Developmental Perspective Of Social Welfare

Special Articles / Shankar Pathak / Social Work and Social Welfare

Two models of social welfare are usually mentioned in historical reviews of social welfare. The dominant and popular model is usually referred to as the remedial or residual model which is contrasted with the other model described variously as the institutional-redistributive or developmental model of social welfare. It is frequently argued by some wellknown western and Indian writers that the latter model is more suited to the developing countries which include India.

Social work education in India has been based on the traditional model of social welfare and social work practice with some modifications to suit the Indian situation. At the beginning of the decade of 1970's a few social work educators in India (including this writer) began to advocate developmental orientation to social welfare and social work education which was also the emerging new trend both regionally and internationally. The factors responsible for this have been discussed elsewhere. An official committee endorsed this new orientation to social work practice and education by recommending that social work education should be in tune with social reality and it should have a rural bias in contrast to the prevalent urban-industrial-metropolis model (U.G.C. 1980). While almost all social work educators publicly seem to be committed to the developmental model of social welfare and social work education, there is very little evidence of the implementation of this commitment either in social work practice or social work education. We need not go into the reasons for this here. 

A brief explanation of developmental social welfare, a convenient shorthand term for the new model, will be made before illustrating some of its features in a few selected areas of social work practice. The term ‘development' and 'social development' are frequently used in the literature dealing with this model. There are no widely accepted definitions of these concepts in the disciplines concerned such as economics, sociology and social welfare. The economist's perception of development is based on his own discipline's bias and expansiveness which has been described as economism by Nieuwenhuize, a wellknown Dutch sociologist. Conceptually the economists have moved from economic growth and later economic development as the central objective of planned nation-building by the newly independent countries of the world to a broader but not significantly different concept of development. They include in it some non-economic variables which together are referred to in a residual meaning of the term ‘social’ as social development. It may mean either or both of the following: social prerequisites to economic development and social consequences of development (considered as undesirable). In U.N literature it tends to be stated as economic development plus institutional change without clearly defining institutional change, but with occasional references to family planning and land reforms as programmes or to the objective of social justice, sometimes also referred to as redistribution or distributive justice. Gradual elimination of the mass problems of illiteracy, unemployment and poverty are included in this view of development.  

The sociologists tend to take a holistic view of the term social development which includes economic development as one of the many components rather than as the dominant feature of it. In a major treatise on development a western sociologist defines social development as socio-culturally relevant development (Van Nieuwenhuize, 1982). To conclude, while at the level of conceptual description this is done very elegantly by some, its operational discussions tend to remain vague if not quite impractical and thus vulnerable to  the critical attacks by the economists ( Sovani, 1975).  Social development, in the words of Myrdal, "is the movement upward of the entire social system" (Myrdal, 1975). The goal of planned social development in India is to create a secular, democratic, egalitarian society, which ensures welfare of all the members of the society. The Gandhian concept of sarvodaya with its emphasis on the welfare of the weakest and the poorest (Antyodaya) would be a relevant goal for this country. 

The developmental functions of social welfare have been discussed by some Indian and western authors (Gore, 1973, Kendall, 1974, Kulkarni 1974, Pathak 1981). Promotion of values necessary for social development like secularism, equality, social justice; to advocate the rights and interests of the disadvantaged; to promote social change as part of social development; to anticipate dysfunctional changes which are the inevitable part of the developmental process and to provide protection to the vulnerable sections of the population who are affected by these; to initiate macro-level prevention of major social problems; and to participate in the formulation of social policy and social planning are stated to be the developmental tasks or functions. 

In what way developmental social welfare differs in practice from the traditional remedial model'? One or two illustrations are presented. It is, methodologically speaking, community-oriented social work practice with the members of the family/extended family as the smallest micro-level unit of attention at one end and the change-oriented macro-level social action / social policy planning at the other end. This approach discards to a great extent, the philosophy of individualism and the adjustment of deviant individuals and marginal, alienated groups to the existing social structure which is taken as given, unchangeable and generally beneficial to the people. Its emphasis is more on prevention from the level of the community leading to the state and national levels, of social conditions considered as harmful. 

A survey of a slum community in Baroda revealed that most of the handicapped children suffered this physical handicap due to polio.  Instead of referring them as cases to the few health agencies in the city for individul treatment and rehabilitation, a community-based programme of rehabilitation could be organized by organizations like the Baroda Citizen’s Council or some other organizations with the collaboration of trained health and welfare personnel. It attempts to include all the cases of children identified by the survey. Simultaneously, a communitywide health education campaign would be launched with audio-visual aids to reach every family in the community, supported by selective face-to-face group discussion, to prevent other children from being victims of polio or other crippling diseases. This would entail vigorous immunization programme in the community by mobile teams, which could be linked up with the universal national immunization programme for prevention of polio for children below the age of 3 years. This is qualitatively different from the traditional medical social work practiced through institutional medical and allied services like hospitals or rehabilitation centers, whether independently operating or attached to medical institutions. The social worker works in and through the community with the support of the medical institutions as and when necessary to deal with severe and complicated cases. It should be obvious that the traditional services, infrastructures and practice approaches will not be totally irrelevant, but the emphasis is markedly different. This may be called health social work to distinguish it from the traditional model of medical social work.    

​Another example of the developmental social work would be work with the school-dropouts. Social workers, especially in slum areas, will work with the municipal or government primary schools to encourage and help parents to send their children to schools, if they have dropped out. A list of children who have dropped out could be collected from the schools along with the reasons for their dropping out. The social workers would work with the children, parents and school teachers, to facilitate the re-entry of children to the schools. They may provide both practical help such as, purchase of books and when necessary, space for studying at the school after the school hours, help in doing the homework etc. St.Thomas School in New Delhi, some decades ago, had taken the initiative to provide the school premises to the nearby slum children after the school hours. This could be called educational social work, to  distinguish it from the traditional form of school social work.

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