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Ecological Social Work

This document discusses the ecological approach in social work. It notes that this approach views problems as arising from dysfunctional transactions between systems rather than being located within individuals. The ecological approach considers how micro, meso, and macro systems interact and influence clients' social functioning. It aims to address oppression and empower clients by working with relevant systems to enhance relationships and create positive change. Critics argue it does not fully utilize sociological theories or recognize how practice is shaped by environmental factors.

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Sreenivasa Reddy D
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224 views12 pages

Ecological Social Work

This document discusses the ecological approach in social work. It notes that this approach views problems as arising from dysfunctional transactions between systems rather than being located within individuals. The ecological approach considers how micro, meso, and macro systems interact and influence clients' social functioning. It aims to address oppression and empower clients by working with relevant systems to enhance relationships and create positive change. Critics argue it does not fully utilize sociological theories or recognize how practice is shaped by environmental factors.

Uploaded by

Sreenivasa Reddy D
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Dr. D.

Sreenivasa Reddy
Faculty in Social Work
SK University
ANANTAPURAMU
 The clinical paradigm in social work continued to
dominate the profession until the 1960s.

 The goal of professionalisation was seriously questioned


during this time when some social workers argued that
social action and social change were the true goals of social
work practice and that such goals were incompatible with
professionalisation and social status .

 The period marked a new threshold in social work's efforts


to struggle with the profession's values, with their
unstoppable focus on social values and social justice issues.
The systems model of conceptualisation has been
changing the perspectives in several disciplines,
including social work.

A move towards transactional and synthesis oriented


social work brought an ecological orientation to social
work practice, that was integrated, holistic and
generalist.

 In the ecological social work approach, problems are


seen as deficits in the environment, as dysfunctional
transactions between systems, rather than a disease
located within the individual.
 Problems are not viewed as an quality of people, these are
viewed as an quality of their social situation. Problems are
seen as outcomes of the transaction of many complex
variables.

 The effort to locate a single cause and cure, therefore, is


largely abandoned in practice.

 In this approach, the target is the social problem, rather


than the exclusive rehabilitation of the victims or survivors.

 The problem's embeddedness from micro to macro


systems and linkages between these systems are
understood.
 Oppression and discrimination issues are identified
and based on ethnicity, gender, class, age and sexual
orientation.

 Victims of social problems are understood as the most


accessible, least powerful, and most easily labelled
people.

A systems orientation enhances a holistic view to


understand the entirety of the social,
psychological and physiological organism.
 The ecological approach stresses that effective social
work intervention occurs not only by working directly
with clients, but with the familial, social, and cultural
factors that impact on their social functioning.

 The approach also suggests that the traditional


methods of social casework, group work, and
community practice are dated in that they are largely
built on approaches that define the individual as the
major cause of social problems.

 whereas the ecological approach gives an integrative


perspective. It deals with the problem in the natural
life situations.

 This approach assumes the need to counter negative
devaluation of specific client groups by emphasising
positivity, normalisation, competency screening and
empowerment-based interventions.

 The approach of normalisation suggests that


behaviour cannot be viewed objectively, but must be
seen in terms of a person's intentions, motives and
reasons.

 In this approach, professional social workers and their


employing agencies consider themselves as change
agents aiming at systemic change.
 The tradition in social work of emphasising both social
treatment and social reform emerged as the basis of
the ecological approach.

 In ecological social work, efforts for change are


directed at the interfaces between systems or sub-
systems, the goal being the enhancement of
relationship between those systems.
 The change agent system does the following:
 1. Identification of the problem- causing discomfort,
impeding functioning, affecting self-realisation, and
creating unmet needs, social deprivation and social
injustice. Micro-level problems are related to the macro-
level issues, which have to. do with matters that transcend
local environments of individuals.
 2. Identification of the client system, -which comprises of
individuals, groups or communities who are experiencing
or likely to experience the problem. Identifying their
strength is the next step. The change agent needs the
client's sanction to work for it.
 3. Identification of the target system - that is the system
which is causing/affecting the problem/situation, the
system which needs to change. If the clients need to
change, they are also the target system. The target system
may readily agree for change, be indifferent or resist
change. The larger and more complex the target system,
the less open/flexible its boundaries will be.
 Decision-making on the goals of change in
collaboration with the client system. Different people
may be considered targets for different goals at
different times.

 5. Identification of the action system - whose help will


be useful to the change agent to achieve the goals for
change. For any one problem situation, the change
agent may work with several different action systems,
to achieve different goals.
 The action system could be an existing system, a new
system or a coordination of several systems.

 Strategies are devised which, as far as possible, make


use of natural systems (Family, kinship, friends and
neighbourhood )and life experiences of the clients.

 The change agent uses collaborative, bargaining and


conflictual relationships with the different systems.
The clients are provided skills and mobilisation, not
treatment.
 The ecological approach of social work is not as much
accepted by social work educators as much as the
clinical social work is.

 It is criticised by some for not using the sociological


theories adequately to understand human ecology and
not recognizing that social work practice itself is
influenced by its environment.

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