Social problems and conflicts have remained an integral part of society from time immemorial. For providing relief and solutions to these problems, social work and social welfare have also remained a part of human society. Professional social work utilises specific methods of working with people to empower them to solve their problems. Among the forms of social work, social action is a new introduction in the professional social work practice.
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As a method of social work, social action mobilises the general population to bring about structural changes in the social system. Also, the relation of social action with other social work methods is significant to understand. The social action process heavily rests on other social work methods like group work and community organisation. In fact, social action comes into the picture when people's needs and problems remain unmet and unsettled through other modes of social work. Social action seems to be a step forward for a community organisation. Social work research helps in perceiving the social problem objectively. Group work and casework are the foundation of social action where people are mobilised to confront authorities. Social welfare administration gives the ground to social workers to prepare the community for social action. Social workers make use of the skills and experiences gained through other social work methods in the process of social action.
Read: Social Action in Social Work
Read: Strategies, Principles and Models in Social Action
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Social Action: A Method of Social Work
Every profession has a
tested body of knowledge, which includes principles, techniques, methods,
procedures, tools, and terminology. The same is valid with
professional social work. Social work has six methods of working with people
(casework, group work, community organisation, social action, social welfare
administration and social work research). These methods are the techniques of
enabling people to better social functioning. As a method
of professional social work practice, social action is an organised effort to change or
improve social and economic institutions through the organisation and mobilisation
of the community people.
Unlike other social work methods, social action emphasises essential long-term changes in established social institutions. The social action covers social, religious and political reform movements, social legislation, racial
and social justice, human rights, freedom and civil liberty. Previously, social
action was considered a tool within a community organisation. Still, now it has been considered a separate social work technique and, as such, a
fourth process (see Siddiqui, 1984).
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Why social action is considered a method of professional social work? A method
of professional social work is a technique or approach having characteristics
like an established process with easily recognisable stages, based on the
philosophy of social work, having principles or guidelines or theories, skills
of working with people which are learned and refined through professional
guidance.
Social action within these parameters - More or less, the social action process passes through the recognisable and systematic stages. First of all, scientific analysis or research on the social problem affecting the community
people is carried out. Then, awareness is generated regarding various aspects
of the problem, and people are encouraged to take collective and collaborative
action to solve the problem. The third stage is centred on organising people for
coordinated and directed intervention, whereas in further steps, suitable
strategies are developed to achieve the goals, and lastly, action is taken.
Every social action process passes through these stages, and professional social
workers or actionists are well-equipped with the knowledge and skills required in
different settings.
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As a method of social work, social action adheres to the philosophy of
professional social work. It does not blame people for the deficiency or
problem. It firmly believes in the worth and dignity of human beings. Social
action rejects the doctrine of laissez-faire and survival of the fittest. The
unfit person has the same fundamental rights as the more fit, and the rich
or powerful is not necessarily fit, and a poor or weak is indeed inappropriate. It
adopts a commitment to the capacity of all the people to take action to improve
their life circumstances. It grounds this action on a process of open
participation in which people, preferably collectively, explore the underlying
social issues of their life situations as the foundation for action.
Practitioners do not lead, but through a non-elitist, highly skilled process,
they facilitate members in making choices and taking action for themselves.
Like any other method of professional social work, social action does have
certain principles, details of which are given in the previous unit. Very
briefly, these principles are mentioned here. Firstly, the community must have faith and confidence in the social worker (principle of
credibility building). The social actionist or social worker should make the
people believe that their actions to achieve the set goals are legitimate
(principle of legitimisation). Specific strategies adopted like dharna, morcha,
slogans, emotional, powerful speeches, and rallies create dramatic effects in social
action (principle of dramatisation).
Social action does not depend on a single strategy. Instead, it adopts many
different ways and means to achieve the goal (principle of multiple
strategies). Social action must not rest only on conflictual activities with
authorities. It should also concentrate on constructive developmental
activities and confrontation (principle of dual approach). Social action
does not confine itself to a single aspect of the social issue. Instead, it
emphasises programmes having multi-prong aspects like social, economic,
cultural, etc. (principle of manifold programmes).
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Social workers or actionists, during social action, make use of these
principles for achieving the overall goal of social justice. Social action has
a definite set of goals and objectives. The goal of social action is
redistribution with regard to resources and power to provide social justice to
all. Its objective is to shape and develop a socio-cultural
environment in which a more prosperous and fuller life may be possible for all citizens.
Social action aims to prevent needs, solve mass problems, improve mass conditions, influence institutions, policies and
practices, introduce new mechanisms or programmes, redistribute
power resources (human, material and moral), and improve health,
education, and welfare.
Social action employs specific strategies and tactics to attain its
goals, which makes it different from other social work methods. They are negotiation,
persuasion, competition, disruption, collaboration, bargain, strikes, boycotts,
fasts, tax-refusal, sit-ins, picketing, marches, fraternisation, haunting,
leafleting, reversal strike, obstruction, renouncing honours, etc. It may
be stressed again that violence and blood-shedding are not included in
strategies used to confront the authorities.
Social workers who practice social action are well-versed with specific skills developed through teaching-learning and training. They have the skills of rapport building, objective analysis of the social situation and problems, knowledge and ability to use other social work methods like casework, group work, and social welfare administration adequately and appropriately. The social worker does have the ability to use his relationship with clients and the community constructively.
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This relationship is characterised by objectivity and confidentiality on the
one hand and sensitivity and warmth on the other. Social workers have the techniques of programme planning, organisation, coordination, and
administrative and managerial skills in their command. Social action is a method of social work,
which is, used for/with/by any unit of a society larger than a sociologically
defined community.
It is an organised effort to change or improve social and economic
institutions, as distinguished from other social work methods, which do not
characteristically cover essential changes in established institutions through
confrontation with the authorities. It may be described as an organised group
effort to solve mass problems or further socially desirable objectives by influencing or changing primary social and economic conditions or
practices. It always involves public pressure in one form or the other. However,
it does not approve of physical coercion or violence. Another aim of social
action, which has been mentioned by many social work scholars, is the formulation
of or change in existing social legislation. Once the legislation comes into
force, its implementation at the ground level is another salient task of social
actionists or social workers. Thus we see that social action, as a method of the social work profession, is a powerful tool for bringing about positive changes
in the social system for the betterment of the masses.
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Social Action and Case Work
Social Action does
utilise other social work methods to attain its goal of
community empowerment. And social casework is a social work method to help individuals cope more effectively with their social problems. The client's psycho-social problem(s) is dealt with mainly in a one-to-one
relationship between the client and the caseworker.
The relation of social action with casework can be understood because individuals and society are interdependent. Most of the problems, which
affect an individual, have connections with or repercussions to their
interpersonal relations. These inter-personal relations could be within the
family and/or with various institutions in the community, say, educational
institutions, workplace, legal, neighbourhood, friends, etc. So, the casework
process may involve interventions at the family level and at the
institutions in the larger community.
The client may be having the same social problem, which the social worker is
addressing, at the macro-level through social action. In such a situation, the caseworker needs to build confidence and faith among the client and prepare
them to be a part of the social action process.
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Apparently, there appears no connection between the two methods of social work.
However, during the initial process of credibility building in the community, the
social worker uses casework to deal with those members of the
clientele group. They face some adjustment problems and require therapeutic
help for harmonious social functioning. To exemplify, if the social worker
finds a member showing problematic behaviour in the group sessions, which affects the group's working and integrity, they take up separate
casework sessions with that member.
After making the social investigation (psycho-social study), an adequate social
diagnosis is made. Once the member having problematic behaviour starts showing
better social functioning, the group also becomes cohesive. It may be
noted that casework is required not only in the initial stages of social
action but may also be needed when the community is organised to take appropriate
action against the authorities. At that time, any member of the core
group may start showing deviant behaviour and require counselling from the
social worker.
Added to this, the skills a social worker uses for social investigation and
diagnosis during the casework process, learning human behaviour, psycho-social
problems, using the caseworker-client relationship for building confidence and
courage in the client for solving his problems become pretty handy in the
process of social action when the social worker has to deal with not only one
individual but many types of personalities simultaneously and keep them
integrated for the targeted social goals.
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Social Action and Group Work
The importance of social
group work can be understood because a man is considered a group
animal. Group experiences are the essential needs of human beings. A human
turns from a biological being to a social being through group life. Attention
may now be paid to social group work, which is a method through which
individuals develop the ability to establish constructive relationships with
each other through group activities. Social group work acts as a
building block in social action. Group members learn
organisation, cooperation and coordination. They know interdependence and
democratic values. In the group work process, while participating in the group's activities, the group members learn to live and work together to
attain some specific goals.
Social group work solves adjustment problems and enhances positive
interpersonal relations. It prepares the individuals to learn and share
responsibility in working together. All these factors contribute to the success
of social action taken up for a social cause influencing a large segment of the
population. During the social group work process, the group members learn to
respect each other's views and take criticisms positively. They learn emotional
control and tolerance, empathy and sympathy, breaking down prejudices and
enhancing problem-solving capacity.
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It teaches the individuals to keep their personal likes-dislikes, aspirations,
perceptions, ego hassles aside and work towards the goals planned by the group
as a whole. Such a learning opportunity prepares the individuals for a social
change, and the chances of failure of a movement due to internal conflicts are
substantially minimised. Social group work also explores leadership qualities
among its members.
These leaders, in turn, take up the responsibility of mass mobilisation and
targeted activities in the social action process. Added to this, social
group work also helps social worker to refine their skills in dealing
with different personalities to work for common goals. The social worker
resolves various intra-group conflicts and personality clashes. These skills
and experiences become handy while dealing with conflicting situations between
different groups during the process of social action. The group worker makes
use of programme media in social group work. It contributes to programme
planning and management better while dealing with many groups during the social action process. Experiences of social group work with one group help manage many groups when the whole community is mobilised for a common
social cause.
In addition, the social worker, during the initial stage of group formation and
during the group work process, establishes rapport with the community people and
gains knowledge about various structural and functional aspects of the
community, a precursor to studying a social problem, which is affecting a large
section of the community and undertaking mass movement and social action
for remedies. The social worker gains credibility in the community during the
group work process, which is one of the main requirements of social action. So,
social group work acts as a slapping stone in the process of social action.
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Social Action and Community Organisation
Social
action shares many similarities with a community organisation. Sometimes, there is
a debate about whether social action is a part of a community organisation or a completely different entity. Some believe that it is a part of community
organisation. Social Action as a problem of confusing social action with
community organisation arises mainly because of a lack of agreement as to what
the term community stands for in social work.
While community organisation is meant for a limited geographical area – the
'community', social action has a larger context. It signifies the society, say,
nation-state. Social action definitely has a larger scope and impact. Some of
the techniques used by both methods (social action and community
organisation) may be common, but they differ in their approach.
Community organisation is a process of effective coordination of different
agencies within a particular area and involves cooperative planning and
implementation of social policy relating to the area. However, social action as
a process is used for tackling issues, which are of a much wider nature than
issues affecting a particular area. Community organisation is an integral part
of social action. It is the precursor or pre-requirement to social action. In
fact, many social work professionals consider social action as an
extension of community organisation.
Community organisation, as defined by Ross (1955), is a process by which a
community identifies its needs or objectives, orders or ranks these needs or
objectives, develops the confidence and will to work at those needs or
objectives, finds the resources (internal and/or external) to deal with these
needs or objectives, takes action in respect of them, and in doing so extends
and develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices in the
community.
Social action is a conflictual process of varying intensity to bring about or
prevent changes in the social system through the process of making people aware
of the socio-political and economic realities conditioning their lives and by
mobilising them to organise themselves for bringing about the desired change or to prevent the change that adversely affects them, through the use of
whatever strategies they may find workable, except for violence.
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Thus we see that 'organising people or community or target population' is the
common thread between a community organisation and social change. In both social work methods, people are helped to realise their needs or problems
and find out the solution to their felt needs. People organise
themselves, collaborate, and work together for a commonly accepted
goal. In both the processes, that is, community organisation and social
action, need or problem identification is the first step. It is followed by
making the people aware of their pressing needs or problems and prioritising the issues. An environment is created in which the
community people feel confident and gain faith that together they would be
able to solve their pressing issues or meet their needs. Both processes are inherent in the emotional impulse to
meet the need and take required action quickly.
However, a change of authority and the power structure is involved in social action, which invariably requires some conflictual process. It is the
redistribution of resources and power. So, we see that social action is a community organisation to bring about or prevent long-lasting social change where confrontation with the existing authority is
involved.
The strategies and tactics involved in social action like propaganda,
picketing, strike, boycott, sit-in, fast, etc., make social action different
from a community organisation. When just by integrating the community to work
together and mobilising the available resources, the development is not
sufficient for achieving the set goals because of accumulation of power and
resources is in the hands of a few people who are not ready to work for the
community development, social action comes into play.
The goal of social action is to redistribute power and resources so that all
the sections of the community get equitable share and opportunities for optimum
growth and development. Once this objective is achieved, people's participation
is used for constructive activities in the community. People's participation is
a crucial term common in community organisation and social action. Social
action is, thus, one step further to a community organisation.
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Social Action and Social Welfare Administration
Social
Welfare Administration is the process by which we apply a professional
approach to specific goals and transform social policy into social action. It is
a process of planning, implementing, directing, monitoring, organising,
coordinating, and evaluating services rendered for the welfare and
development of the people. Social welfare administration is mainly concerned
with providing social welfare services like activities related to child care,
women's development, etc., in an organisational set-up and thus translating the
social mandates into operational policies. The organisation delivering these
social services does have a definite set of goals, staffing patterns and
adequate administrative and managerial skills.
An example in order to understand the social action in relation to social
welfare administration. An NGO working with children in a slum area provides
night shelter, mid-day meals, non-formal education and other developmental and
recreational activities. Soon, the social workers realise that just providing
these services is not providing any relief to the working children.
Parents want their children to work and earn rather than participate in the
activities of NGOs. The employers of these children not only pay significantly less for
their hours of tedious work but also abuse them physically, emotionally and
even sexually. Many children are lured by drug peddlers, and they are used for
illegal work. Added to this, an apathetic attitude of the police towards the whole
situation worsens the situation. In such circumstances, the NGO realises it
cannot play a substantive role in the well-being of the children just by
adhering to its already set policies and programmes. No matter how well the NGO
is performing its services, it cannot improve the living conditions of the
children unless and until it decides to take up firm steps for bringing about
structural changes in the social system. It needs to take up interventions like
shaking up the conscience of the family members, police, government
administration, general public, school authorities and most important the
employers, change in government policies which are pro-child welfare and
development and effective implementation of the same at the ground level.
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So, It's clear that unless strict and firm steps like confrontation,
negotiation, demonstration, etc., are done, which is social action, the services
rendered by a social welfare agency remain superficial. It clearly shows the
relationship between social welfare administration and social action. Social welfare
agency, working in the community, provides a working ground to take up the social
cause at the macro level with people's participation.
Social welfare administration does all the preliminary works needed for social action, such as rapport building,
in-depth knowledge about the community and its social problems, credibility
building, and the like. And then, The
social worker does the planning of social goals and policies for the agency.
Planning is an intellectual and crucial activity requiring adequate knowledge
and vision about the social causes. Good planning is a prerequisite for successful service delivery. This skill is of crucial importance while carrying
out social action for a social cause. Secondly, organising skills have been
referred to as the administrator's raw material.
Needless to mention how crucial this skill is for mobilising people for taking
up social action against authorities. The social worker also requires skills in
staffing. Staffing means recruitment, training, orientation and supervision.
During social action, though these skills are not applied apparently and
directly, experiences of working with people, training them, dealing with
their aspirations, different working patterns, conflicts, etc., help the social
worker manage the people participating in mass mobilisation and collective
action taken during social action. In the same way, skills acquired and refined
by a social worker in social welfare administration like budgeting, evaluating,
reporting, and directing all become handy during social action.
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Social Action and Social Work Research
Social work
research is the systematic and scientific study of social problems. Its objective is to produce knowledge that can be used in planning and carrying out
social work programmes and (if the need arises) social action. Social work
research is a potent tool in social action. It helps in 'knowing' the
social problem, its intensity and extensiveness, its causal factors, its impact
on the target population, and its repercussions on the people's social life. It
also gives the understanding of the factual ground realities (and not mere
perceptions) of the social situations, which helps in conceptualising
the pros and cons of various possible social interventions. So, a systematic
study of a social problem and looking for remedies through social work
intervention is a must for attaining goals through social action.
Social work research helps the social activists gain in-depth
knowledge about the social problem, factors contributing to it, and its impact
on the socio-cultural and economic aspects of life. The findings of the
research help in formulating the goals for social change, designing the intervention
and planning their strategies and tactics accordingly. Research on the problems
that affect the disadvantaged and then concretise them (the public and the policymakers) can have considerable effects. Social work needs to
highlight such research to a greater extent than the ordinary surveys of "social
problems", which neglect the interplay of powerful social forces causing
these problems.
Social work research is a careful, critical, scientific and objective way of
investigating social needs or problems. It is free from biases and
prejudices. It gives clarity to the social issue. The social worker needs the
base of social work research to carry out social action as its absence may lead
to the wrong and inadequate perception of the problem. The planning of
interventions based on such inadequate data and findings would obviously be
faulty. As a result, social action may fail to adhere to its basic philosophy
of the goal of community well-being. Social planning and social action would be
ineffective without proper research.
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Social work research enables social workers to assess the community's needs satisfactorily and make their interventions and programmes practical,
valuable and worthwhile. The social worker shares the findings of social work
Social Action as a research with the community people through groups and then
with people's participation; careful and meticulous interventions are chalked
out for social action. It helps the social worker observe and record the
relationship of individuals and groups in actual operating situations. Through
social work research, the social worker or social actionist gets the proper
perspective or picture of the social problem, which is essential for the
success of social action in attaining its goal.
Social action is a method of professional social work
aimed at solving social problems by redistributing power and resources.
Its objective is to achieve social justice and empowerment of the community.
Social action mobilises the general population to bring about structural
changes in the social system. Social action depends upon other methods of social
work during its process. The role of social action is visible when people's
problems remain unsolved through different social work methods. Social casework
and group work can be taken as the basis for social action where people are
mobilised to confront authorities. Social action is considered to be a step
forward for a community organisation. Social work research helps identify objectives and develop a critical perception of the social problem. Social
welfare administration provides the ground for social workers to prepare the
community for social action. Social workers utilise the skills of the other social work methods in the process of social action.