Public Relations in Social Work: A Survey of Allied Professional and Lay Attitudes Toward Social Work and Acceptance of the Field as a Profession
Abstract
In this age, the effects of the Social Security act on social welfare services in the United States are taken for granted. With this law the efforts of the early social reformers bore fruit. By mid century, social welfare expenditure by all levels of government amounted to nearly sixteen billion dollars, if education is excluded. By 1950, five and one tenths percent of the gross national product was devoted to social welfare. With increasing awareness of government responsibility for the material needs of its people, the voluntary agencies were freed to direct their energies to equally great but hitherto largely ignored other social needs. This, combined with other tremendously significant events of our times, stimulated public awareness of and demand for the increased services directly or indirectly related to social service activity but seldom seen as such by the demanding public. These expanding services have been apparent in the newer programs involving the school social worker, in recreation, in mental health and mental hygiene programs; in the variety of adult and child guidance clinics, marital counselling and in community organization to mention but a few. This general public demand has been accompanied and encouraged by a general, although sometimes sporadic, request for service in the specialized programs that involve other disciplines. In both cases, the enigma is that while the programs are essentially those of social welfare, often neither the general public nor the allied professional persons recognize the place of the social worker in the program.
Subject Area
Mental health|Public administration|Social work
Recommended Citation
Pardo, Vito George, "Public Relations in Social Work: A Survey of Allied Professional and Lay Attitudes Toward Social Work and Acceptance of the Field as a Profession" (1959). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30557677.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30557677
