Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose: This paper will describe the results of an investigation of the development of early social work practice theory in three practice methods – casework, group work, and community organization. The author identified three of the earliest attempts to conceptualize social work practice methods and investigated how early social work practitioners went about developing their ideas about the nature of social work practice in each of the three methods. The process of conceptualization used by Mary Richmond to identify social case work practice methods was investigated, as were the processes used to develop definitions of group work practice and community organization practice presented at the National Conference of Social Work in 1935 and 1940-41. Methods: Historical research methods were employed to investigate the question. The construction of three basic documents in the development of social work practice theory – a book by Mary Richmond entitled Social Diagnosis (1917), sessions on social group work at the 1935 National Conference on Social Work, and the Lane Reports on Community Organization Practice presented at the National Conference of Social Work in 1939 and 1940 – provided the raw material to be investigated. The author consulted primary sources that document the process used to construct the descriptions of practice presented in these documents. Primary sources included documents in the Mary Richmond Papers held by the Columbia University Library, the Wilbur I. Newstetter Papers held by the University of Pittsburgh Library, the Grace Coyle Papers held by Case Western Reserve University Library, the records of the Continuing Committee for the Study of Community Organization (1938-46), held by the Social Welfare History Archives Center at the University of Minnesota, among others. Primary source documentary evidence included correspondence, research notes, committee reports, and others. Results: In each case, social work practice “theory” was constructed inductively. That is, the authors' understanding of social work practice was based upon reports from practitioners regarding their characteristic activities. During the early 1910s, Mary Richmond visited cities that had charity organization societies and interviewed groups of COS caseworkers. Authors of group work papers at the 1935 National Conference relied on “study groups” composed of group workers in several cities that reported on the characteristics of group work practice. Finally, the Lane Reports presented at the 1939 and 1940 National Conferences were based on the activities of the Continuing Committee for the Study of Community Organization, a group of community organizers who reflected on their activities and reported to the committee that wrote the Lane Reports. Implications: This research has significant implications beyond understanding the history of social work practice. The reliance of early social work authors on inductive patterns of thought may have exacerbated the dichotomy between “knowledge derived from social work experience” and “knowledge from other fields” identified by Harriet Bartlett in The Common Base of Social Work Practice (1970). They may also suggest ways to approach the reconstruction of thinking about social work practice. In particular, implications of this research for evidence based practice will be explored.