Social work

Social work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and enhance wellbeing of individuals, families, couples, groups, and communities through research, policy planning, community development, direct practice, crisis intervention, ensuring social welfare and security for those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, psychosocial care to mentally and physically disabled, and raising voices against social injustice for social reforms, including social actions against violations of civil liberties and human rights. It is a progressive profession where one can be actively engaged in helping others to help themselves. It is a profession that deals with various problems and issues systematically and scientifically. The profession is dedicated to the pursuit of social justice and the well-being of oppressed and marginalized individuals and communities, a collective action for combating racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ageism, adultism, mentalism, ableism...etc. Social work is a broad profession that encompasses its activities in fields like Health and Mental Health, Social Service Administration, Children and their Families, Gerontology, Social Work Policy Analysis, Social Justice and Diversity, Forensic and Traumatology ... etc.

Social

The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms as applied to populations of humans and other animals. It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.

Etymology

The word "Social" derives from the Latin word socii ("allies"). It is particularly derived from the Italian Socii states, historical allies of the Roman Republic (although they rebelled against Rome in the Social War of 91-88 BC).

Definition

In the absence of agreement about its meaning, the term "social" is used in many different senses and regarded as a fuzzy concept, referring among other things to:

Attitudes, orientations, or behaviors which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-social behaviour) has played some role in defining the idea or the principle. For instance terms like social realism, social justice, social constructivism, social psychology, social anarchism and social capital imply that there is some social process involved or considered, a process that is not there in regular, "non-social" realism, justice, constructivism, psychology, anarchism, or capital.