"Social class" differentials for social work practice : an exploratory essay, with some applications in family service experience. Vancouver, 1961

This study is an exploratory analysis of the influence of social class upon client and worker perception of family problems. It reviews recent literature on the subject of class-determined variations in behaviour, with a view to demonstrating their relevance for social diagnosis and client-worker communication. The Family Service Agency was selected to show how this analysis might hypothetically impinge upon a social agency, particularly because: (a) family problems are "core" welfare problems, but also because (b) the clients come to the agency on a voluntary basis, and (c) it draws its clients from a cross-section of social classes. There are grounds for believing that people from the lower-income groups may not come to a Family Service Agency because they fail to see its value for them in solving their problems, assume that all social agencies are concerned only with financial assistance, do not have the knowledge of the services given because of a lack of access to information about the agency, and because they tend to associate such services with the stigma of a "charity", or mental illness. Conversely, there is evidence that the middle-class applicant has a clearer concept of the value of family casework, sees the use of the "expert" as being an appropriate source of help, and because of these factors is more likely to ask for help on a voluntary basis. One of the problems brought into focus in the study is the difficulty faced by the less-educated person in verbally communicating thoughts, ideas, and feelings to a worker in a clear and sequential manner. Such a failure can lead to frustration and resentment on both sides, with a result that the effectiveness of the casework is impaired. In the light of these difficulties, social workers need to acquire an up-to-date knowledge of class-conditioned patterns of behaviour, (a) so that they may be aware of these barriers to effective communication, and, (b) to avoid the imposition of their own values upon the client. It is further suggested in the study that, partly because of contemporary economic mobility, Family Service Agencies will become oriented to middle-class clients as their reputation grows, and their referrals come more and more from middle-class sources. There is evidence for believing that, unless these agencies consciously guard against this, they may eventually become middle-class agencies, and perhaps fail to serve the people for whose service they were originally founded. This in turn holds implications for social work education, as well as for agency administration and policy.Arts, Faculty ofSocial Work, School ofGraduat