Philippine Social

Realities and Social

Welfare
(SW 110)
1st Semester, SY 2020-21

WMSU
ESA H. JUMLAIL JR., Rsw, Lpt, Msw, Cgm, DPA(car)

Esa H. Jumlail Jr. / SW 110

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Lesson 6: Social Work Values and
principles, relating to the needs
and uniqueness of the various
sectors.

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 Philosophy of Social Work
The philosophy of social work is derived from the society of which it is a part. Social Work is based
on the belief that Man has worth and dignity.

This belief is generally associated with democratic theory, which views man as having worth
because he is capable of reason, of rational analysis, and choice.

Howard Mumford Jones, an outstanding humanist, writes – Humanism implies an assumption about
man.

It implies that every human being by the mere fact of his existence has dignity, that this
dignity begins at birth, that the possession of this dignity, even if dimly or not really realized
by the possessor, is, or ought to be, the continuum of his life, and that to strip him of his
dignity, is to degrade him in so outrageous a way that we call the degradation inhumane.

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In our society, being predominantly Christian, many would
further explain human worth and dignity in terms of man’s
having been created in the image of God (and having a
soul, some would even add).

At any rate, whether we accept only the first explanation for

man’s worth and dignity, or both, this basic philosophy gives
us the explanation for the values held by social work.

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SOCIAL WORK VALUES
The curriculum study sponsored by the Council on Social Work Education described
the following values shared in common by the whole profession:

• Each person has the right to self-fulfilment, deriving his inherent capacity and thrust
toward that goal.
• Each person has the obligation, as a member of society, to seek ways of self-
fulfilment that contribute to the common good.
• Society has the obligation to facilitate the self-fulfilment of the individual and the right
to enrichment through the contribution of its individual members.
• Each person requires for the harmonious development of his powers socially
provided and socially safeguarded opportunities for satisfying his basic needs in the
physical, psychological, economic, cultural, aesthetic, and spiritual realms.

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• As society becomes more complex and interdependent, increasingly
specialized social organization is required to facilitate the individual’s effort at
self-realization. Although conflicts between individuals and society can never
be entirely absent, social organization should be such as to reduce them to a
minimum. A conception of the individual and society as interdependent leads to
the view that just as it is the responsibility of society to provide appropriate
social resources, it is the right of the individual to promote change in social
resources which do not serve his need-meeting efforts. Concomitantly, it is he
individual’s obligation to satisfy his individual needs as much as possible in
ways that contribute to the enrichment of society.
• To permit both self-realization and contribution to society by the individual,
social organization must make available socially provided devices for needs
satisfaction as wide in range, variety, and quality as the general welfare allows.

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SW PRINCIPLES

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 1. Acceptance of people as they are
“The principle of acceptance does not mean
approval of deviant attitudes or behavior.”

“The object of acceptance is not the good but

the real which means dealing with the client as
he is in reality.”

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 2. Participation of the client in problem-
solving
One can almost say that the principle of participation is
already a given, for indeed, how can there be a “helping
relationship “without the client’s participation?

Just the same, there is need to stress the point that the
worker does not take over in a helping relationship. The
client is there and has a part in the entire problem-solving
process.

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 Participation of Clients are manifested through the following:

 Participates/involved in identification planning and in

resolving the problem, to include identification of possible
alternatives.
 look into his/her own resources and which of these can be
applied to their emerging problem.
 Then he/she himself must act in relation to the problem,
and not rely on the worker to take all necessary actions
that would solve his problem.
 This would only develop/reinforce client passivity and
dependence upon others.
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 3. Self-determination as a right of the client
“The main idea in this principle is that the individual (or
group or community) who is in economic, personal, or
social need, has the right to determine what his needs
are and how they should be met.”

“The worker does not do everything for the client’s behalf,

for she knows that the client is capable of “self-help.”

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 4. Individualization of client
The principle means that the worker recognizes that while human beings have many things in
common, there are also important individual differences which must be accepted.

Kluckhohn, Murray and Schneider point out that: Every man is in certain respects
(a) like all other men,
(b) like some other men,
(c) like on other men.

He is like all other men to the extent that he has the same human anatomy, or the same
biological needs and he is like some other men if he belongs to the same culture or religious, or
ethnic group, or occupation, or social role; he is different because no one else has gone
through exactly the same sequence of experiences.

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The principles tells us to appreciate the fact
that no two persons not even identical
twins are exactly alike. Thus, social
workers should relate to each client as an
individual in a situation, which involves the
interaction of different factors :
a. Physical
b. Social
c. psychological, etc.

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 5. Confidentiality
The idea behind the principle of confidentiality is to provide the client
protection, within the limits of the law, from harm that might result
from his divulging information to the worker.

Trust is an important element in the client- worker relationship.

This means that what the client tells the worker, shall not be discuss
with others, except when this is done within the context of
professional relationships, for the purpose of helping the client, e.g.
a case conference on the client involving other professionals.
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 6. Worker self-awareness
This principle means that the social worker is always conscious that her role is
to make use of her professional relationship with his/her client in way that
will enhance primarily the client’s development rather than her own.

Worker is influenced by her own cultural beliefs and values and has certain
biases, prejudices, and negative attitudes about certain things.

All these may enter in her relationships with the individual, group, or community
that the worker works with. He/she should therefore sufficiently understand and
face herself and be conscious of her own responses and feelings are
professionally motivated, i.e. for the purpose of helping the client, or
personally motivated to fulfil certain needs or aim on her part.
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 7. Client -worker relationship
The relationship between worker and client (whether the
client is a person, a group, or a community) is the means
for carrying out the social worker’s function.

The phrase that “social work problem-solving takes

place within a meaningful worker-client relationship”
puts the emphasis on “relationships”.

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A professional relationship does not just happen or move
in any direction.

Rather, it comes to be formed on the basis of expectations

from the parties who compromise the relationship, such as
between doctor and patient, lawyer and client, counsellor and
counselee, and moves in the direction of certain goals or
objectives which have been identified by mutual agreement.

Social worker-client relationship is no different.

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