social work social welfare

601 Pages·2008·3.58 MB·English

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Volume
2

COMPREHENSIVE
HANDBOOK OF
SOCIAL WORK

AND
SOCIAL WELFARE

HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN THE SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENT

Volume Editor
Bruce A. Thyer

Editors-in-Chief
Karen M. Sowers
Catherine N. Dulmus

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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COMPREHENSIVE

HANDBOOK OF
SOCIAL WORK

AND
SOCIAL WELFARE

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Volume
2

COMPREHENSIVE
HANDBOOK OF
SOCIAL WORK

AND
SOCIAL WELFARE

HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN THE SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENT

Volume Editor
Bruce A. Thyer

Editors-in-Chief
Karen M. Sowers
Catherine N. Dulmus

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞⃝

Copyright C⃝ 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Comprehensive handbook of social work and social welfare /
editors-in-chief, Karen M. Sowers and Catherine N. Dulmus.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-471-76997-2 (cloth) Volume 1: The Profession of Social Work
ISBN 978-0-471-76272-0 (cloth) Volume 2: Human Behavior in the Social Environment
ISBN 978-0-471-76280-5 (cloth) Volume 3: Social Work Practice
ISBN 978-0-471-76998-9 (cloth) Volume 4: Social Policy and Policy Practice
ISBN 978-0-471-75222-6 (cloth) 4-Volume set
1. Social service.
2. Social service—Practice.
3. Public welfare.
4. Social policy.
I. Sowers, Karen M. (Karen Marlaine)
II. Dulmus, Catherine N.

HV40.C66
2008
361—dc22
2007026315

Printed in the United States of America.

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This volume is dedicated to social workers seeking useful
knowledge to guide social work practice and research
from theories of human behavior. Good luck.

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Contents

Handbook Preface
ix
Karen M. Sowers and Catherine N. Dulmus

Acknowledgments
xi

Preface
xiii
Bruce A. Thyer

Contributors
xxvii

Chapter 1
Human Behavior and the Social Environment:
Exploring Conceptual Foundations
1
Susan I. Stone, Stephanie Berzin, Sarah Taylor, and
Michael J. Austin

Chapter 2
Respondent Learning Theory
39
Bruce A. Thyer

Chapter 3
Operant Learning Theory
69
Stephen E. Wong

Chapter 4
Cognitive-Behavioral Theory
101
Paula S. Nurius and Rebecca J. Macy

Chapter 5
Ego Psychology Theory
135
Eda Goldstein

Chapter 6
Self Psychology Theory
163
Joseph Palombo

Chapter 7
Attachment Theory
207
Michelle Mohr Carney and Frederick P. Buttell

vii

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viii
Contents

Chapter 8
Psychosocial Theory
229
Roberta R. Greene

Chapter 9
Cognitive Development Theory
257
Tammie Ronen

Chapter 10
Person-Centered Theory
297
Michael J. Holosko, Jeffrey Skinner, and
Ra’Shanda S. Robinson

Chapter 11
Genetic Theory
327
Laura J. Pankow

Chapter 12
Ecosystems Theory
355
Mark A. Mattaini

Chapter 13
Moral Development Theory
379
Frederick P. Buttell and Michelle Mohr Carney

Chapter 14
Small Group Theory
397
Lorraine Moya Salas, Dominique Roe-Sepowitz,
and Craig Winston LeCroy

Chapter 15
Family Systems Theory
431
Martha Morrison Dore

Chapter 16
Organizational Theory
463
John E. Tropman

Chapter 17
A Critique of Stage Theories of
Human Development
503
Martha Pelaez, Jacob L. Gewirtz, and
Stephen E. Wong

Chapter 18
The Potentially Harmful Effects of Theory in
Social Work
519
Bruce A. Thyer

Author Index
543

Subject Index
557

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Handbook Preface

The profession of social work spans more than 100 years. Over this period, the profession
has changed in scope and depth. Despite the varied functions and methods of our profession,
it has always been committed to social justice and the promotion of well-being for all. The
profession has made great strides and is experiencing a resurgence of energy, commitment,
and advancement as we face new global realities and challenges and embrace new and
innovative technologies.
In considering how the field of social work has evolved over the past century with the
resulting explosion of new knowledge and technologies, it seemed imperative to create
a resource (Comprehensive Handbook of Social Work and Social Welfare) that provides
a manageable format of information for researchers, clinicians, educators, and students.
Our editors at John Wiley & Sons, the volume editors (Ira Colby, William Rowe, Lisa
Rapp-Paglicci, Bruce Thyer, and Barbara W. White) and we as editors-in-chief, developed
this four-volume handbook to serve as a resource to the profession.
The Comprehensive Handbook of Social Work and Social Welfare includes four volumes
(The Profession of Social Work, Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Social Work
Practice, and Social Policy and Policy Practice). Each volume editor did an outstanding
job of assembling the top social work scholars from around the globe to contribute chapters
in their respective areas of expertise. We are enormously grateful to the chapter authors
who have contributed their expert knowledge to this work. Each volume includes a Preface
written by the respective volume editor(s) that provides a general overview to the volume.
In developing the Comprehensive Handbook, we attempted to focus on evidence supporting
our theoretical underpinnings and our practice interventions across multiple systems. Con-
tent was designed to explore areas critically and to present the best available knowledge
impacting the well-being of social systems, organizations, individuals, families, groups,
and communities. The content is contemporaneous and is reflective of demographic, social,
political, and economic current and emerging trends. Authors have paid close attention
to contextual factors that shape the profession and will have a future impact on practice.
Our profession strives to understand the dimensions of human difference that we value and
engage to ensure excellence in practice. These dimensions of diversity are multiple and
include factors such as disability, religion, race, culture, sexual orientation, social class,
and gender. Each of the volumes addresses how difference characterizes and shapes our
profession and our daily practice. New knowledge, technology, and ideas that may have a
bearing on contemporary and future social work practice are infused throughout each of
the volumes.

ix

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x
Handbook Preface

We challenged the chapter authors to not only provide an overview of specific content,
but to feel free to raise controversial issues and debates within the profession. In the interest
of intellectual freedom, many of our chapter authors have done just that in ways that
are intriguing and thought provoking. It was our objective to be comprehensive but not
encyclopedic. Readers wishing to obtain even greater specificity are encouraged to access
works listed in the references for each chapter.
The Handbook’s focus on evidence should assist the reader with identifying opportunities
to strengthen their own understanding of the amount of science that does or does not support
our social work theory and practice. Social work researchers must expand the scientific
evidence that supports social work theory and practice as well as informing policy, and
enhance their functional scope to overcome the more than 10-year lag between research
and practice. We are rightfully proud of our social work history, and its future will be
driven by our success in demonstrating that as a profession we can achieve credible and
verifiable outcomes across the spectrum of services that utilize our skills. As a profession,
we must assure we value science so that even the most vulnerable populations receive the
best available services.
We hope that you find this Handbook useful. We have endeavored to provide you, the
reader and user, with a comprehensive work that will serve as a guide for your own work
in this wonderful profession. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Karen M. Sowers
Catherine N. Dulmus

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Acknowledgments

An endeavor of this magnitude required the efforts of many people, and we are indebted
to their unique and valuable contributions. First, we would like to thank Tracey Belmont,
our initial editor at John Wiley & Sons, for recognizing the importance of this project
to the profession of social work and for her commitment to making it a reality. It was
Tracey’s vision that allowed this project to get off the ground, and we are grateful to her.
A special thanks to Lisa Gebo, our current editor at John Wiley & Sons, who provided us
with expert guidance and technical support to see this project to fruition. Others to thank at
John Wiley & Sons include Isabel Pratt and Sweta Gupta who assisted us with all aspects
of the contractual and prepublication processes. They were invaluable in assisting with a
project of this size, and we are grateful to them.
Most important, we would like to thank the volume editors and contributors who made
this Handbook a reality. The volume editors did an excellent job of developing their re-
spective volumes. We particularly thank them for their thoughtful selection and recruitment
of chapter contributors. The contributor lists for each volume read like a “Who’s Who” of
social work scholars. We are pleased that each contributor recognized the importance of a
seminal piece such as this Handbook for the profession of social work and willingly con-
tributed their time and knowledge. We extend a special debt of gratitude to these eminent
contributors from around the globe who so graciously and willingly shared their expertise
with us. It is the work of these scholars that continues to move our profession forward.

K. M. S.
C. N. D.

xi

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Preface

From the beginnings of the professionalization of social work, our discipline has been
concerned with the possible applications of valid social and behavioral science theory to
the world of practice. As we transitioned from a paraprofessional and apprenticeship model
of training to a university-based academic or professional school model, behavioral science
theory increasingly became an important component of our curriculum (see Bruno, 1936).
We draw on theory for a variety of purposes: to understand normative individual human
development across the life span; to understand the etiology and maintenance of dysfunc-
tional behavior, including so-called mental disorders; to assess clients; to provide guidance
in the development and application of social work intervention; to help us understand how
intervention may work; and to extend these individualistic applications of theory to ever
larger systems of human functioning—family life, the dynamics of couples, the interaction
of small groups, the behavior of organizations and communities, and of even more complex
systems.
We have drawn from an increasingly diverse array of theory. Early adoption of simple
classical conditioning theory (e.g., Mateer, 1918; Rovee-Collier, 1986) and psychoanalytic
theory gave way to more complex and encompassing derivatives, such as operant learning
theory, ego psychology, and attachment theory. The disciplines of mathematics and cyber-
netics gave us general systems theory, which saw widespread endorsement in the 1970s.
Each new edition of Frank Turner’s (1974) classic text Social Work Theory: Interlock-
ing Theoretical Approaches grew ever plumper as more and more chapters were included
that addressed the newest theoretical orientations. Client-centered theory and cognitive-
behavioral theory also arose in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as myriad other approaches.
Some older readers will remember transactional analysis and neurolinguistic programming,
and the contemporary avant-garde among social worker theorists are busy bringing us their
interpretations of chaos and complexity theory, also perspectives rich in complex mathe-
matics (as was general systems theory), but fortunately absent such challenging aspects in
their social work translations.
Practically speaking, a major stimulus for social work’s continued focus on theory
rests in the accrediting standards of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE; 2004,
p. 7), which clearly stipulates among the objectives of the professional foundation year
of training that students be taught to “use theoretical frameworks supported by empirical
evidence to understand and support individual development and behavior across the life
span and the interactions among individuals and between individuals and families, groups,

xiii