Rochelle Marie G.

Maamo
SW-109 G1

HISTORY OF SOCIAL WELFARE

A. BEGINNINGS IN ANCIENT TIME
 Helping the needy and the distressed is as old as civilization itself although not necessarily
on a formal organized basis.
 Provisions for distributing clothing and feeding the unfortunate during in ancient time.
 “Xenodochia” in Greece and Rome a guest houses for the custody and care of the various
classes for the unfortunate.
 Almsgiving was recognized by the religious as a duty or means of obtaining grace for the
giver.
 Problems of destitution, maladjustment, physical and mental illness were dealt by: the family
and the tribe, the church, private philanthropy, community, and the government.
B. OLD WORLD BACKGROUND
1.Religious motivation became the most powerful incentive for benevolence and charity,
particularly in the Jewish and Christian religious teachings.
-Charity was motivated primarily by the desire of the giver to receive the grace of God to
secure the merits of good deeds for eternal life.
-With the acceptance of Christianity as state religion, institutions for the poor were
established in monasteries, serving ass orphanages, as homes for the old, the sick, and the
handicapped and as refuge for the homeless.

2.Beginnings Concepts of Social Welfare

2.1 COMMON CHEST
Martin Luther conceived that there should be a “common chest” for the receipt of food,
money and clothing to assist the needy.
2.2 INDIVIDUALIZATION
Juan Luis de Vives, a Spanish philosopher advanced the idea that the fate of the individual
poor deserved attention. He recommended that aid be provided through vocational training,
employment, and rehabilitation instead of the customary distribution of alms.
2.3 HAMBURG EXPERIMENT
Professor Busch, Commissioner for Public Relief introduced a district system of investigation
and distribution of relief to individual paupers through volunteer committees.
2.4 MILITARY WORKHOUSE
Established in Munich by Benjamin Thompson, later count of Rumford to prevent begging by
able-bodied paupers. The workhouse manufactured clothing for the army by utilizing the
employable poor.
2.5 ELBERFELD SYSTEM
Introduced the idea of financing relief exclusively by public taxation.
2.6 DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY
The forerunners of social work. The organization was founded by St. Vincent de Paul who
invited young women of the peasant class for charities work.
C. ENGLISH SOCIAL WELFARE
1.Philosophical Base
1.1 Religious Foundation
The main motive for almsgiving is the salvation of the soul of the donor. The Church devoted
1/4 to 1/3 of the tithes and offering collected by parishioners for charity.
1.2 Early Charities
Relief to the destitute was first distributed by the priest of the parish, with the help of the
church wardens and deacons. From 12th to the 15th century the work of the church was
supplemented by the relief activities of the guilds.
2.Political Foundastion
2.1. The English Elizabethan Poor of Law of 1601
The basis of English social welfare. It was a codification of preceding poor relief starting with
the statute of laborers. The Poor law distinguished three (3) classes of poor: a) the able-bodied
poor b.) the impotent poor c.) dependent poor
3. EMERGING CONCEPTS OF SOCIAL WELFARE
3.1. Principle of Investigation
Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), a parish minister in Scot. He developed the principle of
investigation of each case of destitution on an individual basis and of attempting a solution to the
cause of distress.
3.2. Individual Approach (prototype of casework)
London Charity Organization Society followed Chalmer’s pioneer work after fifty years they
organized a program relief based on his idea, and laid the foundation of the individual approach
in social work now known as “casework”.
3.3 Social Reform
The first pioneer Edwin Chadwick in public hygiene supervised investigations into the causes
of poverty and the means of an effective social reform.
3.4. Charity Organization Society
C.O.S believed that the individual was responsible for poverty. They encouraged the growth
of private charities, the giving of donations and bequest in their behalf, and the initiative among
the volunteers for bringing individual aid to families in economic distress.
3.5 Settlement House
During the latter half of the 19th century it was introduced in London and the first one was
called Toynbee Hall. Its basic purpose was to establish contact between the educated men and
women and the poor for their mutual benefit.
3.6 Social Research
The third important factor that influenced the social philosophy and the practice of poor relief
in England. The most important among the surveys was that made by Charles Booth started in
1886. The study showed that one third of the London population was living on or “poverty line”.
The findings of social research showed the necessity of introducing more effective measures of
social reform.
4. TWENTIETH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS
4.1. Beveridge Report- 1941
Named after the man who headed the committee which prepared the report, is basis of the
present social security program of England. Its underlying philosophy is that British people
should be secured against want and other social evils and that security could be rendered while
preserving the personal freedom, enterprises, and responsibility of the individual for his family.
The goal of social security was to guarantee a basic level of income for very citizen with his own
efforts.
4.2 England’s Social Security Program
It follows the recommendation of Beveridge Report.
4.2.1 Social Insurance
Health, insurance, unemployment insurance, old age and invalidity insurance workman’s
compensation, and special grants for marriage, childbirth, assistance funeral expenses.
4.2.2. Family Allowance
Application of every family is two or more children under 16 years of age without regarding
the financial, condition of the family. It represents government support parents in the bringing up
children.
4.2.3 Public Assistance
Consists of financial assistance to person’s economic needs and institutional and individual
services.
D. AMERICAN SOCIAL WELFARE
5. Historical Development of American Government Social Welfare
It was founded on the concepts of the English Poor Law which remained the basis for the public
welfare in the U.S up to the 19th century. The paupers, beggars and vagrants were regarded as
criminals. As of today, the principle continues to be upheld that the individual is primarily
responsible for his welfare but that the community should establish a basic measure of security in
areas beyond the individual’s control. The US social welfare structure has been shaped both by
long standing traditions and by changing economic and social conditions. In its earliest history,
the United States was an expanding from the earliest colonial times, local villages, and towns
recognized an obligation to aid the needy when family effort and assistance provided by
neighbors and friends were not sufficient. The aid was carried out through the poor relief system
and almshouses or workhouses. Gradually, measures were adopted to provide aid on a more
organized basis, usually through cash allowances to certain categories among the poor. Mother’s
pension was made it possible for children without paternal support to live at home with their
mothers rather than in the mid-twenties, a few states began to experiment with old-age
assistance and aid to the blind country with a vast frontier and a predominantly agricultural
economy. Up to 1870, more than half of the nation’s adult workers were farmers, in the years that
followed. However, industry developed rapidly and the economy tended increasingly to be
characterized by industrialization, specialization and urbanization. The result was a nation of
more employees who were dependent on a continuing flow of money income to provide for
themselves and their families.
5.1 Historical Development of American Government Social Welfare
First phase: Poor relief – almshouses. Relief was given to paupers in various ways. 1.) Outdoor
relief to pauper in their own home: 2.) Farmers out to the lowest bidder which undertook to care for
the single pauper 3.) Contract usually with the lowest bidder for the care of all paupers in each
locality. 4.) Care in almshouses which was under its direct control of public officials; and 5.)
Indenture or; apprenticeship. The cost of poor relief was not by the poor and later by public taxes.
Second Phase: To Care for Special Groups. These programs were designed to remove some
groups of inmates from the undifferentiated misery of incarceration in the local almshouses and
indicated recognition of a special claim this person had on the sympathies of the community.
Institution were set up for. 1.) Care of the insane 2.) Care of the mental deficient 3.) Care of the blind
4.) Care of the deaf and deaf-mute.
Third Phase: State Board of Charities and Corrections. The first state board was organized in
Massachusetts in 1863. It emphasizes the family system by placing children and adults in the
community. These states had the power: 1.) To recommend institutional changes to the legislature.
2.) To compel the institution to carry out the intent of the relevant statues as interpreted by the state
agency.
Fourth Phase: Aid to the needy without institutionalization. Special measures were enacted by the
state legislature to meet the needs of the special groups without placing them in institutions. Pension
for the blind - Illinois, 1903 Myotherapies; aid - Missouri, 1911 Old age Pension - Montana, 1933 In
1909 President Theodore Roosevelt called the First White House Conference on Dependent
Children.
Fifth Phase: Federal Government entry to social Welfare. The welfare pattern throughout the nation
of the eve of the Great depression was a patchwork consisting of local, country, state and private
activities. The great depression of the 1930 hit the US. with a jarring impact. 1.) Reconstruction Act
(1932) - to assist industry and agriculture. To provide funds to state for relief work. 2.) Civilian
Conversation Corps - 1933. To provide work opportunities for young men in the conversation of
natural resources 3.) Federal Emergency Relief Act - 1933, provided for grants to states for relief of
unemployment. 4.) Work progress administration - 1935, a large-scale program of relief through
employment in publicly sponsored project. All these measures were considered contemporary. It was
planned for the federal government to withdraw form social welfare as soon as the crisis was over
Sixth phase – SOCIAL SECURITY Social Security Act (1935) by President Roosevelt. From limited
aid to a few needy persons to a comprehensive system for the entire population. It brought much
broader resources to bear upon the problems of social welfare. A new approach to the problem of
income maintenance in times of crisis. It consists of 3 parts: 1. Contributory social insurance: death,
disability, illness in old age, retirement. 2. Public Assistance: old age, Medicaid and aid to blind,
disabled and families with dependent children. 3. Aid to the states for service programs: child
welfare; crippled children, retarded children.
Seventh phase – WAR ON POVERTY Economic Opportunity Act (1964) and “War on Poverty”
became the rallying point. The act geared to deal with the problems of poverty, education, manpower
training, mental health, vocational rehabilitation, public health and medical care, housing and urban
development.
5.1 Major Developments in U.S Private Social Welfare
Charity Organization Societies
 A “friendly visitor” was installed in order to determine the need of every applicant and
the necessary measures for each case. (Pioneering in CaseWork)
 Training school for Applied Philanthropy (1898) was set up in New York formulated by
Mary Richmond in 1897. (Pioneering in Social Work Education)

SETTLEMENT HOUSES
 A place for working people where their higher moral and intellectual capacities were
developed to ensure full participation in a democracy as exemplified by the US.
 Hull House in Chicago- first settlement house in the U.S founded by Jane Adams and
Ellen Gates Star in 1889. Residents of settlement houses became the champions for
social reform. They fought to equal opportunities for the poor and handicapped; and the
abolition of prejudice and the discrimination against the people because of their skin,
religion, race and foreign birth. Programs they had are boys and girls club, kindergarten,
adult education, handicraft, art and cultural workshops.
5.2 Basic Policy of American Social Welfare
Basic Principle- The individual is primarily responsible for his welfare but the community should
establish a basic measure of security in areas beyond the individual’s control.
Basic Objective- The development, achievement, and happiness of individual.