societal needs to programs serving middle class white individuals Glicken 2011 As the decades continued the social work profession waxed and waned between a macro led focus to a microlens of practice By the 1980s the political focus started to move towards privatization of public programs which led to unstable backing for traditional social work programs In the 1990s professional social workers providing services within governmental welfare programs found their jobs threatened as the increase for privatization of services was supported Glicken 2011 The history of the social work profession reveals an increase in macro-level social work such as policy reform and advocacy for underserved communities and populations when there is support for increased federal programs However when a more conservative approach is in the political forefront the social work profession retreats taking with it concentrated focus on poverty and social reform Payne 2005 Weiss Welbourne