Learning from Social Group Work Traditions

SUMMARY

This paper raises issues that spring from the three fountainheads of social work with groups: the settlement movement, the recreation movement and the progressive education movement.

The first set of issues deals with the social self and the perception of individuals as members of social groups and cultures affected by the social, economic, and political conditions in which they live. The second set deals with the total self and the rights of individuals as human beings versus the needs of individuals as victims. The third set deals with the relation of the small group to the community and discusses the need to develop a non-narcissistic concept of mutual aid which would include both intra-group solidarity and inter-and extra-group solidarity.