What is a Profession?
A profession is generally seen as an occupation that requires a higher educational qualification, which may be a degree, a diploma, or a certificate course for its practice. It is characterized by a specialized body of knowledge and skills, a specified area of operation, a defined code of ethics, work for the larger interest of society, and a certain degree of recognition as a profession.
All the professions are occupations in the sense that they provide some means of livelihood to the practitioners. On the other hand, not all occupations are professions, for they lack some characteristics of professions, and they also need to pass through certain stages of development before achieving the status of a profession.
Characteristics of a Profession
Many eminent writers, after the careful analysis of the meaning and implications of a profession, have tried to summarize the characteristics of a profession in the following ways:
According to Millerson, the following characteristics of a profession are emphasized:
- Skills based on theoretical knowledge
- Provision of training and occupation
- Tests of the competence of the members
- Adherence to the professional code of ethics
- Altruistic service
Youngdhal enumerates the following characteristics of a profession:
- It includes the use of intellectual operations with a high degree of individual responsibility
- It is learned through formal training
- It possesses techniques capable of transformation through a specialized educational discipline
- It tends towards self-organization for the promotion of standards and advancement of interests.
- It is not merely theoretical but practical in aims and goals.
- It is responsible for public interest and public welfare.
By analyzing the above characteristics of a profession given by different authors, we may enumerate some general characteristics of a profession in the following lines:
- A profession has a systematic and scientific body of knowledge
- It has an organized system of imparting education (University training)
- It has some specialized activities of its professionals
- It has a professional code of ethics for the professionals
- It has social recognition
Characteristics of Social Work Profession
In modern society, social work has emerged as a socially oriented profession with a definite reformative and curative function. It uses knowledge to meet concrete human needs.
Is social work a profession? In order to answer this question, we have to apply the criteria of a profession. According to Professor Brown, modern social work fulfills all the requirements of a profession. Major characteristics of social work among them are:
Social work is an Enabling Profession
The word “help” in social work connotes “aid” or “assistance” given to another so as to enable him to be more effective. This means that a social worker only adds to the client’s efforts but does not attempt to impose his own advice or solution on the client. In other words, his job is not helping but enabling.
Moreover, it is one of the characteristics of social work that requires knowledge of personality factors, theories, social aspects, psychiatric aspects, human relations, groups, social institutions, socialization, social control, etc., which enrich and enable professionals to deal effectively with undesirable situations in society.
Auspices Under which Social Work is Organized
Social work, like other professions, is committed to giving responsible professional service. Social workers carry on their functions, not as private practitioners but on a fee-for-service basis within the structure of a social welfare agency that is organized to meet certain needs of individuals, groups, or communities.
It includes knowledge of medical care, psychiatric services, child guidance, correctional services, family welfare, Youth welfare, labor welfare, rural development, etc. It is difficult to draw a strict line of separation between the practices of social work, social welfare, and social service in Pakistan because of the nature of the problems in the country. At times, all three practices are used interchangeably for the well-being of our population.
Still then, social work professionals are engaged in specialized activities like counseling, therapeutic action, social action, community organization, resource mobilization, environmental modification, service facilitation, development planning, and so on, with special reference to the values and principles of the social work profession. This makes the professionals distinct in their approach to various problems in society.
Acceptance of Social Responsibility
As an enabling profession, it is one of the characteristics of social work that it recognizes its responsibility with regard to the adjustment between the individual and society. Social work deals with the social problems that prevent the development of a healthy social life. They emerge only when the relations between the individual and society are disrupted. As a result of this disruption, individual behavior deviates from culturally approved norms to such an extent that it arouses social disapproval.
It includes knowledge about crimes, delinquencies, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, beggary, prostitution, unemployment, corruption, discrimination, poverty, etc, and their factors and possible solutions. Hence, social work aims to establish a harmonious relationship between the individual and the society. Due to the acceptance of this principle, social work has assumed the status of a profession.
Social Work is a Problem-solving Process
“Need” implies lack or inadequacy, and most problems arise out of inadequate satisfaction with one’s needs: biological, social, economic, or psychological. To assess a client’s needs and to enable him to meet these needs are one of the major characteristics of social work.
Acceptance of Individual Dignity
Every profession accepts the dignity and importance of the individual. Individuals, being the unit of society, hold paramount importance. His interests and aspirations are entirely dependent on society. Without individual progress, social progress has no meaning. it is one of the characteristics of social work that it believes in individuals worth, dignity, and integrity. Its goal is to promote the full growth of human potential by helping people to help themselves. Thus, like other professions, social work profession also accepts the dignity of the individual.
Based on the Scientific Methods
It is one of the characteristics of social work that it is based on a scientific body of knowledge which enables professionals to view and understand a person, his problem, and his social environment in a distinct way. Social work tries to realize a decent standard of living, social security, and the fulfillment of universal human needs. It provides assistance to the individual, group, and community. However, social work could not become a profession merely on the basis of lofty principles and humanitarian aims.
It includes knowledge about the tested and scientific methods such as casework, group work, community organization, social welfare administration, social action, and social research. It requires certain professional standards, and in recent years, it has evolved its own techniques. Social workers are now being trained accordingly, and with the availability of such training, social work has become a full-fledged profession.
Professional Training
Every work to be designated as a profession needs certain assumptions. Firstly, that work should be adopted by the workers as their career. Secondly, the workers pursuing that work should make it their source of living. Both these characteristics are evident in the modern social work.
Social workers employed under various social services are paid workers who have chosen social work as their career and are trained in its methods and techniques. However, Social work as a profession has a distinct identity in the field of education. In our country, there are provisions for graduate and post-graduate levels of education in universities and other teaching institutions.
Combination of Science and Art
Every profession involves two aspects, namely, theory and practice. These two aspects are interdependent because practice is meaningless without theory, and theory is useless without practice. Social work, in its modern form, has its own theoretical principles and practical skills. As a theory, social work discovers the laws of human behavior, the nature and extent of individual and social problems, and the ways of solution and prevention.
In practice, social work uses its skills and techniques for the solution of social problems. According to Prof. Friedlander, social work is both science and art. Thus, social work is not merely a science. It is one of the most important professions, and it is recognized at the national and international levels.
Professional Code of Ethics
The social work profession operates in wide areas, cross-cutting various fields while solving the socio-economic and psycho-social problems of individuals in society. There is also confusion in the minds of the people while understanding and explaining what social work is.
It is one of the characteristics of social work that like all other professions, the code of ethics has been developed by professional organizations in the field of social work to guide the activities of the professionals. Some recognized professional ethics of social work can be enumerated in the following points:
- Respect for human dignity and personality
- Matching the available resources with the felt needs.
- Stimulating change to enhance democratic values.
- Accomplishing change through cooperation on both intellectual and emotional levels
- Serving as a change agent from behind the scenes so that the individual, group, or community may emotionally feel that the change was not imposed from outside but was autonomously sought by the individual, group, or community.
- Respect for the profession
Social Recognition
Social work as a profession has been accepted by the governments of many countries around the globe. Many governmental and non-governmental organizations employ trained social workers for various posts. In Pakistan, the recognition and acceptance of social work among employers and the people is very low in comparison to that of social workers in western countries.
Social workers hardly enjoy any distinct status in their profession. In spite of all the hardships, social work is spreading in the fields of health care, child welfare, women’s welfare, rural development, correctional service, and so on. It is gradually achieving social recognition in the respective fields of practice.
Conclusion
In short, social work is a socially oriented profession and like all other professions the characteristics of social work disseminate its credibility. The workers engaged in this profession get their salary through voluntary or public organizations. At the national and international levels, there are many institutions that provide training facilities for this profession. Besides, there are many organizations of professional social workers working at the international level. In addition, social work has its own principles, methods, and techniques; chief among them are social casework, social group work, community organization, social welfare administration, social work research, and social action.
