Group work's place in social work: a historical analysis

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Dec, 2001 by Janice Andrews

From its beginnings, group work practice and theory has been rooted in "social reform; social responsibility, democratic ideals, and social action as well as social relatedness and human attachment" (Lee, 1991, p. 3). The work done in groups was seen as purposeful activity that involved a process that considered both the individual in the group as well as the group as a whole as well as the larger community. It was not until its affiliation with social work that it became defined as a method of social work practice. Even as late as the 1960s, it was acknowledged that "[g]roup work as a method of social work is only a recent concept" (Konopka, 1963, 2).

During its early years, there was no particular professional identification among group workers; instead, they were far more likely to identify with their agencies. Group work's eventual identification with social work was associated with the desire to professionalize and the need to "find a place" in the University. Some social work programs began offering group work courses by the 1920s and eventually group work concentrations. This moved group work closer to social work (Konopka interview, 1998) and, according to some (Falck interview, 1998; Ramey interview, 1998), blunted the radical spirit of group work. Inevitably, the University's conservative culture affected practice and knowledge building (Falck interview, 1998).

Mary P. Follett (1926) and John Dewey (1933) provided important intellectual contributions to early group workers. Follett strongly believed in the power of the small groups formed in communities to solve social problems that neighbors had in common. Dewey, through his progressive education movement, advocated working with small leisure-time groups (Fatout, M., 1992). Their influence on leading thinkers in group work reinforced an individualist perspective that became engrained in group work (Falck interview, 1998).

After the National Conference on Social Work formed a group work section in 1935, group work became more closely associated with social work. This remained somewhat informal until 1955 and the founding of the National Association of Social Workers (Toseland & Rivas, 1998). A small cadre of group workers (15-20 people) met in New York City in the early 1930s to have informal discussions. This group proposed a gathering of group workers at the NCSW. As a result, a special meeting of group workers met at the Atlantic City NCSW Conference in 1936 with 50 people in attendance. This group created the National Association for the Study of Group Work under the leadership of Arthur Swift. "It was a `missionary spirit' which motivated this early group" (Kraft, p. 13).

Some of this spirit was an outgrowth of being a relatively small group and of feeling under scrutiny by the far larger, more powerful caseworkers. For example, Gertrude Wilson, attracted to the belief in the importance of the group to promoting democratic ideals, was strongly encouraged to drop her interest in group work while a student at the University of Chicago in the 1930s. Sophinisba Breckenridge, one of her social work teachers, argued that Wilson was "wasting" herself by being a person who worked with groups (Gertrude Wilson memoir, 1979, p. 34).