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Safety needs - Human needs for a stable, predictable, and secure environment.

Sampling error: The error which arises because the data are collected from a part, rather than the whole, of the population. It is usually measurable from the sample data in the case of probability sampling.

Schemas - Organized systems of beliefs about some stimulus object, which are built up from experience and which selectively guide the processing of new information.

Schizophrenia - Although an exact definition of schizophrenia still evades medical researchers, the evidence indicates more and more strongly that schizophrenia is a severe disturbance of the brain's functioning. There are billions of nerve cells in the brain. Each nerve cell has branches that transmit and receive messages from other nerve cells. The branches release chemicals, called neurotransmitters, which carry the messages from the end of one nerve branch to the cell body of another. In the brain afflicted with schizophrenia, something goes wrong in this communication system.

Scientific casework - this was part of 20th century push to incorporate science into the practice of charity work.

Scientific method - The use of empirical data to test hypotheses derived from theory.

Scientific philanthropy - An approach to helping that involved the collection of empirical data concerning each person or family to be helped coupled with efforts to coordinate the help provided by different social agencies within the community. The idea that charities should become organized to more systematically approach the question of poverty.  It emerged from ideals of reform and social progress which were increasingly influenced by science. This concept believes in the scientific spirit, or being fact-minded and rational.

Secondary labour market - low earnings and benefits, instability, more menial jobs, a large number of unemployed that keep wage demands down, external competition.

Secondary structures - personality, family, community and bureaucracy. The division between primary and secondary structures is used because the primary structures have more impact on secondary structures than vice versa.

Secondary system of distribution - intervention in the primary system to redistribute income. For instance, collecting taxes and redistributing it in the form of income security.

Selective programs  - target benefits to those determined to be in need or eligible based on a means test (sometimes called an income test) or a needs test.

Self-actualization - In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the desire to fully express one's inner nature and talents.

Self-awareness - The quality of knowing oneself.

Self-concept - The set of positive and negative attitudes that one uses to evaluate oneself.

Self-disclosure - The revealing of personal information about oneself to other people.

Self-esteem - A person's evaluation of his or her self-concept.

Self-evaluation - Clients' assessment of current behaviour to decide whether it is working and they are doing is meeting their needs.

Self-Government - Quite simply, the concept expresses the desire of Aboriginal peoples to control their destiny. It precludes accountability to the provincial and federal governments in favour of accountability and responsibility to the Aboriginal peoples by their own Aboriginal leaders. Self-government is concerned with sovereignty in relation to the Canadian state- within it or outside it, depending on one=s view. Self-government consists of two distinguishing factors. The first is the source of the right of self-government: the federal government's position is that self-government may be delegated by the Canadian state whereas most Aboriginal leaders contend that self-government is an inherent right that can not be extinguished. The second factor concerns the implementation of the right of self-government (taken from Issac, 1995:343).

Self-help - The acquiring of information or the solving of one's problems without the direct intervention of professionals or experts, through independent reading or by joining or forming a group comprised of others who also have the problem.

Self-help groups - Individuals who meet without professional help to provide mutual support for shared problems.

Self-instructional therapy - An approach to therapy based on the assumption that what people say to themselves directly influences the things they do. Training consists of learning new self-talk aimed at coping with problems.

Settlement Assistance and Support - Helping the refugees to learn an official language and to seek employment, extending ongoing friendship, encouragement and assistance to facilitate their adjustment to Canadian society, teaching the rights and responsibilities of permanent residents and assisting the refugees to participate in everyday life.

Settlement Houses - a form of community organizing in which the middle and upper classes lived with the poor, and advocated for better social and working conditions. The purpose was to bring the educated middle class and even the charitable upper class or gentry to live among the urban poor in working class neighbourhoods.

Sex  - identifies the biological differences between women and men.

Sex stereotyping - inherent in early social work, as it was seen as an extension of women's work in the home into the public sphere. A principle task of the profession in these years was, to keep women in the home to enhance child development and family life, a paradoxical development for the women in the profession.

Sexism - Similar to the dynamics of racism. Males are believed to be superior to females and when this belief is put into action it leads to females being treated as objects, the last to be hired, first to be fired, being paid less for equal work.

Sexual Abuse - Any sexual exploitation of a child whether consented to or not. It includes touching of a sexual nature or any behaviour of a sexual nature towards a child.

Sexual orientation - One's sexual attraction toward members of either one's own sex of the other sex.

Shame-attacking exercises - An REBT strategy of encouraging people to do things despite a fear of feeling foolish or embarrassed. The aim of the exercise is to teach people that they can function effectively even if they might be perceived as doing foolish acts.

Sheltered workshops - Special facilities to train and employ the mentally ill and those with mental or physical limitations who would not be able to compete successfully in the regular workplace.

Smith, Eva (1923-1993) - Community service organizer in the Metropolitan Toronto area. Born Eva Maud Morrison in Rio Bueno, Jamaica, on March 1,1923, she came to Canada as a domestic worker in 1956. Until her death on Dec. 30,1993, Eva Smith was a tireless campaigner on behalf of not only the youth within Toronto's Caribbean population, but mainstream society as well.

Social Action - a type of community work which refers to the organization of disadvantaged groups in the community to redistribute power, resources or decision-making.

Social conflict - Open struggle over values and meanings or property, income, and power, or both. Social conflict derives out of inequality of power and authority within and between social organizations.

Social Constructionism in sexual attraction - historical socio-cultural experience is given primacy in the construction of a ‘homosexual identity and role’. Social Constructionism gave rise to perspectives of "choice” and "lifestyles”, challenging the innate deterministic understanding of Asexual orientation” as advanced by essentialism. It would be this perspective of choice and lifestyle that religious fundamentalists would use to condemn the "immorality” of same sex relationships.

Social constructionist - A perspective in the social sciences that states that individuals creatively shape reality through social interaction.

Social Control - the means and processes by which a group secures its members' conformity to its expectations - to its values, its ideology, its norms, and to the appropriate roles that are attached to the various status positions in the group. Some maintain that social workers are social control agents in society.  Structural social work analyzes the social control function of social work and recognizes that the profession of social work functions, in part, to control certain people and groups in society in order to maintain and legitimate social divisions and the social order.

Social Darwinism - A group of ideas first expressed by Herbert Spencer as an interpretation of Charles Darwin's writings on evolution.  Spencer applied Darwin's theory of natural selection to human beings and supported the premise that disadvantaged people who are unfit for society should not be helped.

Social democracy - an ideology that believes in the following social values: equality, justice, quality of power, freedom, and fellowship.

Social Gospel - a movement toward a more socially-oriented church among the Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist churches.

Social institution - A socially approved system of values, norms, and roles that exists to accomplish specific societal goals.

Social insurance - A type of income security program in which participants make regular payments into a fund from which they receive benefits if the risk covered by the insurance occurs. These programs follow the insurance principle of shared risk. Many will contribute with the understanding that not all will necessarily need to access the benefits of the program. Insurance based programs are generally tied to work, so for example, all workers will contribute and only those who contribute become eligible for benefits should the need arise. Employment Insurance and the Canada/Quebec Pension Plan are social insurance programs.

Social Learning Theory - suggests that men are taught to be more aggressive and women are taught to be passive.

Social learning theory - The study of learning that takes place by observing others rather than by firsthand experience of the learner.

Social minimum - a certain quality of condition in a certain society, without which health and a chance in life is impossible.

Social movements - a collectivity  having a group identity and a set of constitutive ideas. Social movements attempt to bring about fundamental changes in the social order especially in property and labour relations.

Social Planning - a type of community work which refers to planning and data gathering about problems in order to choose the most rational course of action.

Social policy - the rules and regulations, the laws and other administrative directives, which set the framework for state social welfare activity.

Social program - a detailed outline of state activity which follows and implements a specific social welfare policy. A social program outlines the funds to be spent and the purposes for which they will be spent.

Social psychology - The scientific discipline that attempts to understand and explain how the thought, feeling, and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others.

Social reform - the notion that social problems like poverty and unemployment can be solved through government action.

Social security - is sometimes used as a substitute for the term social welfare or income security. It is generally an American term, but has been also used by Canadian governments. For example, "Social Security in Canada", published in 1994 by the federal government uses the term to refer to both income security and social services. In Canada when the term is used, it usually does refer to both income security and social services. But, the term social welfare is more widely accepted.

Social services - non-monetary personal or community services provided by the state and non-profit organizations for members of the community, such as daycare, housing, crisis intervention, support groups for women experiencing abuse.

Social structure(al) - Societies are "divided" generally into two components - social structure and social processes - that interpenetrate each other; i.e., are dialectically interrelated. The key to understanding social structure in a society is understanding its social institutions and their intertwining combinations. Social structure is the institutional framework that makes for order in daily, weekly, and yearly interaction between people. It is social institutions that promote the necessary order to make social structure possible.

Social system - A term characteristic of functional analysis.  The social system consists of both a social structure of interrelated institutions, statuses, and roles and the functioning of that structure in terms of social actions and human interactions.

Social welfare - is about how people, communities and institutions in a society take action to provide certain minimum standards and certain opportunities. It is generally about helping people face contingencies. Social welfare comprises a range of institutions involving both the provision of programs of income security and social services.

Social welfare agencies - formal organizations whose function is to administer social welfare programs so that they effectively and efficiently meet people's needs.

Social welfare benefits - The actual resources provided to recipients of a social welfare program.

Social welfare program - Organized procedures for distributing social welfare resources to targeted recipients.

Social welfare resources - The services that people receive from the social welfare system which are intended to help them function more effectively.

Social work - work of benefit to those in need of help, especially work undertaken by trained staff. Social work remains an action-oriented subject in which individual and social change play key parts; work of benefit to those in need of help, especially work undertaken by trained staff.

Social work agency - a social work agency which has social workers who have an interest in particular issues and the expertise to deal with them.

Social work contract - an agreement (voluntary or involuntary) between the social worker and the client, to assist the client in the resolution of her or his personal problem.

Social work for voluntary or private organizations - involves not-for-profit and for-profit agencies which receive government funding, as well as private funding, but are guided by privately-elected boards of directors.

Social work in a private practice - setting involves a very small percentage of organizations which offer social work services directly billed to the client.

Social work in local social planning - involves local private Social Planning Councils, which advocate for and plan social services.

Social work in private industry - involves working within company employee assistance programs.

Social work in semi-governmental - settings involves those organizations that have a legal mandate (usually provincial) to carry out certain activities and are virtually 100 per cent government-funded, but nonetheless are guided by a privately-elected board of governors. Examples are hospitals, and the Children's Aid Societies in Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Social work in the government - involves working with income security programs, establishing eligibility and providing financial services; social services, offering help on a more individual basis; Community and Social Services (provincial; Unemployment Insurance Commission (federal); Youth Services Bureau; probation and parole; alcohol and drug addiction programs; child welfare; and homes for special care are the primary places of work for social workers.

Social work rapport (establishing rapport) - involves the intangible elements of the social work relationship: active listening, mutual dialogue, trust, caring, sharing thoughts and ideas.

Social work theory - to do with ideas and thoughts of the social work theorists and practitioners about how to practice social work.

Social work with individuals - a social work method that includes four steps - intake, assessment and case plan, intervention and termination.

Social worker - a person educated and trained to do social work, direct or indirect social work. A person who is duly registered to practice social work in a province or territory or where mandatory registration does not exist, a person practising social work who voluntarily agrees to be subject to this Code.

Socialization The process of social learning through which we come to internalize culturally approved ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Te process involved when young children are becoming aware of society and learning how they are expected to behave.

Socialized Medicine - a system of national health care that provides medical care to all and is regulated and subsidized by the government.

Socio-behavioural modification - an approach to social work which changes observable behaviour using conditioning techniques.

Solidarity - an approach which is based on the idea that conflict based on exploitation or domination exists, and that people in a position of exploitation or domination must fight against their exploiters to liberate themselves.

Specialist approach An approach to problem solving that utilizes professionals with specialized training to solve particular problems.

Speenhamland System -a system which called on the parish to supplement the wages of workers so they had enough income to cover their families' basic needs. It was the first known guaranteed annual income system. The Speenhamland System further complicated the 1601 Elizabethan Poor Law because it allowed the able-bodied to draw on the poor rates. It was set up in the Berkshire village of Speen in England 1795.

Spouse's Allowance (S.P.A.) - which is part of level 1 (basic minimum) of the 3 Tier Retirement Income Security system is for widowed people or for couples where one person is at least 65 and the other was between the ages of 60 and 65 inclusive, but with no other earnings other than (abbreviate) O.A.S. and G.I.S..

St.-Jean-Baptiste Society - A French Canadian patriotic association that was founded on June 24th, 1834 to increase pride among francophones for their culture and language. June 24th has become a provincial holiday in Quebec celebrating the Saint, French culture and former patriots.

Statistics Canada Low Income Cut-off - definition of poverty is that if you are spending 70% or more of the household income on necessities, you are considered to be living in straitened circumstances.

Status - A term commonly applied to a person who is registered an as Indian under the Indian Act (Canada. Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1991:5). Until 1985, the Canadian government's criteria for status was primarily based upon a person's biological ancestry and pre-contact affiliation with a discrete group or band. Currently, a person may have Indian status and yet not formally belong to a particular Indian band (Boldt, 1993:207).

Status quo - Maintaining existing conditions or situations.

Statute of Labourers - Famine and the Black Plaque combined with the possibility of vagrancy and beggary resulted in a labour shortage. There were not enough workers for the weaving trade. It was the labour shortage which prompted the establishment, in 1349, of this first piece of English social welfare legislation. When we examine the elements of The Statute of Labourers, it becomes apparent that present-day Welfare remains linked to the past by these same ideas.

Stereotype - A set of beliefs or perceptions of groups of people, or ideas held by a number of people, often not based on fact.

Stereotyping - The application of an over-simplified label to entire group of people.

Stigma - An attribute that serves to discredit a person in the eyes of others.

Stress - The condition that comes about when the demands of a situation place a strain on a person's resources.

Stress-inoculation training - A form of cognitive behaviour modification developed by Donald Meichenbaum that involves an educational, rehearsal, and application phase. Clients learn the role of thinking in creating stress, are given coping skills for dealing with stressful situations, and practice techniques aimed at changing behaviour.

Structural Colonialism - Involves control of power and decision-making by dominant group for the purpose of extracting benefits.

Structural social work - help which focuses on the structural implications of personal problems or the impact social structures have on people, according to class, race, age, gender, ability, and sexuality. Structural social work seeks to expose and oppose structures in society that oppress people according to class, gender, race, ability, and sexuality.

Structural unemployment - the number of vacant jobs which exceeds the number of persons unemployed, because the available jobs do not match up with the skills of the unemployed persons.

Subject - “Subject” refers to the person carrying out an action, rather than the object which is being acted upon. The term is often used as a synonym for “human being”, or the consciousness of a human being. In the context of history, “subject” means the agent of history, the people who are the conscious architects of events, rather than their unconscious tools.

Subjectivism - Subjectivism refers to extreme emphasis on the significance of the individual subject in cognition (as for example in the Second Positivism). In Ethics, subjectivism claims that no moral truths are possible, they are entirely relative to the person. Dialectics combines subjectivism and objectivism for a complete understanding of the universe, emphasising for example the role of the individual in making history, while emphasising the role of society in influencing the individual.

Substance abuse The excessive, uncontrolled, and injurious use of alcohol or drugs, including prescription or over-the-counter drugs.

Success identity- The state in which effective need-fulfilling behaviours are mastered.

Summarization - A skill or technique of restating what the client has expressed during a series of counseling/therapy sessions.

Superego - In psychoanalytic theory, the part of personality that contains the moral standards of society as interpreted by the parents to the child.

Supply-side economics - The theory that lowering tax rates will increase economic growth and tax collections. Specifically, tax cuts allow entrepreneurs to invest their tax savings in new jobs and equipment, causing more people to earn more money, who collectively pay more taxes, albeit at lower individual rates. The Laffer Curve was an attempt to graph such a relationship between tax rates and tax collections. To critics in the early 80s who said that tax cuts without spending cuts would increase the deficit, supply-siders claimed that growth would be so tremendous that the economy would simply outgrow the deficit. Early supply-side economists also believed in Say's Law ("Supply creates its own demand"), hence the name, supply-side economics.

Supply-side, economics or monetarism - believes that the focus should be on controlling inflation primarily, even if this means risking high unemployment. Monetarists believe that high unemployment is good for the economy, since it lowers the demand for higher wages. Monetarists believe that controlling inflation is important to encourage investment.

Surplus Value - The basis of capitalist exploitation. Surplus value is the difference between the amount of capital necessary to produce something, and the amount of capital the finished product is worth. For example, a carpenter costs a capitalist $16 an hour, including supplies and total work hours the total capital cost is $660. The only way moneybags can "make" money is by selling the product the carpenter produced for a greater amount of money than it cost to produce. This difference in cost is the surplus value.  Surplus value is created from labour power, which is unique among all other commodities in that it has the ability to create value.

Survival of the fittest - The process through which the best-adapted members of a species survive so that they can breed and thereby perpetuate themselves (attributed to Charles Darwin).

Sustainable development - development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Systematic desensitization - A therapy designed to gradually reduce fear about a particular stimulus by substituting a relaxed response for the fear response.

Systemic discrimination -the operating policies, structures, and functions of an on-going system of normative patterns which serve to subjugate, oppress, and force dependence of individuals or groups. This involves establishing and sanctioning unequal rights, goals, and priorities and sanctioning inequality in status as well as access to goods and services.

Systems theory – the theory that is the foundation for the generalist approach to social work. An approach that assumes that the human being is made up of smaller subsystems, such as cells and organs; but that the human being is in turn part of larger systems, such as family and society.

Copyright © 2001 Steven Hick. All rights reserved.