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M01 LESS2740 02 SE C01.qxd6 Chapter 11/21/1011:13 AMPage 6An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory and Social Work PracticeEmpowerment Perspectives: Integrating Group Workand Emphasizing Racial Justice and Social ChangeA pioneer in the area of helping to move social work toward a more even balancebetween the person and environment perspectives was E. Franklin Frazier, the directorof the Atlanta School of Social Work from 1922–1927. Frazier, an African-Americansociologist, had a somewhat conflicted relationship with the social work profession,despite the fact that he was instrumental in helping to establish and accredit the firstAfrican-American school of social work (the Atlanta School of Social Work).Three of Frazier’s intellectual and social commitments united him in part withsocial work and at the same time led to significant disjunctures with the profession. These are (1) a worldview that included socialism and the empowerment ofthe African American community through economic cooperation; (2) a radicalcommitment to racial justice, including an intense dedication to the kind of rigorous and scientific education that would “(fill) the Negro’s mind with knowledgeand (train) him in the fundamental habits of civilization” (Frazier, 1924d, p. 144);and (3) a controversial effort to use the combined tools of psychoanalysis andsocial inquiry to probe the internal operation of race prejudice and racial oppression in both Whites and Blacks. (Kerr-Chandler, 2001, p. 190)Frazier’s attraction to social work came from its integration of three fields thatinterested him: psychology, social study, and interest in working people. He wasparticularly interested in using Freud’s work to understand the psychology ofracism (Frazier, 1924a, 1924b, 1924c, 1924d, 1925, 1926, 1927), as well as theinternal constraints that prevented African Americans from moving forward.However, Frazier’s interest in using Freud’s work to explore the “characteristicsascribed to insanity” (Frazier, 1927, p. 856) as they related to Southern racismwas rejected by the relatively conservative social work community, which wasreluctant to threaten the segregationists within its midst (Carlton-LaNey, 2001).Despite the dominance of the medical model and the high status granted tothe psychiatric social work practice, descendants of the early settlement housemovement gradually began to establish themselves within the social work profession during the 1930s. These workers, with their emphasis on social change,advocacy, and community-oriented group-work programs, had drawn on theories ofpractical democracy and group dynamics to inform the theoretical base for theirpractice. Of particular significance was the work of Grace Coyle (1930), a socialworker whose dissertation, Social Process in Organized Groups, drew on her work insettlement houses, YWCAs, and industrial settings and helped to establish groupwork as a method of social work practice that could be effective in a wide varietyof agency settings (see Chapter 6, “Group Work”; Northern & Kurland, 2001;Toseland & Rivas, 2004).The Diagnostic School and the Family Therapy MovementFurther challenges to the professional dominance of the medical model and itsnarrow focus on the client’s internal conflicts came in the 1940s, when thediagnostic school of social work theory and practice began to exert its influence.

M01 LESS2740 02 SE C01.qxd1/21/1011:13 AMPage 7Human Behavior Theory and Social Work Practice: A Historical Perspective 7This school of thought held that all human problems had both psychological andsocial aspects (Cooper & Lesser, 2005) and proponents of this approach originatedthe term psychosocial to reflect their more balanced, dual-focused view of thehuman condition. During World War II and the years that followed, disciples ofthe diagnostic, psychosocial school drew on concepts from ego psychology todevelop their theoretical base for practice. Ego psychology, an offshoot ofFreudian theory, focused less on intrapsychic motivation and more on how individuals learn to cope with their environments and how interactions between theperson and environment may affect personality development (see Chapter 3,“Theories of Development”). During the 1950s, the gap between psychologicaland sociological perspectives was further bridged, as social workers becameincreasingly interested in the developing family therapy movement, with itsemphasis on how families change and develop over time, how the behavior ofone family member influences another, and how to help families to functionmore effectively.Historical Division by Professional Fields and Methods of PracticeDue in large part to the profession’s two-pronged philosophical evolution, socialworkers in direct practice tended, for many years, to be identified by a particularmethod (for example, casework, group work, community organization, andadministration), or field of practice (for example, medical, psychiatric, industrial,child welfare, education). Social caseworkers, with their emphasis on locatingproblems with the individual (the person), and the more socially oriented groupand community workers, maintained fairly separate professional identities and infact did not even merge into a single professional organization until the formationof the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in 1955. Despite the professional merger, the practical divisions by method and field of practice persistedfor many years.Reform ApproachesWith the advent of the 1960s came a renewed interest in social issues and socialaction—the War on Poverty, Civil Rights movement, Women’s and Gay Liberation movements—all had a profound effect on the practice of social work(DeHoyos & Jensen, 1985). Although the dominance of the medical model hadbeen attenuated somewhat during the 1940s and 1950s, with renewed interest inenvironmental influences on human behavior, the profession had remainedgrounded in a primarily psychological approach to human behavior. It gave a nodto the environment as an important influence on personality development, butthe literature reflected little real attention to sociological research.As the 1960s unfolded, a reform approach began to take hold as calls for moreoutreach programs and more serious study of specific social forces and the natureof their influence became louder. Sociological models, particularly those relatedto ethnicity, social class, and social roles were increasingly introduced into thesocial work literature (DeHoyos & Jensen, 1985).

M01 LESS2740 02 SE C01.qxd8 Chapter 11/21/1011:13 AMPage 8An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory and Social Work PracticeWith the advent of the 1960’s came renewed interest in social issues and social action:the War on Poverty,theCivil Rights Movement,and the Women’s and Gay Liberation movements all had significant impact on socialwork practice.An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory:The Foundation for Multilevel PracticeIt became increasingly clear that none of the traditionally dominant theories thatviewed human behavior as fixed in place (either by genetic programming, pastintrapsychic phenomena, or environmental stimuli) were adequate, in isolation,to explain the complexities of human growth and development throughout thelife cycle. With the developments associated with the reform approach cameincreased pressure for theoretical models that could challenge the dominant,deterministic perspectives, help integrate practice methods (Middleman & Goldberg, 1987), and support the expansion of social work services from the psychological to the interpersonal, to the broader sociocultural arena (De Hoyos &Jensen, 1985).In this section, we will describe the social systems model and the ecologicalperspective, both of which provide the foundation for contemporary, multilevelsocial work practice and for thinking about human behavior and development inthe postmodern era.

M01 LESS2740 02 SE C01.qxd1/21/1011:13 AMPage 9An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory: The Foundation for Multilevel Practice 9The Social Systems ModelIt was also during the 1960s that general systems theory began to gain stature inthe scientific community through the work of a biologist, L. Bertalanffy (1962).A system is a complex whole comprised of component parts that work together inan orderly way, over an extended period of time, toward the achievement of acommon goal. General systems theory is a set of rules for analyzing how systemsoperate and relate to one another, a concept that can be applied to many fields ofstudy. It was embraced by the social work community and applied to social systems. A social system is a person or group of persons who function interdependently to accomplish common goals over an extended period of time.Social workers felt this conceptual framework provided a way to bridge the profession’s historical interest in both the person and the environment. In other words,the systems model, as it applied to social systems, seemed to provide the social workpractitioner with a means to view human behavior through a wide lens that allowedfor assessment of the client across a broad spectrum of human conditions—as a person, as a member of a family, and as a participant in the community and the widersociety (DeHoyos & Jensen, 1985). The person-in-environment system becomes the unitof analysis (for example, the child in the context of family, school, or peers).Psychosocial Assessment and the Social Systems Model Social Work practitionersuse an assessment process to understand the nature of the presenting situation;the social worker gathers information about the many systems involved (including the individual’s past and present biological, cognitive, and emotional functioning and family and wider social networks, such as employment, education,religious, and other relevant sociocultural systems). In collaboration with theclient, the social worker forms an opinion of which system(s) appears to be mostin need of intervention to most effectively resolve the problem for which theclient is requesting assistance (Hollis, 1972). This system is referred to as the focalor target system.For example, if a young boy is referred to a social worker because of problembehaviors he exhibits at school, the assessment process may reveal that the child’sbehavior is a symptom of frustration due to an undiagnosed learning disability(neurobiological and psychological systems); anxiety over strife at home (psychological and family systems); reaction to an overwhelmed teacher in an overcrowded classroom (school and/or community system); and/or any combinationof these or other issues. Decisions about intervention follow accordingly, with thesocial worker focusing attention on the system(s) most in need of change andmost likely to effect a positive change in the overall situation (a focal system).The social systems model allowed for the easy integration of knowledgefrom a wide variety of biological, psychological, and sociological sources andtreated the person–environment as a single system, with the person and environment being inseparable and continually shaping one another. Here, biological functioning, psychological functioning, and sociocultural functioning arerelated in a contingency fashion. A disturbance of any part of this system affectsthe system as a whole (Wapner & Demick, 1999).

M01 LESS2740 02 SE C01.qxd10 Chapter 11/21/1011:13 AMPage 10An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory and Social Work PracticeTransaction and Reciprocal Causality Central to this model are the concepts oftransaction and reciprocal causality. The term transaction refers to a process of acting and reacting between systems and is defined as a constant exchange betweensystems, in which each shapes and influences the other over time. This process ofmutual influence is referred to as reciprocal causality. It must be understood thatthere is no simple cause-and-effect relationship between any two systems, including the person and his/her environment. Rather, there is a reciprocal or circularrelationship in which, in the case of the person–environment unit, environmentalforces affect the individual’s behavior, whereas at the same time, the individualbrings forth behaviors and other personal characteristics that help to create conditions in the environment with which he/she must then deal. For example:An 18-month-old boy is hungry and tired and begins to whine and cling to hismother. His mother is busy cooking dinner, helping her elder children with theirhomework, and dealing, by telephone, with her own elderly mother’s latest medical crisis. Needless to say, this mother is feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, andshe begins to yell in response to the toddler’s whiny demands. The toddler reactsto his mother by losing what little control he has left, falling to the ground, kicking and sobbing. The mother now feels more overwhelmed, frustrated, and guiltyand begins to lose patience with her two elder children. In response to theirmother’s sharpness, these children protest loudly, slamming their notebooks shutas their mother storms out of the room.This example illustrates the circular nature of the transactions among members of this family system, with the toddler’s demands triggering the mother’sanger, the mother’s angry reaction triggering the toddler’s tantrum, which leadsthe mother to lose patience with her elder children, who respond emotionally,disrupting their homework and provoking more anger from their mother.The concept of reciprocal causality also gives rise to the premise that a changein one part of a system or in the relationship between parts will create change inthe whole system. (See Table 1.1.) This same example may be extended to illustrate that premise. Imagine the same situation, except that when the toddlerbegins to whine and cling, the mother is instead able to collect her thoughtsenough to realize that the child is hungry and needs soothing. Instead of yelling,she musters up her last bit of self-control, picks the toddler up, offers him a glassof milk, and is then able to put him in his high chair. The toddler’s needs are met,the situation de-escalates, the mother retains a sense of control and competence,and the elder children complete their homework. Here, by altering one small partof the person–environment configuration (the mother’s initial response to thetoddler), the outcome of the entire transaction is altered.The social systems model is based on several fundamental assumptions thatare important to understand if one is to fully appreciate the nature of the personin-environment gestalt. These are described in Table 1.1.

M01 LESS2740 02 SE C01.qxd1/21/1011:13 AMPage 11An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory: The Foundation for Multilevel Practice 11TABLE 1.1The Social Systems Model: Fundamental AssumptionsAll forms of matter “from sub-atomic particles to theentire universe”can be viewed as systems, and allsystems have certain common properties that causethem to behave according to a common set of “rules”(Anderson & Carter, 1990).This is a basic assumption of a social systems approach.It is this assumption that makes generalist practicepossible.That is, this is the principle that allows us toview a school system as a client as easily as we see anindividual person as such. If both function as systems,then both share common characteristics, both willbehave in certain predictable ways, and both willpotentially be responsive to social work intervention.This statement, of course, oversimplifies the issues for thesake of explanation, but we believe it is nonetheless trueat its core. As noted by Berger and Federico:The physical and social sciences share the beliefthat the universe has some underlying order andthat behavior, be it the behavior of atomic particlesor interacting individuals, is a patterned, regulatedactivity than can be understood and in manyinstances, predicted and controlled (Berger &Federico, 1982).Every system is at the same time a unit unto itself, madeup of interacting parts, and a part of a larger whole.Anderson and Carter (1990) borrow the term holon(Arthur Koestler,1967) to describe this phenomenon:Each entity is simultaneously a part and a whole.The unit is made up of parts to which it is thewhole, the suprasystem, and at the same time, is apart of some larger whole of which it is acomponent or subsystem.The individual human being is on one hand, a wholesystem composed essentially of three subsystems thatinteract to promote the individual’s developmentthrough life: the biological system (the physical body),the psychological system (thoughts, feelings, andbehaviors) and the sociocultural environmental system(the social and physical environments). On the otherhand the individual human being is itself a subsystem(i.e., component part) of a supra system (a larger system);that is, the family. As a family member (subsystem of thefamily), the individual works with other family members(other subsystems) to maintain family functioning.Theseexamples, which are again simplified for the sake ofunderstanding, can be extended, ad infinitum, withthe family seen as a subsystem of a community, thecommunity as a subsystem of a nation or larger culture,and a nation as a subsystem of a global community.(Continued)

M01 LESS2740 02 SE C01.qxd12 Chapter 11/21/1011:13 AMPage 12An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory and Social Work PracticeTABLE 1.1The Social Systems Model: Fundamental Assumptions (Continued)The whole system is different from the sum of its parts:it has definite properties of its own (Anderson & Carter,1990).Each social system has an identity of its own that isdifferent from the identities of its individual members.It isthe way in which the individual members relate to oneanother,how they organize themselves to work togethertoward their common purpose,which gives the socialsystem its unique identity.For example, two hospitals mayserve the same patient population, employ the same typeand number of staff,and share the same mission.Despitethese similarities in composition,each may have distinctlydifferent reputations with regard to quality and medicaloutcomes of care.Many factors,including distribution ofpower,patterns of organization and communication,degree of involvement with the community etc. may,ineffect,form two distinct institutional cultures.Simply put,when the component parts of systems are combined,they take on characteristics that the

2 Chapter 1 An Integrating Framework for Human Behavior Theory and Social Work Practice The person-in-environment (or person-in-situation, biopsychosocial, psychosocial) perspective has historically been the central organizing focus of the social work profession's approach to the helping process. This perspective underscores "the