Social Action:

UNIT 2 INTEGRATED APPROACH TO Concept and Application

SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL

ACTION
*Archana Kaushik
Contents
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Understanding Various Systems
2.3 Process of Change Effort
2.4 Roles of Social Worker
2.5 Social Action in Relation to Community Work
2.6 Let Us Sum Up
2.7 Further Readings and References

2.0 OBJECTIVES
This unit aims to describe the meaning, scope, relevance, process and stages of
Integrated Approach to Social Work with particular reference to Systems
approach. First section would deal with purpose of integrated approach to
social work and underlying assumptions. In the next section, you would gain
understanding about interplay of various systems. The third section describes
in detail the process of intervention under the integrated approach to social
work. Role of social work has been delineated in the next section.
The unit also describes the interrelationship between social action and
community work. Thus, after carefully going through this unit, you would acquire
a comprehensive idea of the framework of integrated approach to social work
that would be applicable in most of the social situations, which would also
broaden your perspective of social work intervention and application of
knowledge and skills in various social situations.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Social work is an evolving discipline where interventions are geared up towards
initiating, exploring, retaining and modifying the ways and means by which
persons, individually and/or collectively are helped in resolving disruptions in
their social functioning. Like other disciplines touching social life of human
beings, social work too needs to design and re-design conceptual frameworks,
theories and models related to interventions. As social situations change, the
outlook to analyze and measure various social situations should also change.
Theories and concepts guiding us through our social interventions also need to
be revised, updated, improved and evolved. It is in this context, that Integrated
Approach to Social Work was developed that would provide you a
comprehensive framework of social intervention based on system’s theory, fitting
in most of the social situations requiring planned, guided social change.
*Dr. Archana Kaushik, Delhi University, Delhi
Social Action for Pincus and Minahan have given this framework with a view that social work
Community Development
interventions are not unilateral and ‘people’s participation’ is needed in almost
all situations. In this approach, social worker enters into a system, thereby
consciously altering its previous state and balance as a means of attaining explicit
goals. The underlying assumption in developing the unitary method or integrated
approach to social work intervention was that regardless of the many forms
social work practice can take, there is a common core of concepts, skills, tasks
and activities which are essential to the practice of social work and represent a
base from which the practitioner can build. The traditional social work theories
and methods have been woven around dichotomous terms (person and
environment, clinical practice or social action, micro-system and/or macro-
system) that, in some way, provided a myopic perspective of viewing social
reality. Pincus and Minahan have suggested the following criteria for developing
a unitary or integrated model for social work practice:
1) This unitary model should provide an all-encompassing framework,
avoiding conceptualizing social work practice in dichotomous terms like
either case work or social action, individualist or collective approach. It
is believed that the strength of the profession lies in recognizing and working
with the connections between these elements.
2) The social worker has tasks to develop and maintain relationships with a
variety of people in any planned change effort (and not with the clients and
his/her family only).
3) The social worker is required to work with and through many different
sizes and types of systems (one to one relationships, families, community
groups) in helping a client.
4) There should be selective and judicious use of theories (ego, learning,
communication, etc.) in understanding social situations.
5) The Model should be applicable in variety of situations and settings.
In the subsequent sections of the unit, you would study at length about this
integrated approach based on system’s theory, substantiated with enough field
examples. You are also advised to make use of this model in your field work
practicum.

2.2 UNDERSTANDING VARIOUS SYSTEMS

Social work practice based on system’s approach primarily focuses on the
interaction between people and various systems in social environment. People
are dependent on systems (say, ethnic and cultural system, economic system,
health system, workplace system) for obtaining the material and non-material
resources, services and opportunities to growth and development. In this regard,
three types of resources have been described, from the clients’ perspective:
1) Natural or informal system (family, relatives, friends, neighbours, etc.),
2) Formal system (membership organizations, - labour unions, support groups,
PTA), and
3) Societal resource system (hospital, legal services, schools, work place).
It is assumed that people are dependent or rather interdependent on these systems Integrated Approach to
Social Work and Social
for accomplishment of their life tasks (Life tasks are activities relating to daily Action
living such as growing up in the family, learning in schools, entering into work
force, marriage, bearing and rearing children). At times, despite the help
potentially available from the network of informal, formal, societal systems, in
certain situations people may not be able to obtain resources, services or
opportunities they need to cope with their life tasks and realize their goals. The
role of social worker, here, is to look at the inadequacies in the interaction
between these systems (or any one system) and the people that may cause
distress, problems and mal-functioning. Let us analyze this point in some more
detail for better understanding:
Inadequacies at informal resource system may be lack of informal helping
system (there may be no friends or neighbours, people of a particular social
group not included in social intercourse) or reluctance to turn to informal
system (hesitation to ask for help from friends, relatives, etc., past experience,
fear of loss of face may add to these inhibitions) or inability of the system to
meet the needs of the people. For instance, in a village in India, a particular
socially marginalized group, may be geographically staying at secluded place
or may be shy in putting their needs across to people in the neighbourhood.
Further, informal system may be responsive but not well-equipped to solve the
problems of the people in distress.
Likewise, inadequacies of formal resource system may be as follows — Groups
may not exist (say, labourers being exploited and no labour unions exist to
protect their rights) or people may be reluctant to join (HIV positive people
may be fearful of their identity being disclosed on joining HIV support group)
or are unaware of their existence or the system may be unable to meet needs,
that is, lack of necessary resources and influence to provide services to its
members or to negotiate on their behalf with a societal resource system.
Further, there may be inadequacies of societal resource system – one, needed
resources or services may not exist in sufficient quantity (e.g., inadequate quality
and quantity of food grains for Public Distribution System available to poor
families). Else, needed resources or services may exist but not geographically,
psychologically or culturally available to those who need it (e.g., mental health
services not available in rural areas and needy people not seeking mental health
services because of fear of being labeled as ‘mentally ill’) or no information
about existing resources or usage of resources may lead to further problem
(say, hospitals labeling patients as HIV positive and discriminating them).
Added to this, there may be conflict between various systems which may affect
resources/service utilization (health care system exists but may not be affordable
or may be far off and with poor transportation connectivity). At times, there
may be other inadequacies like intra-system problems hampering its effective
service delivery (say, in a hospital, doctors on strike or no funds to buy equipment
for treatment of patients). Thus, you may realize that there may be many problems
in the functioning of various systems in a social environment requiring social
work intervention.
The purpose of social work, in above mentioned cases, is to enhance the problem
solving or coping capabilities of people and link people with systems that
provide them with resources, services and opportunities. The aim of social
Social Action for work is also to promote the effectiveness of operative systems through
Community Development
improvement of social policy about which you would study at length in
subsequent sections. Let us understand the systems from the perspective of social
work intervention.
From the viewpoint of social work intervention, four basic systems have been
laid down – Change Agent System, Client System, Target System and Action
System. Detailed description of these systems is as follows:
a) Change Agent System: Change Agent may be any person or group,
professional or non-professional, inside or outside a system, who is
attempting to bring about change in that system. A change agent is a helper
who is specifically employed for the purpose of creating planned change.
It may be an agency, NGO or social worker.
b) Client System: It is the ‘specific system that is being helped’. Client system
may be the individual, family, group, organization or community which, in
addition to being the expected beneficiary of services, is a system that
asks for help and engages the services of social worker as a change agent.
c) Target System: This system includes the people the change agent needs to
change or influence in order to accomplish his/her goals from the target
system.
d) Action System: It is used to describe those with whom social worker
deals in his efforts to accomplish the tasks and achieve the goals of the
change efforts. An action system can be used to obtain sanctions and a
working agreement or contract, in order to identify and study a problem,
establish goals for change or influence the major targets of change.
Now, let us take an example: a woman (client system) approaches the social
worker (change agent system) with the problem that her alcoholic husband (target
system) beats her up daily. Social worker, as a part of intervention may counsel
the husband and get him rehabilitated with the help of de-addiction centre.
Here, all those persons - doctors, NGO officials, staff at de-addiction centre –
who took part in the rehabilitation process would be the action system. The
change agent may like to study the gravity and extent of problem of alcoholism
in the community, may take up a research study intending to find the root cause
of the problem with alcoholism only as a behavioural manifestation. He/she
may find that under-employment and unemployment among youth and adults,
poor economic condition and easy availability of liquor coupled with cultural
consent to males for alcoholism is the prime cause behind the rampant problem,
which is affecting the health status of, say, 80% of youth in the community.
The intervention by change agent may include working at various levels – state
to ensure Income generating programmes, shops selling alcohol in the community
to be banned, creating awareness about harmful effects of alcoholism, knowledge
creation about Prevention of Domestic Violence Act. In this case, target system
would be the state (reluctance on the part of administrators to run income
generating programmes, red tapism, corruption), shops selling alcohol, all
alcoholics in the community and all the people believing that alcoholism is
associated with masculinity and it is right on the part of men to ‘drink’.
The action system would be everybody taking part in the process of intervention
(researchers doing study, media propagating messages about anti-alcoholism,
domestic violence, NGO functionaries, field workers and so on). So, we Integrated Approach to
Social Work and Social
understand that client system would be any person approaching change agent Action
with a problem. Action system would be persons participating in the process of
intervention and target system would be those persons who need to alter their
behaviours and attitudes so that an egalitarian and just social system would be
created.
Further, you may realize that one problem situation may call for many action
systems, as reflected in the above example. Depending upon the situation, an
action system could be an existing system already in operation (family, peer
groups, schools, etc.) or a new system developed by the change agent as a part
of intervention (say opening VCTC at hospital, self help group of terminally ill
patients). The change agent may not be directly interacting with all the people
in an action system but may have indirect contact at various points in the time
span of intervention, say, first researchers, then NGO workers involved in
rehabilitation of alcoholic clients, then media persons, and so on. The change
agent may require their services only once or regularly. These services may be
paid or unpaid.
Next, change agent’s status (as independent citizen, volunteer, honorary or paid
staff of NGO), career aspirations, job security, promotion, his/her own value
system, conviction to the ethics and principles of social work profession,
knowledge level, ability to mobilize, convince people, enthusiasm, creativity
— all would have a bearing on the intervention. Added to this, the change agent
(social worker) may also attempt to enlarge action system by involving other
members of a larger system, (say, elected leaders, policy makers, coalition of
NGOs, free-lancers, media persons) or he/she may reduce the client system
(for example, work with alcoholic and his family; work with neighbourhood
and then reduce some members).
An important diagnostic task of the social worker, usually in collaboration with
the client system, is to establish the goals for change and then determine the
specific people- the targets – that will have to be changed if the goals are to be
reached. Let us look at the process of intervention under integrated social work
approach.

Check Your Progress 1

Note: Use the space provided for your answer.
1) Give an example of situation when:
a) action system becomes target system
b) client system becomes target system
c) client system becomes action system.
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Social Action for
Community Development 2.3 PROCESS OF CHANGE EFFORT
The process of intervention in social work can be categorized in eight phases,
details of which are as follows:
A word of caution: though process has been categorized into various phases,
the activities may often be overlapping.

a) Assessing Problem
In first phase, the social worker (change agent) identifies the problem area
(say, news reports of weavers committing suicide in Banaras of Uttar
Pradesh) and collects more information about the nature of problem, social
situation, life-style of people, contingent and precipitating factors causing
the problem at hand [community of Julahe (weavers) in Banaras are
traditionally involved in making famous hand woven Banarasi saris as a
small scale family enterprise. Since, hand weaving consumes lots of time
and in the advent of technological advancement, industrialization and
globalization, people have options for cheaper electronic machine made
banarasi sarees. Added to this, middlemen take heavy commission for hand
woven sarees while giving the weavers meager amount. With no other
livelihood options, no social capital, no backward and forward linkages,
weavers spend weeks together in perpetual hunger and with least hope of
any improvement in the system, are committing suicide. They are mostly
from traditionally marginalized community of Muslims, illiterate, with no
financial backup, no exposure to market needs and situations, no contacts
with business persons who control marketing of Banarasi sarees].
b) Collecting Data
It is the second phase, where the social worker collects data about the
problem at hand in an objective, scientific manner. She (let us assume
social worker is female) may use research tools like questioning (direct
verbal, direct written, projective verbal, projective written), observations
(participative, non participative) and analyzes in order to find the root
cause(s) of the problem. In the situation discussed above, the change agent
collects all the details of number of weavers, their proportion, their family
background, their work details like time taken in weaving a sari, designs
adopted, knowledge about government’s schemes for loans, options of
selling to co-operatives, coping patterns and so on. She finds that informal
resource system (family, friends, neighbourhood) is unable to take any
ameliorative action; the weavers are not aware of Formal system
(cooperative groups, self-help groups, NGOs) that may provide some
respite; and they have no say in the societal resource system, that is, work-
place and as a result in utter frustration, they are committing suicides.
c) Making initial contacts
In this third phase, the change agent gathers information about the systems
(other than client system) and tries to develop initial contacts. Stated
differently, the social worker gains more insight about the functioning and
transactions of other systems in the social environment vis-à-vis client
system. It is stakeholders’ analysis that you have read in previous units of
this block. With the information collected about various systems, the change
 agent develops action plan for intervention. This would answer the questions Integrated Approach to
Social Work and Social
as to which part of the system to contact, and method of initiating contact Action
that may include direct approach or asking somebody to influence target
system, one to one or group approach and usage of mass media.
Continuing with the above example, the change agent during stakeholders’
analysis notes that the middlemen are the unfavourable stakeholders,
government functionaries implementing schemes like Swarn Jayanti Gram
Swarojgar Yojana (SJGSY), providing financial and technical inputs are
in ‘unknown’ category in terms of favourability of stakeholders. Further,
probe into the system provided the information that corruption, lethargy,
red-tapism etc. is rampant in the government and state is apathetic towards
the dismal conditions of weavers. The change agent chalked out the strategy
to involve media at suitable time in the intervention as a part of action
system.
d) Negotiating contracts (means joint agreement on action system)
In this fourth phase, operating procedures are laid down with respect to
client system, action system and target system. More clarity is gained in
terms of tasks performed by each party to achieve the goals. In this strategies
are explicitly laid down in terms of dealing with resistance to change in
relation to various systems in the social environment. These would include
involvement of other systems or replacing the services of one system from
the other, upsetting equilibrium, providing hope, motivating, negotiating
with the system on behalf of or with client system (see the similarity with
social action).
In the above example, the employing NGO, its networks with other
organizations would be the constituents of action system. In this phase,
contractual agreements, if desired so, would be made between various
NGOs and Community Based Organizations regarding sharing of
responsibilities to achieve the goal(s). The middlemen would show
reluctance to the idea to provide due share to weavers. The intervention
strategy may be to negotiate with them amicably and if they do not agree,
then may be to develop direct contacts between weavers and the market. It
would also include simultaneously developing the non-existent services
like self-help groups of weavers who would be associated with local NGOs
to facilitate their linkages with cooperatives and marketers.
e) Forming Action System
In this fifth phase, the change agent concretizes the action system by chalking
out all the details of who all would constitute action system, what roles
they would perform and what would be their entry points and period of
exit, duration of their intervention and the probable impact. In any one
change effort, the worker may form many different action systems to collect
data, assess the problem, make an initial contact, negotiate a contract, or
influence the major targets to help achieve the outcome goal.
In continuation with the above example, the change agent includes the
counselors (for helping weavers for counseling to prevent suicides), social
work professionals (to form self-help groups of weavers and establishing
contacts with banks), trainers from other organizations working in the area
of poverty alleviation and income generating programmes (to provide
Social Action for necessary inputs in formation of self help groups and informing about its
Community Development
functioning and utility to the client system) market researchers (to explore
direct contacts with shop owners, traders and wholesalers, cooperatives
and government controlled shops; to look for other innovating linkages
with neighbouring countries, NRI and similar groups) mediators/negotiators
(to reduce resistance from middlemen and facilitating government officials
for implementation of poverty alleviation schemes in the community;
legislators and elected leaders at various levels for necessary policy
intervention), media (for putting up the case before the public in a right
perspective through special bulletins, talk shows, etc., and if any
stakeholders fail to cooperate after much persuasion, then defamation
through media may form part of intervention). These would be the vital
components of the action system and in the expected roles in the intervention
process has been described.

f) Maintaining and coordinating an action system

It is the sixth phase, when focus is on the coordination between various
components of action system. It would also involve looking at the problems
in the development of relationships between members of action system, if
any, may, differ in levels of motivation, commitment among members, job
turnover, knowledge and skill enhancement, etc. Likewise, there may be
problems in functioning that may result from absence of clarity about role
distribution, communication gaps, rapport formation by action system,
conflicting values and attitudes. The worker or change agent is required to
deal with conflicts within the action system and finally prepare the system
for ACTION.
In the case of above example, worker may encounter many knotty issues as
when some counsellors may have biased attitudes about some religious
members that may hamper their effectiveness in counseling. The employing
agency may not want to come in conflict with the local goons working as
middlemen and negotiators may not have perseverance to fight till the end
in dealing with corruption and red tapism. With consistent motivation,
persuasion, giving the factual information about the apathetic condition of
weavers, shaking conscience and using similar other strategies, the change
agent may be able to deal with conflicting issues and gear the action system
for the intervention.
g) Exercising influence
In the seventh phase, the actual intervention to bring about desired change
is put into action. The change agent, through the use of relevant knowledge,
expertise, and legitimate or charismatic authority, status and reputation,
personal attractiveness, control over flow of information and established
relationship with the client group brings out desired changes. The process,
specifically includes change in behaviour, attitude, belief in target system
by providing positive or negative inducement, (influencing a target system
by providing rewards for complying, with an influence effort, or punishing
it for not complying), persuasion and use of relationships to achieve desired
goals.
With regard to the above example, the change agent motivates the government
officials, middlemen for desired behaviour by praising their previous works,
 shaking their conscience by telling them the vulnerabilities of weavers Integrated Approach to
Social Work and Social
(positive inducement) and if still they do not ‘change’, then threatens them Action
to defame, disciplinary action (negative inducement). Further, the power
of mobilized community people, media usage, value of relationship of
change agent with clients would also have weightage in the intervention.
Fear of defame, isolation, social boycott, changes in the target system (here,
government officials and middlemen).
h) Terminating the change effort
This eighth phase is the last one in the process of intervention. It necessarily
does not merely indicate a point reached at the end of planned change,
rather is the integral part of the whole process. Specifically, it includes —
evaluation of the change effect (means assessment of success-failure in
terms of planned change and foresight gained for future action which is
self-sustained) and disengaging from relationships (means that formal
separation from client system so that they are no more dependent on change
agent system for ‘help’ and dealing with reactions like denial, regression,
expression of needs, flight and so on) and lastly, stabilization of change
effort (creating systems, institutionalizing people’s participation, developing
coping skills towards self-reliance).
In the above example, the change agent develops self-help groups, develops
formal linkages with NGOs, Banks, Marketers, Shop Owners, Dealers,
Customers and the like (creating informal resource system and
institutionalizing community participation) and trains the client system to
develop leadership, cooperation and collaboration and gradually reduces
their dependence. All patiently deal with reactions showing emotional
dependence of client system. With regular feedback one analyzes the success
of change effort.

Check Your Progress 2

Note: Use the space provided for your answer.
1) Enlist the eight phases of intervention as described in integrated social
work approach by Pincus and Minahan.
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2.4 ROLES OF SOCIAL WORKER

After comprehending the systems and process of intervention, let us look at the
roles, functions, qualities of social worker or change agent in the change effort,
to which you can identify yourself.
Social Action for Specific functions of social worker/change agent may well be described as:
Community Development
1) Help client system enhance and effectively utilize their own problem
solving and coping capacities: Change agent may identify and contact
people who need help, provide information, develop understanding, give
support, encourage to examine alternative ways of linking with the needed
system.
2) Establish initial linkages between people and resource systems: Change
agent may locate target clients (starving community with ‘Meals on
Wheels’); provide information about resource systems; help overcoming
hurdles in resource utilization (crèche facilities so that mothers can work);
referrals to resource system and follow up; advocacy to negotiate with
resource system (e.g., patient discharged from mental hospital- persuading
his employer to keep him back); forming new resource systems (terminally
ill cancer patients’ support groups).
3) Facilitate favourable interaction between people and societal resource
system: It is one of the important functions of the social worker or change
agent to make societal response system aware of the problem that its
operating procedures are causing problems for its consumers (e.g., girls
not allowed to go to school in neighbouring village). Change agent acts as
consultant helping societal resource system improve its functioning and
assist in developing new services (say, conscientize parents and community
people on needs of girl child education and facilitate opening a school
within the village premises). He/she may coordinate between various
resource systems, organize consumers to advocate on their own behalf, do
advocacy, mediation and resolve conflicts between natural, formal and
societal resource systems.
4) Facilitate favourable interaction within resource systems: This function
of social worker is aimed at changing interactions of people within informal,
formal or societal resource systems. Social worker acts as a liaison between
various sub-parts of the system, transmits information from one part to
another and decreases hostility and conflict between subparts. The worker
may advocate for the interest of one part of the system which lacks access
to resources and power to make decisions or prepares sub parts to advocate
for their own rights and interests. He/she acts as a consultant to members
of a system and helps improve their internal functioning, role assignment,
communication, etc. The worker may help the members towards
empowerment and self reliance.
5) Policy Change: It is one of the most difficult yet vital functions of change
agent. It includes collecting and analyzing information related to problems
or issues that demand policy change, mobilizing primary and secondary
stakeholders for social action and chalking down the strategies and tactics
as mentioned in the preceding units.
Let us now pay attention to characteristics and types of social work relationships.
Social work relationships are the sustained interactions between client system
and change agent system that are established with certain purpose. About this
relationship, you had read at length in units on casework and counseling. Briefly,
three major characteristics of social work relationship are – one, these
relationships are formed for professional purpose related to planned change
work; two, worker works for the interest and needs of clients and not for his/ Integrated Approach to
Social Work and Social
her own interest in a professional relationship and three, the relationship is Action
based on the objectivity and self awareness where the personal troubles,
opinions, beliefs of the worker should not enter or hamper the change effort.
According to Pincus and Minahan, there are three types of relationships between
client system and change agent system – collaboration, bargaining and
conflictual. It may be noted that one type of relationship may be changed to
another – say, conflictual relationship may turn to collaboration and vice-versa.
Details of each of these are as follows:

Collaboration: It is considered the ‘ideal’ type of relationship where there is

agreement on the goals and operative procedures between client system and
change agent system. Commonly, in this type of relationship decisions are made
democratically and worker practices client self- determination. You would find
processes and relationships in community organization very near to this one.
The client system shows trust and confidence in the worker. This relationship
is feasible when the clients view the goals of change as desirable and in their
self interest. Further, in this relationship, client system believes that demands
placed upon it will not require major changes in its existing power and status.

Bargaining: This is the typical relationship that connotes the beginning of client-
change agent relationship. The initial contacts with target or client system are
defined by ‘testing’ each other and then bargaining takes place with regard to
existing resources and powers which is followed by collaboration. Further, if
no consensus between goals and ways to achieve goals occurs between the two
parties (change agent and client/target system) bargaining continues. Bargaining
occurs when client/target system perceives that it may not be entirely in its self
interest to work for the goals delineated by change agent. Added to this,
differences in socio-cultural values, perception of power change, perceived
difference between shared goals between the two parties also leads to bargaining.
Also, you may have read in psychology that people tend to maintain their old
pattern of values and working style and are apprehensive in trying out newer
ways and processes. All these factors lead to bargaining relationship between
clients and change agent.

Conflict: Conflictual relationship occurs when the shared goals as proposed

by the change agent appears to be threatening to the self-interest of the target
system. For example, upper caste people in a village oppressing the lower
caste would not like the idea of land reform (land re-distribution) and would
have conflictual relationship with the change agent. Here, the target system, the
land owners, perceive that the demands laid down by the change agent would
snatch away their existing prestige, power and status and hence would resist
redistribution of resources and power. In this case, social workers may not
operate with expected social work values, ethics of openness, mutual trust and
honesty with target system.

It may be reiterated that the relationship between client/target system and change
agent is quite dynamic and liable to change during the course of time. Target
system may initially have conflictual relationship which can turn into bargaining
and later to collaborative one.
Social Action for Let us now briefly comprehend the skills and qualities change agent must have
Community Development
in order to bring about desired change in various systems. The obvious
expectation would be that the worker inherently believes in the worth and dignity
of human beings and sees problems in the functioning with various sub-systems
and perceives client/target system as ‘diseased’. Firm conviction in the values
and ethics of social work is a must. Regarding skills, social worker is not
expected to be dexterous in all the faculties (communication, programme media,
ability to mobilize people, counseling, research and the like), rather he/she
should be able to network with different people having differential proficiencies
and get the work done to achieve the desired goals [skills of a social work have
been at length covered in Unit 4].

2.5 SOCIAL ACTION IN RELATION TO

COMMUNITY WORK
The term ‘community development’ refers to a process aimed at economic and
social progress of the whole community with active participation of the
community people. Community development is an amalgamation of two vital
components — first, people’s participation and second, the technical and financial
assistance provided from the government agencies and both these components
complement each other. Community development is not possible if any one of
the aspects is missing. People’s participation, their ability to cooperate and
assimilate, along with the technical know-how from government agencies is a
must for realizing the goal of community development. Initiating and implementing
community development programmes on a large scale, say, at the national level,
would require adoption of consistent policies, motivating and enabling
administrative arrangements, recruitment and training of dexterous professionals
in various related fields, mobilization of local and national resources, research,
experimentation and evaluation and involvement of community people in the
process of their own development. How it is linked to social action?
Community development as well as social action, have the same inherent goal
— overall development of the community. They both correspond to the basic
needs of the community and all their activities are initiated in response to the
expressed needs of the community people. Both these processes adhere to
concerted action and the establishment of multi-purpose programmes for
achieving the goal of long-term, sustainable and well-balanced community
development, where all sections of the society get their equitable share of
resources and power. In fact, social action is taken as one of the models of
community organization and community development.
Looking at the programme aspect, both the processes, i.e., community
development and social action share similarity in terms of tasks that include
problem identification and focus on felt needs, identification, encouragement
and training of local leadership, involving community people in resource
identification, discussing various alternative action strategies and picking up
the most suitable ones, bringing about desirable change in attitudes and
behaviours of the community people, creating a conducive environment where
values like interdependence, sharing, cooperating and coordinating, are
encouraged and thereby ensuring people’s participation. Social action as well
as community development share the basic belief that greater participation of Integrated Approach to
Social Work and Social
women and youth in the process of social change and development would not Action
only lead to their empowerment but would also ensure long term sustainability
of the desired results.
Community development aims at increased and better participation of the people
in community affairs, revitalization of existing forms of local government and
transition towards effective local administration where it is not yet functioning.
Social action works for re-distribution of power and resources to achieve social
justice. In fact, in communities where there is inequality and injustice, community
development has to first rely on social action and once resources and powers
are reallocated, then only constructive work has any meaning.
Sometimes, in order to achieve the objective of overall community development,
some changes in the social system and institutions, that is social action, are
required. To exemplify, poverty has remained one of the most pressing problems
of our country. For more than two decades, many piece meal programmes were
planned and implemented in a number of poverty-affected communities in the
country to reduce the poverty problem. Still, the situation kept on worsening as
the number of people living below poverty line rose. During late 60s and early
70s, a rethinking was done on the whole concept and strategies of development,
highlighting the need for structural changes in society, to bring about a substantial
change in the standards of living of the masses which means greater access to
essential services such as education, health, housing and employment. As a
result, ‘Structural Adjustment Programmes’, Land Reforms, 20-point poverty
alleviation programmes, etc., were evolved. These strategies of radical change
emphasized a more equitable distribution of resources and the organization of
people to strengthen their capacity for claiming a better deal in society.
However, to be fully effective, communities’ self-help projects require both
intensive and extensive assistance from the government whereas social action
is anti-authoritarian. Community development is done at the micro-level whereas
the social cause for which social action is required, most often, has wider
range. Lastly, the most basic factor in social action is a method of working with
people in professional social work while community development is the process
and a goal to do constructive and developmental work with people’s
participation and government assistance.

Further, integrated approach to social work practice has the potential to play
significant role in community work as well as social action. As delineated
earlier, this integrated approach has vast applicability in diverse situations of
community action and work. It has uniqueness in its areas of interventions,
which extends from individual contexts to families, groups and communities. It
can be used in both problem solving and capacity building as it utilizes the
human potentialities for enhanced social functioning. The practice of social
work has a marked difference from country to country and integrated approach
to social work has still not been able to gain wide popularity among the
practitioners.
Social Action for
Community Development Check Your Progress 3
Note: Use the space provided for your answer.
1) Describe two similarities and differences between social action and
community development.
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2) Briefly describe role of social worker as described in the light of general

system’s approach?
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2.6 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, you studied about integrated social work approach that rests on
general system’s theory. There are four systems – client system (who approaches
with a problem to) the change agent (social worker, any person committed to
the cause) for help; change agent studies the situation in a holistic manner and
develops plan for change effort; all the people who participate in the change
effort would constitute the action system while the system requiring change is
termed as target system.
Three types of resource systems were described in the unit. They are — Informal
resource system like family, peers, friends; formal resource system like self
help groups, counseling centre, formal clubs, institutions, etc.; societal resource
system would be the workplace system, legal system, political environment
and so on. Social worker studies the linkages between these systems and plans
intervention after studying the systems in a holistic manner.
Following this, eight phases of intervention are dealt with at length. These eight
phases are — assessing problem, collecting data, making initial contacts,
negotiating contracts, forming action system, maintaining and coordinating an
action system, exercising influence and terminating the change effort. All these
phases have been described with relevant field examples.
Roles of social worker in order to enhance positive interaction between various
systems were also described in detail in the unit. Roles are at various levels –
micro, meso and macro levels. This apart, a commentary on the skills required
by social workers was given. All these components of integrated social work Integrated Approach to
Social Work and Social
approach have been covered with pertinent examples. Action

It is hoped that this would give you a broad perspective of integrated social
work approach that has wide applicability in most of the field situations.
Lastly, relation between social action and community development was covered,
specifying the unifying and differentiating trends between the two.

2.7 FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES

1) Chakraborty, Somen, (1999): A Critique of Social Movements in India,
Indian Social Institute, New Delhi.
2) Moorthy, M.V., (1966): Social Action, Asia Publishing House, Mumbai.
3) Parker, Jonathan and Bradley Greta: Social Work Practice: Assessment,
Planning, Intervention and Review, UK: Learning Matters Ltd., 2003.
4) Pincus, Allen & Minahan, Anne: Social Work Practice: Model and method.
Itasca, F.E. Feacock Publishers, 1973.
5) Shah, Ghanshayam, (1990): Social Movements in India, Sage publications,
Delhi.
6) Siddiqui, H.Y., (1984): Social Work and Social Action (ed.), Harnam
Publications.
7) Singh, Surender (1986): Social Action in Horizons of Social Work (ed).
By Surender Singh & K.S. Soodan, op. cit. p. 161.
8) The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (!992): Volume 27, University of
Chicago.