Foundations of Social Work: Key Figures and Theories

Jane Addams and Hull House

  • Born 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois; daughter of owners of a flour mill and a wood mill.
  • Education: Rockford Seminary; briefly attended medical school; illness led to time abroad; traveled in Europe.
  • At 25, joined the Presbyterian Church; focused on religion and humanitarianism—serving the poor; later joined the Congregational Church (now United Church of Christ).
  • Studied Toynbee Hall in England; staff of college students lived in London slums to learn conditions and contribute to improvement.
  • Returned to the U.S.; rented a 2-story Hull House in an impoverished Chicago neighborhood; started group and individual community activities: literature reading group for young women, kindergarten; groups on social relationships, sports, music, painting, art, and current affairs.
  • Hull House provided immediate help (food, shelter, information, referrals); a Hull House Social Science Club formed, studied social problems scientifically, then engaged in social action; helped pass Illinois legislation to prevent child labor in sweatshops.
  • Interest in ethnic groups; brought various nationalities together at Hull House for cultural exchange.
  • Hull House served as a model for settlement houses in Chicago and other major U.S. cities; settlement leaders believed improving neighborhoods would improve communities and society.
  • For her contributions, Jane Addams received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1931.

Mary Richmond and Social Diagnosis

  • In 1917, Mary Richmond published Social Diagnosis, the first text to present a theory and methodology for social work.
  • Focus: intervention with individuals; process includes study, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment planning; still used today as the common body of knowledge for casework.

Freudian Influence and Shift to Therapy

  • In the 1920s, Sigmund Freud's theories of personality development and therapy gained popularity; psychiatric explanations appeared suitable for social workers in one-to-one work.
  • The psychiatric approach emphasized intrapsychic processes and helping clients adapt to their social situations; most social workers shifted emphasis from reform to therapy for the next three decades.

1960s: Sociological Approaches and Reform

  • In the 1960s, renewed interest in sociological approaches, or reform, by social workers.