There is another part to social work and welfare and that is the doing part, the active part.

Social work originated in part, in the 19th century revulsion to the effects of the industrial system which included

the destruction of family life
the poverty
the numbers of homeless adults and children

It was and remains an action oriented subject in which individual and social change is a key part. So social work and social welfare is about understanding and about acting on that understanding to try to change the world that is observed.

In this course we will not enter directly into the issues related to how social work is practiced in its many and different ways. We will be concerned here, with what it is, how social welfare institutions work, where they came from and the analytic question of what effect they have and why.