The Concept of Role in Social Work

Abstract

T HE INFLUENCE of psychiatry upon social work during the past quarter of a century has been extraordinarily stimulating and fruitful. No one who has read case records, starting at the end of the first World War and coming down to the present, can fail to be struck by the great gains made in the understanding of human nature as a result of that stimulus. There is, however, ground for questioning whether psychiatry has not already made its maximum contribution to social work at the stage now reached by both arts. An affirmative answer would not mean that further experimentation on the border between case and group work on the one hand and the deeper psychiatric therapies on the other will not continue to yield significant insights. It would merely imply that social work has absorbed as many of the psychiatric concepts as can be used generally in its professional services today. The recently awakened interest in administration in many lines of activity is reflected in the discussions of the administration of public relief and has brought new life into the consideration of policy making and professional-client relationships, especially in the public welfare field. It is for the types of social work that lie between the therapeutic care of markedly disturbed individuals and the administration of assistance as defined by law, that there seems to be need for the development of new theoretical analyses. It is in that middle ground where most social work takes place that sociology might be expected to make whatever contribution it can to the practical art with which it is so closely allied in popular thinking. This particular study has resulted from attempt to evaluate the possibilities of inter-stimulation between the two fields. A concept, of which both sociology and social work are making increased use and which they might well explore together, is that of role. It has been defined by Cottrell as an internally consistent series of conditioned responses by one member of a social situation which represents the stimulus pattern for a similarly consistent series of conditioned responses of the other(s) in that situation.' This might be called a unit or specific role, and it is with such roles limited to specific situations that this paper is primarily concerned. Cottrell's definition implies that the role is cultural in nature and that it is always related to the learned roles of other actors in a given situation. A comparison of Cottrell's definition with that of Kingsley Davis, derived from the earlier study of status and role by Linton, indicates that the concept of cultural role needs further clarification.2 In addition, there is growing recognition of the fact that there are societal as well as cultural roles but there is to be found in sociological literature little systematic knowledge in regard to their nature. Cottrell's definition also raises the question as to how the role patterns of the various members in a given situation are fused in a consistent interrelation of responses. The point of this brief discussion of concepts is merely to suggest the desirability of a further study of roles, role systems and the processes of role inculcation. Turning to the practice of social work, the sociologist might well begin with the examination of some well defined role patterns. Much light is thrown upon various theoretical problems by the consideration, for exam-