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data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_social_science-0.md
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Quantum social science is an emerging field of interdisciplinary research that draws parallels between quantum physics and the social sciences. Although there is no settled consensus on a single approach, a unifying theme is that, while the social sciences have long modelled themselves on mechanistic science, they can learn much from quantum ideas such as complementarity and entanglement. Some authors are motivated by quantum mind theories that the brain, and therefore human interactions, are literally based on quantum processes, while others are more interested in taking advantage of the quantum toolkit to simulate social behaviours which elude classical treatment. Quantum ideas have been particularly influential in psychology but are starting to affect other areas such as international relations and diplomacy in what one 2018 paper called a "quantum turn in the social sciences".
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== History ==
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The idea that quantum physics might play an important role in living systems has long been considered by physicists. Niels Bohr for example believed that his principle of complementarity extended into both biology and psychology, while Erwin Schrödinger wrote in his 1944 book What is Life? of a "quantum theory of biology" that saw genetic mutations in terms of quantum leaps. In his 1989 book The Emperor's New Mind, Roger Penrose hypothesized that quantum mechanics plays an essential role in human consciousness. His 1994 follow-up book Shadows of the Mind speculated that these quantum processes occur in microtubules within neurons.
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Some physicists have also been willing to consider an even more direct connection between mind and quantum matter, in a quantum version of panpsychism. In his 1975 book Disturbing the Universe, Freeman Dyson wrote that "mind is already inherent in every electron, and the processes of human consciousness differ only in degree but not in kind from the processes of choice between quantum states". David Bohm's 1951 book Quantum Theory included a chapter on "Analogies to Quantum Processes" where he considered applications including the understanding of thought processes, and in 1990 he published a paper named "A new theory of the relationship of mind and matter" which asserts that consciousness permeates all forms of matter. These ideas were popularised and extended by Danah Zohar in books including The Quantum Self and (with Ian Marshall) The Quantum Society. Karen Barad's 2007 book Meeting the Universe Halfway took "Niels Bohr's philosophy-physics" as a starting point to develop her theory of agential realism.
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Beginning in the 1990s, a separate approach to quantum social science was taken by some interdisciplinary researchers, working in what became known as quantum cognition, who argued that quantum probability theory was better than classical probability theory at accounting for a range of cognitive effects of the sort studied in behavioral economics. Others worked on developing "weak" or "generalised" versions of quantum theory which extended concepts such as complementarity and entanglement to the social domain. In their 2013 book Quantum Social Science, Emmanuel Haven and Andrei Khrennikov developed mathematical formalisms for the application of quantum models to topics including psychology, economics, finance, and brain science.
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Most researchers in areas such as quantum cognition view the quantum formalism solely as a mathematical toolbox, and do not assume that human cognition is physically based on quantum mechanics. Separately however, researchers in quantum biology have uncovered evidence of quantum effects being exploited in processes such as photosynthesis and avian navigation; and some authors, notably political scientist Alexander Wendt, have argued that human beings are literally what he calls "walking wave functions".
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== Core ideas ==
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While quantum social scientists are divided on whether social processes are physically quantum in nature or merely amenable to a quantum approach, there are a number of common ideas, themes, and concerns. The most fundamental point is that, since its inception, social science has been based on a classical worldview that needs to be updated in accordance with the teachings of quantum physics. In particular, quantum theory disputes key tenets or assumptions of the social sciences, which, according to Wendt, include materialism, determinism, and mechanism.
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An example is the notion of entanglement. In mechanistic or pre-quantum science, particles are seen as individual entities that interact only in a mechanistic sense. In quantum mechanics, particles such as electrons can become entangled so that a measurement on one instantly affects the state of the other. In quantum social science, people are similarly entangled, whether through shared institutions such as language or (according to some interpretations) through actual physical processes. An implication is that people are never completely separable, but are entangled elements of society.
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Another example is the idea of wave function collapse. In standard interpretations of quantum physics, a particle is described by a wave function, and attributes such as position or momentum are only determined through a measurement procedure that collapses the wave function to one of a set of allowed states. In quantum social science, mental states are best described as potentialities that "collapse" only when a judgement or decision is made. One consequence of wave function collapse in physics is that a measurement affects the system being studied, and therefore any future measurement. A corresponding phenomenon in social science is the so-called order effect, where responses to survey questions depend on the order in which they are asked.
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== Applications ==
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Ideas from quantum physics have long inspired thinkers in areas such as politics, diplomacy, and international relations. The journalist Flora Lewis spoke of the "Quantum Mechanics of Politics" in 1975. In a 1997 lecture on "Diplomacy in the Information Age", former US Secretary of State George P. Shultz credits the physicist Sidney Drell for coining the term "quantum diplomacy" to describe how diplomats need to account for uncertainty and the fact that "the process of observation itself is a cause of change". In a 2011 paper, James Der Derian proposed quantum diplomacy as a way to understand the entanglements brought about by a globalized media and a multiplicity of actors operating at different levels. These ideas have been a theme of Der Derian's annual Q-Symposium since 2014. In a 2018 address to the Trilateral Commission, Danah Zohar argued that a mechanistic worldview has led to problems from inequality to climate change, and that we need to shift to a quantum perspective which incorporates effects such as uncertainty and entanglement.
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While Wendt's 2015 book Quantum Mind and Social Science does not focus on political science, it does discuss the applicability of quantum theory to social systems in general, and its publication has led to extensive analysis and discussion on this topic. Other related areas where quantum ideas are seeing applications include quantum game theory, quantum decision theory, quantum finance and quantum economics. In a 2019 article for the Bretton Woods Committee, Andrew Sheng wrote that "A quantum paradigm of finance and the economy is slowly emerging, and its nonlinear, complex nature may help the design of a future global economy and financial architecture."
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== Criticism ==
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Quantum social science is contested by critics, who argue that it inappropriately imports ideas from quantum physics into the social domain. The most common criticism is that due to quantum decoherence, quantum effects are filtered out at the macroscopic level, so cannot affect social systems. The physicist Max Tegmark for example has argued that brains cannot sustain quantum coherence.
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A related point of controversy is whether quantum science should be applied to social systems only metaphorically, or whether it should be taken as a physical description of those systems. This in turn relates to a broader debate in the sciences about scientific realism, which applies also to quantum physics.
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== See also ==
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Quantum mysticism
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== References ==
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In social sciences and other domains, representative sequences are whole sequences that best characterize or summarize a set of sequences. In bioinformatics, representative sequences also designate substrings of a sequence that characterize the sequence.
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== Social sciences ==
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In Sequence analysis in social sciences, representative sequences are used to summarize sets of sequences describing for example the family life course or professional career of several thousands individuals.
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The identification of representative sequences proceeds from the pairwise dissimilarities between sequences. One typical solution is the medoid sequence, i.e., the observed sequence that minimizes the sum of its distances to all other sequences in the set. An other solution is the densest observed sequence, i.e., the sequence with the greatest number of other sequences in its neighborhood. When the diversity of the sequences is large, a single representative is often insufficient to efficiently characterize the set. In such cases, an as small as possible set of representative sequences covering (i.e., which includes in at least one neighborhood of a representative) a given percentage of all sequences is searched.
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A solution also considered is to select the medoids of relative frequency groups. More specifically, the method consists in sorting the sequences (for example, according to the first principal coordinate of the pairwise dissimilarity matrix), splitting the sorted list into equal sized groups (called relative frequency groups), and selecting the medoids of the equal sized groups.
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The methods for identifying representative sequences described above have been implemented in the R package TraMineR.
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== Bioinformatics ==
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Representative sequences are short regions within protein sequences that can be used to approximate the evolutionary relationships of those proteins, or the organisms from which they come. Representative sequences are contiguous subsequences (typically 300 residues) from ubiquitous, conserved proteins, such that each orthologous family of representative sequences taken alone gives a distance matrix in close agreement with the consensus matrix.
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=== Use ===
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Protein sequences can provide data about the biological function and evolution of proteins and protein domains. Grouping and interrelating protein sequences can therefore provide information about both human biological processes, and the evolutionary development of biological processes on earth; such sequence clusters allow for the effective coverage of sequence space. Sequence clusters can reduce a large database of sequences to a smaller set of sequence representatives, each of which should represent its cluster at the sequence level. Sequence representatives allow the effective coverage of the original database with fewer sequences. The database of sequence representatives is called non-redundant, as similar (or redundant) sequences have been removed at a certain similarity threshold.
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== See also ==
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Sequence analysis in social sciences
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Sequence analysis in bioinformatics
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== References ==
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The seriousness check is a technique that can be used in online research (also called Internet-based research, Web-based research, Web-based experiments) to improve data quality. Nowadays, many scientific studies with human participants are conducted online and are accessible to a large diversity of participants. Nonetheless, many people just want to look at the different pages of the questionnaire, instead of giving carefully chosen answers to the questions. The seriousness check addresses this problem: In this approach the respondents are asked about the seriousness of their participation or for a probability estimate that they will complete the entire study or experiment. Thus, by using the seriousness check irrelevant data entries can be easily identified and be excluded from the data analysis.
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== Method ==
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Seriousness checks can be implemented both before and after participation in the study. However, it has been shown that the seriousness check is a good predictor of dropout rates when implemented in the first page of the experiment.
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There are Web-based tools, e.g. WEXTOR, that implement the seriousness check by default.
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== Impact ==
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Several studies have shown that performing a seriousness check at the start of a study best predicts motivation and dropout probability. It was observed that of those answering “I would like to look at the pages only" around 75% will drop, while of those answering “I would like to seriously participate now" only ca. 10-15% will drop during the study. Overall, about 30-50% of visitors will fail the seriousness check, i.e. answer “I would like to look at the pages only". Moreover, it was found that emphasizing seriousness increased information seeking in participants and the time they spent on the study. Following up on this, it was shown that motivation and self-reported seriousness significantly predict several data quality indicators
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== References ==
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data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_neuroscience-0.md
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Social neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding the relationship between social experiences and biological systems. Humans are fundamentally a social species, and studies indicate that various social influences, including life events, poverty, unemployment and loneliness can influence health related biomarkers. Still a young field, social neuroscience is closely related to personality neuroscience, affective neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience, focusing on how the brain mediates social interactions. The biological underpinnings of social cognition are investigated in social cognitive neuroscience.
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The term "social neuroscience" can be traced to a publication entitled "Social Neuroscience Bulletin" which was published quarterly between 1988 and 1994. The term was subsequently popularized in an article by John Cacioppo and Gary Berntson, published in the American Psychologist in 1992. Cacioppo and Berntson are considered as the legitimate fathers of social neuroscience.
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== Overview ==
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Traditional neuroscience has for many years considered the nervous system as an isolated entity and largely ignored influences of the social environments in which humans and many animal species live. In fact, we now recognize the considerable impact of social structures on the operations of the brain and body. These social factors operate on the individual through a continuous interplay of neural, neuroendocrine, metabolic and immune factors on brain and body, in which the brain is the central regulatory organ and also a malleable target of these factors. Social neuroscience investigates the biological mechanisms that underlie social processes and behavior, widely considered one of the major problem areas for the neurosciences in the 21st century, and applies concepts and methods of biology to develop theories of social processes and behavior in the social and behavioral sciences. Social neuroscience capitalizes on biological concepts and methods to inform and refine theories of social behavior, and it uses social and behavioral constructs and data to advance theories of neural organization and function.
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Throughout most of the 20th century, social and biological explanations were widely viewed as incompatible. But advances in recent years have led to the development of a new approach synthesized from the social and biological sciences. The new field of social neuroscience emphasizes the complementary relationship between the different levels of organization, spanning the social and biological domains (e.g., molecular, cellular, system, person, relational, collective, societal) and the use of multi-level analyses to foster understanding of the mechanisms underlying the human mind and behavior.
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Contemporary insights into the origins of social interactions raise interest in hyperscanning or intercranial research. Studying the correlation of neuronal activities of two or more brains in shared cognitive tasks can contribute to understanding the relationship between social experiences and neurophysiological processes.
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== Methods ==
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A number of methods are used in social neuroscience to investigate the confluence of neural and social processes. These methods draw from behavioral techniques developed in social psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology, and are associated with a variety of neurobiological techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), positron emission tomography (PET), facial electromyography (EMG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroencephalography (EEG), event-related potentials (ERPs), electrocardiograms, electromyograms, endocrinology, immunology, galvanic skin response (GSR), single-cell recording, and studies of focal brain lesion patients. In recent years, these methods have been complemented by virtual reality techniques (VR) and hormonal measures. Animal models are also important to investigate the putative role of specific brain structures, circuits, or processes (e.g., the reward system and drug addiction). In addition, quantitative meta-analyses are important to move beyond idiosyncrasies of individual studies, and neurodevelopmental investigations can contribute to our understanding of brain-behavior associations. The two most popular forms of methods used in social neuroscience are fMRI and EEG. fMRI are very cost efficient and high in spatial resolution. However, they are low in temporal resolution and therefore, are best to discover pathways in the brain that are used during social experiments. fMRI have low temporal resolution (timing) because they read oxygenated blood levels that pool to the parts of the brain that are activated and need more oxygen. Thus, the blood takes time to travel to the part of the brain being activated and in reverse provides a lower ability to test for exact timing of activation during social experiments. EEG is best used when a researcher is trying to brain map a certain area that correlates to a social construct that is being studied. EEGs provide high temporal resolution but low spatial resolution. In which, the timing of the activation is very accurate but it is hard to pinpoint exact areas on the brain, researchers are to narrow down locations and areas but they also create a lot of "noise". Most recently, researchers have been using TMS which is the best way to discover the exact location in the process of brain mapping. This machine can turn on and off parts of the brain which then allows researchers to test what that part of the brain is used for during social events. However, this machine is so expensive that it is rarely used.
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Note: Most of these methods can only provide correlations between brain mapping and social events (apart from TMS), a con of Social Neuroscience is that the research must be interpreted through correlations which can cause a decreased content validity. For example, during an experiment when a participant is doing a task to test for a social theory and a part of the brain is activated, it is impossible to form causality because anything else in the room or the thoughts of the person could have triggered that response. It is very hard to isolate these variables during these experiments. That is why self-reports are very important. This will also help decrease the chances of VooDoo correlations (correlations that are too high and over 0.8 which look like a correlation exists between two factors but actually is just an error in design and statistical measures). Another way to avoid this con, is to use tests with hormones that can infer causality. For example, when people are given oxytocin and placebos and we can test their differences in social behavior between other people. Using SCRs will also help isolate unconscious thoughts and conscious thoughts because it is the body's natural parasympathetic response to the outside world. All of these tests and devices will help social neuroscientists discover the connections in the brain that are used to carry out our everyday social activities.
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Primarily psychological methods include performance-based measures that record response time and/or accuracy, such as the Implicit Association Test; observational measures such as preferential looking in infant studies; and, self-report measures, such as questionnaire and interviews.
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Neurobiological methods can be grouped together into ones that measure more external bodily responses, electrophysiological methods, hemodynamic measures, and lesion methods.
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Bodily response methods include GSR (also known as skin conductance response (SCR)), facial EMG, and the eyeblink startle response. Electrophysiological methods include single-cell recordings, EEG, and ERPs. Hemodynamic measures, which, instead of directly measuring neural activity, measure changes in blood flow, include PET and fMRI. Lesion methods traditionally study brains that have been damaged via natural causes, such as strokes, traumatic injuries, tumors, neurosurgery, infection, or neurodegenerative disorders. In its ability to create a type of 'virtual lesion' that is temporary, TMS may also be included in this category. More specifically, TMS methods involve stimulating one area of the brain to isolate it from the rest of the brain, imitating a brain lesion. This is particularly helpful in brain mapping, a key approach in social neuroscience designed to determine which areas of the brain are activated during certain activities.
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== Society for Social Neuroscience ==
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A dinner to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the interdisciplinary field of social neuroscience at the Society for Neuroscience meeting (Chicago, November 2009) resulted in a series of meetings led by John Cacioppo and Jean Decety with social neuroscientists, psychologists, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, sociologists and economists in Argentina, Australia, Chile, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Social neuroscience was defined broadly as the interdisciplinary study of the neural, hormonal, cellular, and genetic mechanisms underlying the emergent structures that define social species. Thus, among the participants in these meetings were scientists who used a wide variety of methods in studies of animals as well as humans, and patients as well as normal participants. The consensus also emerged that a Society for Social Neuroscience should be established to give scientists from diverse disciplines and perspectives the opportunity to meet, communicate with, and benefit from the work of each other. The international, interdisciplinary Society for Social Neuroscience (http://S4SN.org) was launched at the conclusion of these consultations in Auckland, New Zealand on 20 January 2010, and the inaugural meeting for the Society was held on November 12, 2010, the day prior to the 2010 Society for Neuroscience meeting (San Diego, CA).
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
== Further reading ==
|
||||
Brune, M.; Ribbert, H. & Schiefenhovel, W. (2003). The social brain: evolution and pathology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons Ltd.
|
||||
Cacioppo J.T. (2002). "Social neuroscience: Understanding the pieces fosters understanding the whole and vice versa". American Psychologist. 57 (11): 819–831. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.57.11.819. PMID 12564179.
|
||||
Cacioppo J. T.; Berntson G. G. (1992). "Social psychological contributions to the decade of the brain: Doctrine of multilevel analysis". American Psychologist. 47 (8): 1019–1028. doi:10.1037/0003-066x.47.8.1019. PMID 1510329.
|
||||
Cacioppo J.T.; Berntson G.G.; Sheridan J.F.; McClintock M.K. (2000). "Multilevel integrative analyses of human behavior: social neuroscience and the complementing nature of social and biological approaches". Psychological Bulletin. 126 (6): 829–843. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.6.829. PMID 11107878.
|
||||
Cacioppo, John T.; Gary G. Berntson (2004). Social Neuroscience: Key Readings. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-1-84169-099-5. Archived from the original on 2012-02-08..
|
||||
Cacioppo, John T.; Penny S. Visser; Cynthia L. Pickett, eds. (2005). Social Neuroscience: People Thinking about Thinking People. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-03335-0.
|
||||
Cozolino, L. (2006). The Neuroscience of Human Relationships: Attachment And the Developing Social Brain. W. W. Norton & Company.
|
||||
de Haan, M. & Gunnar, M.R. (2009). Handbook of Developmental Social Neuroscience. The Guilford Press.
|
||||
Decety, J. & Cacioppo, J.T. (2011). Handbook of Social Neuroscience. New York: Oxford University Press.
|
||||
Decety, J. & Ickes, W. (2009). The Social Neuroscience of Empathy. Cambridge: MIT Press.
|
||||
Emery, N.J. (2007). Cognitive Neuroscience of Social Behavior. Taylor & Francis.
|
||||
Harmon-Jones, E.; P. Winkielman (2007). Social Neuroscience: Integrating Biological and Psychological Explanations of Social Behavior. Guilford Press. ISBN 978-1-59385-404-1..
|
||||
van Lange, P.A.M. (2006). Bridging social psychology: benefits of transdisciplinary approaches. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
|
||||
Ward, J. (2012). The Student's Guide to Social Neuroscience. Vol. New York. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-184872-005-3. Archived from the original on 2014-07-19.
|
||||
Wolpert, D. & Frith, C. (2004). The Neuroscience of Social Interactions: Decoding, Influencing, and Imitating the Actions of Others. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
Society for Social Neuroscience.
|
||||
New Society for Social Neuroscience to help guide emerging field from the University of Chicago News Office.
|
||||
University of Chicago Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience.
|
||||
"What is social neuroscience?" Introduction from the first issue (March 2006) of the journal Social Neuroscience defining social neuroscience, listing the tools of social neuroscience, and addressing the impact of social neuroscience.
|
||||
43
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relation-0.md
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|
||||
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|
||||
title: "Social relation"
|
||||
chunk: 1/1
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relation"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
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|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:41.126380+00:00"
|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
A social relation is the fundamental unit of analysis within the social sciences, and describes any voluntary or involuntary interpersonal relationship between two or more conspecifics within and/or between groups. The group can be a language or kinship group, a social institution or organization, an economic class, a nation, or gender. Social relations are derived from human behavioral ecology, and, as an aggregate, form a coherent social structure whose constituent parts are best understood relative to each other and to the social ecosystem as a whole.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== History ==
|
||||
Early inquiries into the nature of social relations featured in the work of sociologists such as Max Weber in his theory of social action, where social relationships composed of both positive (affiliative) and negative (agonistic) interactions represented opposing effects. Categorizing social interactions enables observational and other social research, such as Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (lit. 'community and society'), collective consciousness, etc.
|
||||
Ancient works which include manuals of good practice in social relations include the text of Pseudo-Phocylides, 175–227, Josephus' polemical work Against Apion, 198–210, and the deutero-canonical Jewish Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, 7:18–36.
|
||||
More recent research on social behaviour has demonstrated that newborn infants tend to instinctually gravitate towards prosocial behaviour. As obligate social apes, humans are born highly altricial, and require an extended period of post-natal development for cultural transmission of social organization, language, and moral frameworks. In linguistic and anthropological frameworks, this is reflected in a culture's kinship terminology, with the default mother-child relation emerging as part of the embryological process.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== Forms of relation and interaction ==
|
||||
According to Piotr Sztompka, forms of relation and interaction in sociology and anthropology may be described as follows: first and most basic are animal-like behaviors, i.e. various physical movements of the body. Then there are actions—movements with a meaning and purpose. Then there are social behaviors, or social actions, which address (directly or indirectly) other people, which solicit a response from another agent.
|
||||
Next are social contacts, a pair of social actions, which form the beginning of social interactions which metadata is a big contribution.Symbols define social relationships. Without symbols, our social life would be no more sophisticated than that of animals. For example, without symbols, people would have no aunts or uncles, employers or teachers—or even brothers and sisters. In sum, symbolic interactionists analyze how social life depends on the ways people define themselves and others. They study face-to-face interaction, examining how people make sense of life and how they determine their relationships.
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Related disciplines ===
|
||||
Behavioral ecology
|
||||
Behavioral sciences
|
||||
Engaged theory
|
||||
Social ecology
|
||||
Social philosophy
|
||||
Social psychology
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
=== Bibliography ===
|
||||
Azarian, Reza. 2010. "Social Ties: Elements of a Substantive Conceptualisation". Acta Sociologica 53(4):323–38.
|
||||
Piotr Sztompka, Socjologia, Znak, 2002, ISBN 83-240-0218-9
|
||||
Weber, Max. "The Nature of Social Action". In Weber: Selections in Translation, edited by W. G. Runciman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1991.
|
||||
32
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_services-0.md
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||||
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|
||||
title: "Social services"
|
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chunk: 1/3
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category: "reference"
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|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organizations, or administered by a government agency. Social services are connected with the concept of welfare and the welfare state, as countries with large welfare programs often provide a wide range of social services. Social services are employed to address the wide range of needs of a society. Prior to industrialisation, the provision of social services was largely confined to private organisations and charities, with the extent of its coverage also limited. Social services are now generally regarded globally as a 'necessary function' of society and a mechanism through which governments may address societal issues.
|
||||
The provision of social services by governments is linked to the belief of universal human rights, democratic principles, as well as religious and cultural values. The availability and coverage of social services varies significantly within societies. The main groups which social services is catered toward are: families, children, youths, elders, women, the sick, and the disabled. Social services consists of facilities and services such as: public education, welfare, infrastructure, mail, libraries, social work, food banks, universal health care, police, fire services, public transport and public housing.
|
||||
|
||||
== Characteristics ==
|
||||
|
||||
The term 'social services' is often substituted with other terms such as social welfare, social protection, social assistance, social care and social work, with many of the terms overlapping in characteristics and features. What is considered a 'social service' in a specific country is determined by its history, cultural norms, political system and economic status. The most central aspects of social services include education, health services, housing programs, and transport services. Social services can be both communal and individually based. This means that they may be implemented to provide assistance to the community broadly, such as economic support for unemployed citizens, or they may be administered specifically considering the need of an individual – such as foster homes. Social services are provided through a variety of models. Some of these models include:
|
||||
|
||||
The Scandinavian model: based on the principles within 'universalism'. This model provides significant aid to disadvantaged groups such as people with disabilities and is administered through the local government with limited contributions from non-governmental organisations.
|
||||
The family care model: employed throughout the Mediterranean, this model relies on the aid of individuals and families which usually work with clergy, as well as that of NGOs such as the Red Cross.
|
||||
The means-tested model: employed in the UK and Australia, the government provides support but has stringent regulations and checks which it employs to determine who is entitled to receive social services or assistance.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Recipients ===
|
||||
Social services may be available to the entirety of the population, such as the police and fire services, or they may be available to only specific groups or sections of society. Some examples of social service recipients include elderly people, children and families, people with disabilities, including both physical and mental disabilities. These may extend to drug users, young offenders and refugees and asylum seekers depending on the country and its social service programs, as well as the presence of non-governmental organisations.
|
||||
|
||||
== History ==
|
||||
|
||||
=== Early developments ===
|
||||
The development of social services increased significantly in the last two decades of the nineteenth century in Europe. There are a number of factors that contributed to the development of social services in this period. These include: the impacts of industrialisation and urbanisation, the influence of Protestant thought regarding state responsibility for welfare, and the growing influence of trade unions and the labour movement.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Europe (1833–1914) ====
|
||||
|
||||
In the nineteenth century, as countries industrialised further, the extent of social services in the form of labour schemes and compensation expanded. The expansion of social services began following Britain's legislation of the 1833 Factory Act. The legislation set limits on the minimum age of children working, preventing children younger than nine years of age from working. Additionally, the Act set a limit of 48 working hours per week for children aged 9 to 13, and for children aged 13 to 18 it was set at 12 hours per day. The Act also was the first legislation requiring compulsory schooling within Britain. Another central development for the existence of social services was Switzerland's legislation of the Factory Act in 1877. The Factory Act introduced limitations on working hours, provided maternity benefits and provided workplace protections for children and young adults. In Germany, Otto von Bismarck also introduced a large amount of social welfare legislation in this period. Mandatory sickness insurance was introduced in 1883, with workplace accident insurance enacted in 1884 alongside old age and invalidity schemes in 1889. Insurance laws of this kind were emulated in other European countries afterwards, with Sweden enacting voluntary sickness insurance in 1892, Denmark in 1892, Belgium in 1894, Switzerland in 1911, and Italy in 1886. Additionally, Belgium, France and Italy enacted legislation subsidising voluntary old-age insurance in this period. By the time the Netherlands introduced compulsory sickness insurance in 1913, all major European countries had introduced some form of insurance scheme.
|
||||
55
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_services-1.md
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||||
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|
||||
title: "Social services"
|
||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
category: "reference"
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tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:42.227529+00:00"
|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
==== South America (1910–1960) ====
|
||||
According to Carmelo Meso-Lago, social services and welfare systems within South America developed in three separate stages, with three groups of countries developing at different rates. The first group, consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay, developed social insurance schemes in the late 1910s and the 1920s. The notable schemes, which had been implemented by 1950, consisted of work injury insurance, pensions, and sickness and maternity insurance. The second group, consisting of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela, implemented these social services in the 1940s. The extent to which these programs and laws were implemented were less extensive than the first group. In the final group, consisting of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua, social services programmes were implemented in the 1950s and 1960s, with the least coverage out of each group. With the exception of Nicaragua, social service programs are not available for unemployment insurance or family allowances. Average expenditure on social services programs in as a percentage of GDP in these states is 5.3%, which is significantly lower than that of Europe and North America.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Asia (1950–2000) ====
|
||||
|
||||
Within Asia, the significant development of social services first began in Japan after the conclusion of World War II. Due to rising levels of social inequality in the 1950s following the reformation of the Japanese economy, the incumbent Liberal Democratic Party legislated extensive health insurance laws in 1958 and pensions in 1959 to address societal upheaval. In Singapore, a compulsory superannuation scheme was introduced in 1955. Within Korea, voluntary health insurance was made available in 1963 and mandated in 1976. Private insurance was only available to citizens employed by large corporate firms, while a separate insurance plans were provided to Civil Servants and military personnel. In Taiwan, the Kuomintang government in 1953 propagated a healthcare inclusive workers insurance programme. A separate insurance scheme for bureaucrats and the military was also provided in Korea in this time. In 1968, Singapore increased its social services program to include public housing, and expanding this further in 1984 to include medical care. Within both Korea and Taiwan, by the 1980s the number of workers that were covered by labour insurance had not increased above 20%.
|
||||
Following domestic political upheaval within Asian countries in the 1980s, the availability social services considerably increased in the region. In 1988 in Korea, health insurance was granted to self-employed rural workers, with coverage extended to urban-based self-employed workers in 1989. Additionally, a national pension program was initiated. Within Taiwan, an extensive national health insurance system was enacted in 1994 and implemented in 1995. During this period the Japanese government also expanded social services for children and the elderly, providing increased support services, increasing funding to care facilities and organisations, and legislating new insurance programs. In the 1990s, Shanghai introduced a housing affordability program which was then later expanded to include all of China. In 2000, Hong Kong introduced a superannuation scheme policy, with China implementing a similar policy soon after.
|
||||
|
||||
== Types ==
|
||||
Healthcare
|
||||
Education
|
||||
Police
|
||||
Labour Laws
|
||||
Fire Services
|
||||
Insurance laws
|
||||
Food banks
|
||||
Charitable Organisations
|
||||
Public housing
|
||||
Aged Care
|
||||
Disability Services
|
||||
Legal aid
|
||||
Youth Services
|
||||
Crisis Support Services
|
||||
Emergency Relief
|
||||
Public transportation
|
||||
|
||||
== Impacts ==
|
||||
|
||||
=== Quality of life ===
|
||||
There have been several findings which indicate that social services have a positive impact upon the quality of life of individuals. An OECD study in 2011 found that the countries with the highest ratings were Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, while the lowest ratings were given by people from Estonia, Portugal and Hungary. Another study recorded by the Global Barometer of Happiness in 2011 found similar results. Both of these studies indicated that the most important aspects of quality of life to people were health, education, welfare and the cost of living. Additionally, the countries with the perception of high-quality public services, specifically Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, scored the highest on levels of happiness. Conversely, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Italy, who scored low on levels of satisfaction of social services, had low levels of happiness, with some sociologists arguing this indicates there is a strong correlation between happiness and social services.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Poverty ===
|
||||
|
||||
Research indicates that welfare programs, which are included as a part of social services, have a considerable impact upon poverty rates in countries in which welfare expenditure accounts for over 20% of their GDP.
|
||||
However, the impact of social service programs on poverty varies depending on the service. One paper conducted within China indicates that social services in the form of direct financial assistance does not have a positive impact on the reduction of poverty rates. The paper also stated that the provision of public services in the form of medical insurance, health services and hygiene protection have a 'significantly positive' impact upon the reduction of poverty.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Expenditure on social welfare programs ===
|
||||
|
||||
The table below displays the welfare spending of countries as a percentage of their total GDP. The statistics are sourced from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Health services ===
|
||||
|
||||
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the provision of health services is a significant factor in ensuring that individuals are able to maintain their health and wellbeing. The WHO identifies 16 health services that must be provided by countries to ensure that universal health coverage is achieved. These are classified under four categories: reproductive, maternal and children health services, infectious diseases, 'noncommunicable' diseases, and basic access to medical services. OECD data reveals that the provision of universal health coverage leads to significantly positive outcomes on society. This includes a positive correlation between life expectancy and the provision of health services and a negative relationship between life expectancy and countries which's social service programs do not provide universal healthcare coverage. Additionally, the density of the provision of healthcare services by the government is positively associated with increases in life expectancy.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Children ===
|
||||
24
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_services-2.md
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|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Social services"
|
||||
chunk: 3/3
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_services"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:42.227529+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Within the area of child welfare, social services aim to provide help to children and their families, while providing mechanisms to ensure they are able to live safe, stable lives with a permanent home. In the United States, 3 million children are maltreated each year, with the overall economic costs of child maltreatment totalling up to US$80 billion annually. Social service programs cost the US$29 billion USD on child maltreatment prevention and child welfare services. According to researchers, social service programs are effective in reducing maltreatment and reducing overall economic costs to society, however the effectiveness of these programs are significantly reduced when they are not correctly implemented, or when these programs are not implemented together. The issues in which social services attempt at preventing for children include substance abuse, underemployment and unemployment, homelessness and criminal convictions. Social service programs within this area include family preservation, kinship care, foster and residential care.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Women ===
|
||||
Empirical evidence suggests that social service programs have had a significant impact upon the employment of single mothers. Following 1996 welfare reform in the US, employment rates among single mothers have increased considerably from 60% in 1994 to 72% in 1999. Social services, particularly education, are considered by UNICEF as an effective method through which to combat gender inequality. Social services such as education may be employed to overcome discrimination and challenge gender norms. Social services, notably educational programs and aid provided by organisations such as UNICEF, are also essential in providing women strategies and tools to prevent and respond to domestic and family violence. Other examples of social services which may help address this issue include the police, welfare services, counselling, legal aid and healthcare.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Social services and COVID-19 ===
|
||||
Social services have played a central role in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare workers, public officials, teachers, social welfare officers and other public servants have provided critical services in containing the pandemic and ensuring society functions. The impact of the pandemic was compounded by the shortage of social services globally, with the world requiring six million more nurses and midwives to achieve the goals set within the Sustainable Development Goals at the time of the outbreak. Social services, such as education, have been required to adapt to changing social conditions while still providing essential services. Social services have expanded worldwide through the introduction of economic stimulus packages, with governments globally committing US$130 Billion as of June 2020 to manage the pandemic.
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
In Chelsea, coalition aims to save lives on verge of unraveling – article on "Hub model" of social service coordination
|
||||
44
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_simulation-0.md
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44
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_simulation-0.md
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|
||||
---
|
||||
title: "Social simulation"
|
||||
chunk: 1/4
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_simulation"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:43.417449+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Social simulation is a research field that applies computational methods to study issues in the social sciences. The issues explored include problems in computational law, psychology, organizational behavior, sociology, political science, economics, anthropology, geography, engineering, archaeology and linguistics (Takahashi, Sallach & Rouchier 2007).
|
||||
Social simulation aims to cross the gap between the descriptive approach used in the social sciences and the formal approach used in the natural sciences, by moving the focus on the processes/mechanisms/behaviors that build the social reality.
|
||||
In social simulation, computers support human reasoning activities by executing these mechanisms. This field explores the simulation of societies as complex non-linear systems, which are difficult to study with classical mathematical equation-based models. Robert Axelrod regards social simulation as a third way of doing science, differing from both the deductive and inductive approach; generating data that can be analysed inductively, but coming from a rigorously specified set of rules rather than from direct measurement of the real world. Thus, simulating a phenomenon is akin to generating it—constructing artificial societies. These ambitious aims have encountered several criticisms.
|
||||
The social simulation approach to the social sciences is promoted and coordinated by four regional associations, the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA) for Europe, the Asian Social Simulation Association (ASSA) for Asia, the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas (CSSS) in North America, and the Pan-Asian Association for Agent-based Approach in Social Systems Sciences (PAAA) in Pacific Asia.
|
||||
|
||||
== History and development ==
|
||||
The history of the agent-based model can be traced back to the Von Neumann machine, a theoretical machine capable of reproducing itself. The device John von Neumann proposed woud follow precisely detailed instructions to fashion a copy of itself. The concept was then improved by von Neumann's friend Stanislaw Ulam, also a mathematician; Ulam suggested that the machine be built on paper, as a collection of cells on a grid. The idea intrigued von Neumann, who drew it up—creating the first of devices later termed cellular automata.
|
||||
Another improvement was brought by mathematician, John Conway. He constructed the well-known Game of Life. Unlike the von Neumann's machine, Conway's Game of Life operated by simple rules in a virtual world in the form of a 2-dimensional checkerboard.
|
||||
The birth of the agent-based model as a model for social systems was primarily brought about by a computer scientist, Craig Reynolds. He tried to model the reality of lively biological agents, known as the artificial life, a term coined by Christopher Langton.
|
||||
Joshua M. Epstein and Robert Axtell developed the first large scale agent model, the Sugarscape, to simulate and explore the role of social phenomena such as seasonal migrations, pollution, sexual reproduction, combat, transmission of disease, and even culture.
|
||||
Kathleen M. Carley published "Computational Organizational Science and Organizational Engineering" defining the movement of simulation into
|
||||
organizations, established a journal for social simulation applied to organizations and complex socio-technical systems: Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, and was the founding president of the North American Association of Computational Social and Organizational Systems that morphed into the current CSSSA.
|
||||
Nigel Gilbert published with Klaus G. Troitzsch the first textbook on social simulation: "Simulation for the Social Scientist" (1999) and established its most relevant journal: the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation.
|
||||
More recently, Ron Sun developed methods for basing agent-based simulation on models of human cognition, known as cognitive social simulation (see (Sun 2006))
|
||||
|
||||
== Topics ==
|
||||
Here are some sample topics that have been explored with social simulation:
|
||||
|
||||
Social norms: Robert Axelrod has used simulations to investigate the foundation of morality; others have modeled the emergence of norms using memes, or how social norms and emotions can regulate each other.
|
||||
Institutions: by investigating under what conditions agents manage to coordinate, or by modeling the works of Robert Putnam on civic traditions
|
||||
Reputation, for example by making agents with a model of reputation from Pierre Bourdieu (image, social esteem, and prestige) and observing their behavior in a virtual marketplace.
|
||||
Knowledge transmission and the social process of science: there is a special section on that topic in the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
|
||||
Elections: Kim (2011) has modeled a psychological model of judgement from previous research (notably featuring motivated reasoning), and compared the statistical regularities of the simulation with empirical observations of voter behavior; others have compared delegation methods.
|
||||
Economics: see computational economics and agent-based computational economics.
|
||||
|
||||
== Types of simulation and modeling ==
|
||||
Social simulation can refer to a general class of strategies for understanding social dynamics using computers to simulate social systems. Social simulation allows for a more systematic way of viewing the possibilities of outcomes.
|
||||
There are four major types of social simulation:
|
||||
|
||||
System level simulation.
|
||||
System level modeling.
|
||||
Agent-based simulation.
|
||||
Agent-based modeling.
|
||||
A social simulation may fall within the rubric of computational sociology which is a recently developed branch of sociology that uses computation to analyze social phenomena. The basic premise of computational sociology is to take advantage of computer simulations (Polhill & Edmonds 2007) in the construction of social theories. It involves the understanding of social agents, the interaction among these agents, and the effect of these interactions on the social aggregate. Although the subject matter and methodologies in social science differ from those in natural science or computer science, several of the approaches used in contemporary social simulation originated from fields such as physics and artificial intelligence.
|
||||
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|
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== System level simulation ===
|
||||
System Level Simulation (SLS) is the oldest level of social simulation. System level simulation looks at the situation as a whole. This theoretical outlook on social situations uses a wide range of information to determine what should happen to society and its members if certain variables are present. Therefore, with specific variables presented, society and its members should have a certain response to the new situation. Navigating through this theoretical simulation will allow researchers to develop educated ideas of what will happen under some specific variables.
|
||||
For example, if NASA were to conduct a system level simulation it would benefit the organization by providing a cost-effective research method to navigate through the simulation. This allows the researcher to steer through the virtual possibilities of the given simulation and develop safety procedures, and to produce proven facts about how a certain situation will play out. (National Research 2006)
|
||||
|
||||
=== System level modeling ===
|
||||
System level modeling (SLM) aims to specifically predict (unlike system level simulation's generalization in prediction) and convey any number of actions, behaviors, or other theoretical possibilities of nearly any person, object, construct et cetera within a system using a large set of mathematical equations and computer programming in the form of models.
|
||||
A model is a representation of a specific thing ranging from objects and people to structures and products created through mathematical equations and are designed, using computers, in such a way that they are able to stand-in as the aforementioned things in a study. Models can be either simplistic or complex, depending on the need for either; however, models are intended to be simpler than what they are representing while remaining realistically similar in order to be used accurately. They are built using a collection of data that is translated into computing languages that allow them to represent the system in question. These models, much like simulations, are used to help us better understand specific roles and actions of different things so as to predict behavior and the like.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Agent-based simulation ===
|
||||
Agent-based social simulation (ABSS) consists of modeling different societies after artificial agents, (varying on scale) and placing them in a computer simulated society to observe the behaviors of the agents. From this data it is possible to learn about the reactions of the artificial agents and translate them into the results of non-artificial agents and simulations. Three main fields in ABSS are agent-based computing, social science, and computer simulation.
|
||||
Agent-based computing is the design of the model and agents, while the computer simulation is the part of the simulation of the agents in the model and the outcomes. The social science is a mixture of sciences and social part of the model. It is where the social phenomena is developed and theorized. The main purpose of ABSS is to provide models and tools for agent-based simulation of social phenomena. With ABSS we can explore different outcomes for phenomena where we might not be able to view the outcome in real life. It can provide us valuable information on society and the outcomes of social events or phenomena.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Agent-based modeling ===
|
||||
Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a system in which a collection of agents independently interact on networks. Each individual agent is responsible for different behaviors that result in collective behaviors. These behaviors as a whole help to define the workings of the network. ABM focuses on human social interactions and how people work together and communicate with one another without having one, single "group mind". This essentially means that it tends to focus on the consequences of interactions between people (the agents) in a population. Researchers are better able to understand this type of modeling by modeling these dynamics on a smaller, more localized level. Essentially, ABM helps to better understand interactions between people (agents) who, in turn, influence one another (in response to these influences). Simple individual rules or actions can result in coherent group behavior. Changes in these individual acts can affect the collective group in any given population.
|
||||
Agent-based modeling is an experimental tool for theoretical research. It enables one to deal with more complex individual behaviors, such as adaptation. Overall, through this type of modeling, the creator, or researcher, aims to model behavior of agents and the communication between them in order to better understand how these individual interactions impact an entire population. In essence, ABM is a way of modeling and understanding different global patterns.
|
||||
|
||||
== Current research ==
|
||||
There are several current research projects that relate directly to modeling and agent-based simulation the following are listed below with a brief overview.
|
||||
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|
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|
||||
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|
||||
|
||||
"Generative e-Social Science for Socio-Spatial Simulation" or (GENESIS) is a research node of the UK National Centre for e-Social Science funded by the UK research council ESRC.
|
||||
"National e-Infrastructure for Social Simulation" or (NeISS) is a UK-based project funded by JISC.
|
||||
"Network Models Governance and R&D collaboration networks" or (N.E.M.O) is a research centre whose main focus is to identify ways to create and to assess desirable network structures for typical functions; (e.g. knowledge, creation, transfer, and distribution.) This research will ultimately aid policy-makers at all political levels in improving the effectiveness and efficiency of network-based policy instruments at promoting the knowledge economy in Europe.
|
||||
"Agent-based Simulations of Market and Consumer Behavior" is another research group that is funded by the Unilever Corporate Research. The current research that is being conducted is investigating the usefulness of agent-based simulations for modeling consumer behavior and to show the potential value and insights it can add to long-established marketing methods.
|
||||
"New and Emergent World Models Through Individual, Evolutionary and Social Learning" or (New Ties) is a three-year project that will ultimately create a virtual society developed by agent-based simulation. The project will develop a simulated society capable of exploring the environment and developing its own image of this environment and the society through interaction. The goal of the research project is for the simulated society to exhibit individual learning, evolutionary learning and social learning.
|
||||
Bruch and Mare's project on neighborhood segregation: The purpose of the study is to figure out the reasoning for neighborhood segregation based on race, and to figure out the tipping point or when people become uncomfortable with the integration levels into their neighborhood, and decide to flee from the neighborhood. They set up a model using flash cards, and put the agent's house in the middle and put houses of different races surrounding the agent's house. They asked people how comfortable they would feel with different situations; if they were okay with one situation, they asked another until the neighborhood was fully integrated. Bruch and Mare's results showed that the tipping point was at 50%. When a neighborhood became 50% minority and 50% white, people of both races began to become uncomfortable and white flight began to rise. The use of agent-based modeling showed how useful it can be in the world of sociology, people did not have to answer why they would become uncomfortable, just which situation they were uncomfortable with.
|
||||
The MAELIA Program (Multi-Agent Emergent Norms Assessment) is a project dealing with the relationships between the users and managers of a natural resource, in that case water, and the related norms and laws that are to be built within them (conventions) or are imposed to them by other actors (institutions). The purpose of the project is to build a generic multiscale platform which is planned to deal with water conflict-related issues.
|
||||
The Mosi-Agil project is a four-year program funded by the Autonomous Region of Madrid through the program MOSI-AGIL-CM (grant S2013/ICE-3019, co-funded by EU Structural Funds FSE and FEDER). It aims at creating a body of knowledge and practical tools which are necessary to handle more effectively the behavior of occupants of large facilities. Therefore, the project studies the development of ambient intelligence and intelligent environments supported by the use of Agent-Based Social Simulation.
|
||||
Agent-based modeling is most useful in providing a bridge between micro and macro levels, which is a large part of what sociology studies. Agent-based models are most appropriate for studying processes that lack central coordination, including the emergence of institutions that, once established, impose order from the top down. The models focus on how simple and predictable local interactions generate familiar but highly detailed global patterns, such as emergence of norms and participation of collective action. Michael W. Macy and Robert Willer researched a recent survey of applications and found that there were two main problems with agent-based modeling the self-organization of social structure and the emergence of social order (Macy & Willer 2002). Below is a brief description of each problem Macy and Willer believe there to be;
|
||||
|
||||
"Emergent structure. In these models, agents change location or behavior in response to social influences or selection pressures. Agents may start out undifferentiated and then change location or behavior so as to avoid becoming different or isolated (or in some cases, overcrowded). Rather than producing homogeneity, however, these conformist decisions aggregate to produce global patterns of cultural differentiation, stratification, and homophilic clustering in local networks. Other studies reverse the process, starting with a heterogeneous population and ending in convergence: the coordination, diffusion, and sudden collapse of norms, conventions, innovations, and technological standards."
|
||||
"Emergent social order. These studies show how egoistic adaptation can lead to successful collective action without either altruism or global (top down) imposition of control. A key finding across numerous studies is that the viability of trust, cooperation, and collective action depends decisively on the embeddedness of interaction."
|
||||
These examples simply show the complexity of our environment and that agent-based models are designed to explore the minimal conditions, the simplest set of assumptions about human behavior, required for a given social phenomenon to emerge at a higher level of organization.
|
||||
|
||||
== Criticisms ==
|
||||
Since its creation, computerized social simulation has been the target of some criticism in regard to its practicality and accuracy. Social simulation's simplification of the complex to form models from which we can better understand the latter is sometimes seen as a draw back, as using fairly simple models to simulate real life with computers is not always the best way to predict behavior.
|
||||
Most of the criticism seems to be aimed at agent-based models and simulation and how they work:
|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Simulations, being man-made from mathematical interfaces, predict human behavior in a far too simple manner in regard to the complexities of humanity and our actions.
|
||||
Simulations cannot enlighten researchers as to how people interact or behave in ways not programmed into their models. For this reason, the scope of simulations are limited in that the researchers must already know what they are going to find (to a degree, for they cannot find anything they themselves did not place in the model) at least vaguely, possibly skewing the results.
|
||||
Due to the complexities of what is being measured, simulations must be analyzed in unbiased ways; however, with the model running on a pre-made set of instructions coded into it by a modeler, biases exist almost universally.
|
||||
It is highly difficult and often impractical to attempt to link the findings from the abstract world the simulation creates and our complex society and all of its variation.
|
||||
Researchers working in social simulation might respond that the competing theories from the social sciences are far simpler than those achieved through simulation and therefore suffer the aforementioned drawbacks much more strongly. Theories in some social science tend to be linear models that are not dynamic, and are generally inferred from small laboratory experiments (laboratory tests are most common in psychology but rare in sociology, political science, economics and geography). The behavior of populations of agents under these models is rarely tested or verified against empirical observation.
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
Agent-based computational economics
|
||||
Agent-based social simulation
|
||||
Artificial consciousness
|
||||
Artificial reality
|
||||
Artificial society
|
||||
Computational sociology
|
||||
Cliodynamics
|
||||
Interactive online characters
|
||||
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
|
||||
Simulated reality
|
||||
Synthetic Environment for Analysis and Simulations
|
||||
System dynamics
|
||||
Virtual reality
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
Carley, Kathleen M. (2002), "Computational organizational science and organizational engineering", Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, 10 (5–7): 253–269, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.299.9346, doi:10.1016/S1569-190X(02)00119-3
|
||||
Davidsson, Paul (2000), "Multi Agent Based Simulation: Beyond Social Simulation" (PDF), Multi-Agent-Based Simulation, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1979: 97–107, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.15.1056, doi:10.1007/3-540-44561-7_7, ISBN 978-3-540-41522-0{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
|
||||
Hadzibeganovic, Tarik; Stauffer, Dietrich; Schulze, Christian (2008), "Boundary effects in a three-state modified voter model for languages", Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and Its Applications, 387 (13): 3242–3252, arXiv:0711.2757, Bibcode:2008PhyA..387.3242H, doi:10.1016/j.physa.2008.02.003, S2CID 14334804
|
||||
Polhill, G. J.; Edmonds, B. (2007), "Open Access for Social Simulation" (PDF), Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 10 (3)
|
||||
Takahashi, Shingo; Sallach, David; Rouchier, Juliette (2007), Advancing Social Simulation: The First World Congress, Springer, p. 354, ISBN 978-4-431-73150-4
|
||||
Macy, M. W.; Willer, R. (2002), "From Factors to Actors", Annual Review of Sociology, 28: 143–166, doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141117, S2CID 1368768
|
||||
Margitay-Becht, Andras (2005), "Agent Based Modelling of AID" (PDF), Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems: 84–93, archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-30, retrieved 2007-09-25
|
||||
National Research, C. (2006), Defense Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis: Meeting the Challenge, 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, ISBN 978-0-309-10303-9
|
||||
Sylvan, Donald A. (1998), "Modeling the rise and fall of states", Mershon International Studies Review, 42 (Supplement_2): 377–379, doi:10.2307/254437, JSTOR 254437
|
||||
Silverman, Eric; Bryden, John (2007), "From Artificial Societies to New Social Science Theory", Advances in Artificial Life (PDF), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 4648, pp. 565–574, doi:10.1007/978-3-540-74913-4_57, ISBN 978-3-540-74912-7
|
||||
Stauffer, Dietrich (2003), "Sociophysics simulations", Computing in Science and Engineering, 5 (3): 71–75, arXiv:cond-mat/0210213, Bibcode:2003CSE.....5c..71S, doi:10.1109/MCISE.2003.1196310, S2CID 15746458
|
||||
Sun, Ron (2006), Cognition and Multi-Agent Interaction: From Cognitive Modeling to Social Simulation, Cambridge University Press, New York
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
JASSS - The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
|
||||
ESSA - The European Social Simulation Association
|
||||
CSSSA - The Computational Social Science Society of the Americas
|
||||
ASSA - The Asian Social Simulation Association
|
||||
JoSC - The Journal of Social Complexity
|
||||
Entry on Social Simulation in the NCeSS Wiki
|
||||
Centre for Research in Social Simulation, University of Surrey
|
||||
Laboratory for Agent Based Social Simulation, National Research Council (CNR), Italy
|
||||
Dynamics Lab University College Dublin Ireland
|
||||
CASOS - Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems
|
||||
20
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|
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|
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date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:44.656804+00:00"
|
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as a catch-all for these subjects, as well as others which did not fit into the models of lower education in the United States such as philosophy and psychology. One of the purposes of social studies, particularly at the level of higher education, is to integrate several disciplines, with their unique methodologies and special focuses of concentration, into a coherent field of subject areas that communicate with each other by sharing different academic "tools" and perspectives for deeper analysis of social problems and issues. Social studies aims to train students for informed, responsible participation in a diverse democratic society. It provides the necessary background knowledge in order to develop values and reasoned opinions, and the objective of the field is civic competence. A related term is humanities, arts, and social sciences, abbreviated HASS.
|
||||
|
||||
== Branches of social studies ==
|
||||
Social studies is not a subject unto itself; instead, it functions as a field of study that incorporates many different subjects. It primarily includes the subjects of history, economics, and civics. Through all of that, the elements of geography, sociology, ethics, psychology, philosophy, anthropology, art and literature are incorporated into the subject field itself. The field of study itself focuses on human beings and their respective relationships. With that, many of these subjects include some form of social utility that is beneficial to the subject field itself. The whole field is rarely taught; typically, a few subjects combined are taught. Recognition of the field has, arguably, lessened the significance of history, with the exception of U.S. History. Initially, only History and Civics were significant parts of the high school curriculum; eventually, Economics became a significant part of the high school curriculum, as well. While History and Civics were already established, the significance of Economics in the high school curriculum is more recent. History and Civics are similar in many ways, though they differ in class activity. There was some division between scholars on the topic of merging the subjects, though it was agreed that presenting a full picture of the world to students was extremely important.
|
||||
|
||||
=== College level ===
|
||||
Social studies as a college major or concentration remains uncommon, although such a degree is offered at Harvard University. Harvard first introduced social studies as a formal field of study in 1960, through the work of a committee led by Stanley Hoffman, and today known as the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies. Those that concentrated in social studies during their time at Harvard include Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello (1986), hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and theater director Diana Paulus (both in 1988), as well as journalist Sewell Chan (1998).
|
||||
|
||||
== Australia ==
|
||||
Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) is taught in Australian schools and divided into 4 categories: history, civics and citizenship, economics and geography. Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) is a similar term used in the education system of the Australian state of New South Wales.
|
||||
35
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|
||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:44.656804+00:00"
|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
== United States ==
|
||||
The subject was introduced to promote social welfare and its development in countries like the United States and others.
|
||||
An early concept of social studies is found in John Dewey's philosophy of elementary and secondary education. Dewey valued the subject field of geography for uniting the study of human occupations with the study of the earth. He valued inquiry as a process of learning, as opposed to the absorption and recitation of facts, and he advocated for greater inquiry in elementary and secondary education, to mirror the kind of learning that takes place in higher education. His ideas are manifested to a large degree in the practice of inquiry-based learning and student-directed investigations implemented in contemporary social studies classrooms. Dewey valued the study of history for its social processes and application to contemporary social problems, rather than a mere narrative of human events. In this view, the study of history is made relevant to the modern student and is aimed at the improvement of society.
|
||||
In the United States through the 1900s, social studies revolved around the study of geography, government, and history. In 1912, the Bureau of Education (not to be confused with its successor, the United States Department of Education) was tasked by then Secretary of the Interior Franklin Knight Lane with completely restructuring the American education system for the twentieth century. In response, the Bureau of Education, together with the National Education Association, created the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. The commission was made up of 16 committees (a 17th was established two years later, in 1916), each one tasked with the reform of a specific aspect of the American Education system. Among these was the Committee on Social Studies, which was created to consolidate and standardize subjects that did not fit within normal school curricula into a new subject, to be called "the social studies".
|
||||
The work done by the Committee on Social Studies culminated in the publication of Bulletin No. 28, which was entitled The Social Studies in Secondary Education. The 66-page bulletin, published and distributed by the Bureau of Education, is believed to be the first work dedicated entirely to the subject. It was designed to introduce the concept to American educators and serve as a guide for the creation of nationwide curricula based around social studies. The bulletin proposed many ideas that were considered radical at the time, and it is regarded by many educators as one of the most controversial educational resources of the early twentieth century. Early proponents of the field of social studies include Harold O. Rugg and David Saville Muzzey.
|
||||
In the years after its release, the bulletin received criticism from educators on its vagueness, especially in regards to the definition of social studies itself. Critics often point to Section 1 of the report, which vaguely defines social studies as "understood to be those whose subject matter relates directly to the organization and development of human society, and to man as a member of social groups."
|
||||
The changes to the field of study didn't fully materialize until the 1950s, when changes occurred at the state and national levels that dictated the curriculum and the preparation standards of its teachers. This led to a decrease in the amount of factual knowledge being delivered, and instead focused on key concepts, generalizations, and intellectual skills. By the 1980s and 1990s, the development of computer technologies helped grow the publishing industry. Textbooks were created around the curriculum of each state and that, coupled with the increase in political factors from globalization and growing economies, lead to changes in the public and private education systems. Now came the influx of national curriculum standards, from the increase of testing to the accountability of teachers and school districts shifting the social study education system to what it has become.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Teaching social studies ===
|
||||
To teach social studies in the United States, one must obtain a valid teaching certification to teach in that given state and a valid subject specific certification in social studies. The social studies certification process focuses on the core areas of history, economics, and civics, and sometimes psychology, and sociology. Each state has specific requirements for the certification process and the teacher must follow the specific guidelines of the state they wish to teach in.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Ten themes of social studies ===
|
||||
According to the National Council for the Social Studies, there are ten themes that represent the standards about human experience that is constituted in the effectiveness of social studies as a subject study from pre-K through 12th grade.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Culture ====
|
||||
The study of culture and diversity allows learners to experience culture through all stages from learning to adaptation, shaping their respective lives and society itself. This social studies theme includes the principles of multiculturalism, a field of study in its own right that aims to achieve greater understanding between culturally diverse groups of students as well as including the experiences of culturally diverse learners in the curriculum.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Time, continuity, and change ====
|
||||
Learners examine the past and the history of events that lead to the development of the current world. Ultimately, the learners will examine the beliefs and values of the past to apply them to the present. Learners build their inquiry skills in the study of history.
|
||||
|
||||
==== People, places, and environment ====
|
||||
Learners will understand who they are and the environment and places that surround them. It gives spatial views and perspectives of the world to the learner. This theme is largely contained in the field of geography, which includes the study of humanity's connections with resources, instruction in reading maps and techniques and perspectives in analyzing information about human populations and the Earth's systems.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Individual development and identity ====
|
||||
Learners will understand their own personal identity, development, and actions. Through this, they will be able to understand the influences that surround them.
|
||||
38
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|
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|
||||
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||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:44.656804+00:00"
|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
==== Individuals, groups, and institutions ====
|
||||
Learners will understand how groups and institutions influence people's everyday lives. They will be able to understand how groups and institutions are formed, maintained, and changed.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Power, authority, and governance ====
|
||||
Learners will understand the forms of power, authority, and governance from historical to contemporary times. They will become familiar with the purpose of power, and with the limits that power has on society.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Production, distribution, and consumption ====
|
||||
Learners will understand the organization of goods and services, ultimately preparing the learner for the study of greater economic issues. The study of economic issues, and with it, financial literacy, is intended to increase students' knowledge and skills when it comes to participating in the economy as workers, producers, and consumers.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Science, technology, and society ====
|
||||
Learners will understand the relationship between science, technology, and society, understanding the advancement through the years and the impacts they have had.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Global connections ====
|
||||
Learners will understand the interactive environment of global interdependence and will understand the global connections that shape the everyday world.
|
||||
|
||||
==== Civic ideals and practices ====
|
||||
Learners will understand the rights and responsibilities of citizens and learn to grow in their appreciation of active citizenship. Ultimately, this helps their growth as full participants in society. Some of the values that civics courses strive to teach are an understanding of the right to privacy, an appreciation for diversity in American society, and a disposition to work through democratic procedures. One of the curricular tools used in the field of civics education is a simulated congressional hearing. Social studies educators and scholars distinguish between different levels of civic engagement, from the minimal engagement or non-engagement of the legal citizen to the most active and responsible level of the transformative citizen. Within social studies, the field of civics aims to educate and develop learners into transformative citizens who not only participate in a democracy, but challenge the status quo in the interest of social justice.
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2021). Sociology (9th ed.). Polity Press.
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
The Social Studies in Secondary Education
|
||||
National Council for the Social Studies
|
||||
Changes in Social Studies
|
||||
History in Social Studies
|
||||
Social Civics, published in New York by The MacMillan Company, 1922.
|
||||
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|
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|
||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work practice draws from liberal arts, social science, and interdisciplinary areas such as psychology, sociology, health, political science, community development, law, and economics to engage with systems and policies, conduct assessments, develop interventions, and enhance social functioning and responsibility. The ultimate goals of social work include the improvement of people's lives, alleviation of biopsychosocial concerns, empowerment of individuals and communities, and the achievement of social reform.
|
||||
Social work practice is often divided into three levels. Micro-work involves working directly with individuals and families, such as providing individual counseling/therapy or assisting a family in accessing services. Mezzo-work involves working with groups and communities, such as conducting group therapy or providing services for community agencies. Macro-work involves fostering change on a larger scale through advocacy, social policy, research development, non-profit and public service administration, or working with government agencies. Starting in the 1960s, a few universities began social work management programmes, to prepare students for the management of social and human service organizations, in addition to classical social work education.
|
||||
The social work profession developed in the 19th century, with some of its roots in voluntary philanthropy and in grassroots organizing. However, responses to social needs had existed long before then, primarily from public almshouses, private charities and religious organizations. The effects of the Industrial Revolution and of the Great Depression of the 1930s placed pressure on social work to become a more defined discipline as social workers responded to the child welfare concerns related to widespread poverty and reliance on child labor in industrial settings.
|
||||
|
||||
== Definition ==
|
||||
Social work is a broad profession that intersects with several disciplines. Social work organizations offer the following definitions:
|
||||
|
||||
Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities, and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance well-being.
|
||||
—International Federation of Social Workers
|
||||
Social work is a profession concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. It aims to help people develop their skills and their ability to use their resources and those of the community to resolve problems. Social work is concerned with individual and personal problems but also with broader social issues such as poverty, unemployment, and domestic violence.
|
||||
— Canadian Association of Social Workers
|
||||
Social work practice consists of the professional application of social principles, and techniques to one or more of the following ends: helping people obtain tangible services; counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or improve social and health services, and participating in legislative processes. The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development and behavior; of social and economic, and cultural institutions; and the interaction of all these factors.
|
||||
—[US] National Association of Social Workers
|
||||
Social workers work with individuals and families to help improve outcomes in their lives. This may be helping to protect vulnerable people from harm or abuse or supporting people to live independently. Social workers support people, act as advocates and direct people to the services they may require. Social workers often work in multi-disciplinary teams alongside health and education professionals.
|
||||
—British Association of Social Workers
|
||||
|
||||
== History ==
|
||||
|
||||
The practice and profession of social work has a relatively modern and scientific origin, and is generally considered to have developed out of three strands. The first was individual casework, a strategy pioneered by the Charity Organization Society in the mid-19th century, which was founded by Helen Bosanquet and Octavia Hill in London, England. Most historians identify COS as the pioneering organization of the social theory that led to the emergence of social work as a professional occupation. COS had its main focus on individual casework. The second was social administration, which included various forms of poverty relief – 'relief of paupers'. Statewide poverty relief could be said to have its roots in the English Poor Laws of the 17th century but was first systematized through the efforts of the Charity Organization Society. The third consisted of social action – rather than engaging in the resolution of immediate individual requirements, the emphasis was placed on political action working through the community and the group to improve their social conditions and thereby alleviate poverty. This approach was developed originally by the Settlement House Movement.
|
||||
This was accompanied by a less easily defined movement; the development of institutions to deal with the entire range of social problems. All had their most rapid growth during the nineteenth century, and laid the foundation basis for modern social work, both in theory and in practice.
|
||||
Professional social work originated in 19th century England, and had its roots in the social and economic upheaval wrought by the Industrial Revolution, in particular, the societal struggle to deal with the resultant mass urban-based poverty and its related problems. Because poverty was the main focus of early social work, it was intricately linked with the idea of charity work.
|
||||
Other important historical figures that shaped the growth of the social work profession are Jane Addams, who founded the Hull House in Chicago and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931; Mary Ellen Richmond, who wrote Social Diagnosis, one of the first social workbooks to incorporate law, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, and history; and William Beveridge, who created the social welfare state, framing the debate on social work within the context of social welfare provision.
|
||||
15
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|
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|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== United States ===
|
||||
During the 1840s, Dorothea Lynde Dix, a retired Boston teacher who is considered the founder of the Mental Health Movement, began a crusade that would change the way people with mental disorders were viewed and treated. Dix was not a social worker; the profession was not established until after she died in 1887. However, her life and work were embraced by early psychiatric social workers (mental health social worker/clinical social worker), and she is considered one of the pioneers of psychiatric social work along with Elizabeth Horton, who in 1907 was the first social worker to work in a psychiatric setting as an aftercare agent in the New York hospital systems to provide post-discharge supportive services.
|
||||
The early twentieth century marked a period of progressive change in attitudes towards mental illness. The increased demand for psychiatric services following the First World War led to significant developments. In 1918, Smith College School for Social Work was established, and under the guidance of Mary C. Jarrett at Boston Psychopathic Hospital, students from Smith College were trained in psychiatric social work. She first gave social workers the "Psychiatric Social Worker" designation. A book titled "The Kingdom of Evils," released in 1922, authored by a hospital administrator and the head of the social service department at Boston Psychopathic Hospital, described the roles of psychiatric social workers in the hospital. These roles encompassed casework, managerial duties, social research, and public education. After World War II, a series of mental hygiene clinics were established. The Community Mental Health Centers Act was passed in 1963. This policy encouraged the deinstitutionalisation of people with mental illness. Later, the mental health consumer movement came by 1980s. A consumer was defined as a person who has received or is currently receiving services for a psychiatric condition. People with mental disorders and their families became advocates for better care. Building public understanding and awareness through consumer advocacy helped bring mental illness and its treatment into mainstream medicine and social services. The 2000s saw the managed care movement, which aimed at a health care delivery system to eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate care to reduce costs, and the recovery movement, which by principle acknowledges that many people with serious mental illness spontaneously recover and others recover and improve with proper treatment.
|
||||
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq and War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), social workers worked in NATO hospitals in Afghanistan and Iraqi bases. They made visits to provide counseling services at forward operating bases. Twenty-two percent of the clients were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, 17 percent with depression, and 7 percent with alcohol use disorder. In 2009, there was a high level of suicides among active-duty soldiers: 160 confirmed or suspected Army suicides. In 2008, the Marine Corps had a record 52 suicides. The stress of long and repeated deployments to war zones, the dangerous and confusing nature of both wars, wavering public support for the wars, and reduced troop morale all contributed to escalating mental health issues. Military and civilian social workers served a critical role in the veterans' health care system.
|
||||
Mental health services is a loose network of services ranging from highly structured inpatient psychiatric units to informal support groups, where psychiatric social workers indulge in the diverse approaches in multiple settings along with other paraprofessional workers.
|
||||
40
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||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
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|
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|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:45.966175+00:00"
|
||||
instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Bohjalian, Chris (2007). The double bind: a novel (1st ed.). New York: Shaye Areheart Books. ISBN 978-1-4000-4746-8.
|
||||
Cooper, Philip (2013). Social work man. Leicester: Matador. ISBN 978-1-78088-508-7.
|
||||
Barrington, Freya (2015). Known to Social Services (1st ed.). USA: FARAXA Publishing. ISBN 978-99957-828-7-0.
|
||||
Desai, Kishwar (2010). Witness the night. London: Beautiful Books. ISBN 978-1-905636-85-3.
|
||||
Irish, Lola (1993). Streets of dust: a novel based on the life of Caroline Chisholm. Kirribilli, N.S.W: Eldorado. ISBN 1-86412-001-0.
|
||||
Greenlee, Sam (1990) [1969]. The spook who sat by the door: a novel. African American life. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2246-8.
|
||||
Konrád, György (1987). The case worker. Writers from the other Europe. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-009946-8.
|
||||
Henderson, Smith (2014). Fourth of July Creek: A Novel. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-228644-4.
|
||||
Johnson, Greg (2011). A very famous social worker. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse Inc. ISBN 978-1-4502-8548-3.
|
||||
Johnson, Kristin (2012). Unprotected: a novel. St. Butt, MN: North Star Press. ISBN 978-0-87839-589-7.
|
||||
Kalpakian, Laura (1992). Graced land (1st ed.). New York: Grove Weidenfeld. ISBN 0-8021-1474-1.
|
||||
Lewis, Sinclair (1933). Ann Vickers (First ed.). Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company. OCLC 288770.
|
||||
Mengestu, Dinaw (2014). All our names (First ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-385-34998-7.
|
||||
Sapphire (1996). Push: a novel (1st ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf; Random House. ISBN 0-679-44626-5. The basis of the movie Precious.
|
||||
Smith, Ali (2011) There But For The, Hamish Hamilton, Pantheon.
|
||||
Ungar, Michael (2011). The social worker: a novel. Lawrencetown, N.S: Pottersfield Press. ISBN 978-1-897426-26-5.
|
||||
Weinbren, Martin (2010). King Welfare. Bakewell: Peakpublish. ISBN 978-1-907219-18-4.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Fictional social workers in media ===
|
||||
|
||||
== See also ==
|
||||
|
||||
== References ==
|
||||
|
||||
== Further reading ==
|
||||
|
||||
== External links ==
|
||||
|
||||
Social Work, WCIDWTM - The University of Tennessee
|
||||
Social Work Evaluation and Research Resources Archived October 10, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
|
||||
19
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|
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|
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|
||||
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||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== Canada ===
|
||||
A role for psychiatric social workers was established early in Canada's history of service delivery in the field of population health. Native North Americans understood mental trouble as an indication of an individual who had lost their equilibrium with the sense of place and belonging in general, and with the rest of the group in particular. In native healing beliefs, health and mental health were inseparable, so similar combinations of natural and spiritual remedies were often employed to relieve both mental and physical illness. These communities and families greatly valued holistic approaches for preventive health care. Indigenous peoples in Canada have faced cultural oppression and social marginalization through the actions of European colonizers and their institutions since the earliest periods of contact. Culture contact brought with it many forms of depredation. Economic, political, and religious institutions of the European settlers all contributed to the displacement and oppression of indigenous people.
|
||||
The first officially recorded treatment practices were in 1714, when Quebec opened wards for the mentally ill. In the 1830s social services were active through charity organizations and church parishes (Social Gospel Movement). Asylums for the insane were opened in 1835 in Saint John and New Brunswick. In 1841 in Toronto care for the mentally ill became institutionally based. Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867, retaining its ties to the British crown. During this period, age of industrial capitalism began and it led to social and economic dislocation in many forms. By 1887 asylums were converted to hospitals, and nurses and attendants were employed for the care of the mentally ill. Social work training began at the University of Toronto in 1914. Before that, social workers acquired their training through trial and error methods on the job and by participating in apprenticeship plans offered by charity organization societies. These plans included related study, practical experience, and supervision. In 1918 Dr. Clarence Hincks and Clifford Beers founded the Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene, which later became the Canadian Mental Health Association. In the 1930s Hincks promoted prevention and of treating sufferers of mental illness before they were incapacitated (early intervention).
|
||||
World War II profoundly affected attitudes towards mental health. The medical examinations of recruits revealed that thousands of apparently healthy adults suffered mental difficulties. This knowledge changed public attitudes towards mental health, and stimulated research into preventive measures and methods of treatment. In 1951 Mental Health Week was introduced across Canada. For the first half of the twentieth century, with a period of deinstitutionalisation beginning in the late 1960s psychiatric social work succeeded to the current emphasis on community-based care, psychiatric social work focused beyond the medical model's aspects on individual diagnosis to identify and address social inequities and structural issues. In the 1980s Mental Health Act was amended to give consumers the right to choose treatment alternatives. Later the focus shifted to workforce mental health issues and environmental root causes.
|
||||
In Ontario, the regulator, the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW) regulates two professions: registered social workers (RSW) and registered social service workers (RSSW). Each province has similar regulatory bodies, and their leanings and interpretations are influenced by the Canadian Council of Social Work Regulators (CCSWR). The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) is the national professional body for social workers. Prior to the provincial-level politicization that began in the early 2000s and lasted until the mid-2010s, registrants of this professional body were able to engage in interprovincial practice as registered social workers.
|
||||
|
||||
=== France ===
|
||||
The social worker (in France) or social assistant (in Belgium and Switzerland) helps individuals, families or groups in difficulty in order to promote their well-being, social integration and autonomy.
|
||||
The professional standards are set out in Annex I of the decree of 22 August 2018, which specifies that the social work assistant is a social work professional. They work within the framework of a mandate and institutional missions. They carry out social interventions, individual or collective, with a view to improving the living conditions of individuals and families through a comprehensive approach and social support. Social work assistants and students preparing for the practice of this profession are bound by professional secrecy under the conditions and subject to the reservations set out in Articles 226-13 and 226-14 of the Penal Code and Article L.411-3 of the Social Action and Families Code.
|
||||
12
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||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
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|
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|
||||
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||||
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|
||||
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|
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
But general bodies/councils accepts automatically a university-qualified social worker as a professional licensed to practice or as a qualified clinician. Lack of a centralized council in tie-up with Schools of Social Work also makes a decline in promotion for the scope of social workers as mental health professionals. Though in this midst the service of social workers has given a facelift to the mental health sector in the country with other allied professionals.
|
||||
68
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|
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||||
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||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
=== Iran ===
|
||||
|
||||
State welfare organization was previously part of health and social security ministry.
|
||||
|
||||
== Theoretical models and practices ==
|
||||
Social work is an interdisciplinary profession, meaning it draws from a number of areas, such as (but not limited to) psychology, sociology, politics, criminology, economics, ecology, education, health, law, philosophy, anthropology, and counseling, including psychotherapy. Field work is a distinctive attribution to social work pedagogy. This equips the trainee in understanding the theories and models within the field of work. Professional practitioners from multicultural aspects have their roots in this social work immersion engagements from the early 19th century in the western countries. Social work theories help explain the root causes of problems and identify the most effective intervention methods. Key perspectives include:
|
||||
|
||||
=== Systems theory ===
|
||||
Systems theory views people as products of complex systems (family, community, social environment) rather than as isolated individuals. In social work, the use of systems theory enables professionals to view the situation and environmental factors of their clients holistically, thereby better understanding the reasons behind their challenges, difficulties, and choices.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Complexity theory ===
|
||||
Complexity theory focuses on unpredictable, emergent patterns in these vast, dynamic systems (like societal issues), offering tools to navigate messy realities beyond simple cause-and-effect, crucial for tackling complex social problems like poverty or mental health crises through adaptive, vision-based approaches rather than rigid plans.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Psychodynamic theory ===
|
||||
Psychodynamic theory focuses on the psychological drives and forces within individuals, explores how unconscious drives, childhood experiences, and internal conflicts (e.g. between instinctual drives or id, rational decision-making or ego, and internalized morals or superego) shape personality and behavior, stemming from Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis, emphasizing that unresolved early traumas manifest in later life.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Cognitive Theory ===
|
||||
Cognitive theory uncovers how a person's thinking influences behavior. It focuses on how individuals perceive, process, and interpret information, emphasizing the role of thoughts and beliefs in shaping behavior and emotions.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Social learning theory ===
|
||||
Social learning theory introduced by psychologist Albert Bandura, posits that people learn new behaviors, attitudes, and emotional responses by observing, imitating, and emulating others—especially when these behaviors are reinforced. This theory blends behaviorism and cognitive learning theory, emphasizing that learning is not merely the result of direct experience or conditioned reflexes, but also involves intrinsic psychological processes such as attention, memory, and motivation.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Rational choice theory and Social exchange theory ===
|
||||
Rational choice theory views service recipients as rational actors who weigh costs and benefits to maximize positive outcomes. This theory helps social workers understand service recipient motivations, develop empowering interventions, and evaluate decisions by analyzing perceived risks/rewards.
|
||||
Social exchange theory applies the logic of rational choice theory specifically to social interactions, viewing relationships as exchanges where people seek profitable, i.e. reward greater than cost.
|
||||
Both theories have been criticized for oversimplifying human behavior and downplaying emotions, altruism, or irrationality, but it has been argued that they provide valuable frameworks for understanding decision-making.
|
||||
|
||||
=== The developmental perspective ===
|
||||
The developmental perspective views people as capable of growth, focusing on strengths, potential, and building self-reliance, rather than just fixing problems. Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory is a highly influential framework that, building on Sigmund Freud's theory of psychosexual development, emphasizes the role of social interaction and culture throughout the life cycle. Erikson described eight stages, each with a major psychosocial task to accomplish or crisis to overcome:
|
||||
|
||||
Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy)
|
||||
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Toddlerhood)
|
||||
Initiative vs. Guilt (Preschool years)
|
||||
Industry vs. Inferiority (School age)
|
||||
Identity vs. Role Confusion (Adolescence)
|
||||
Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young adulthood)
|
||||
Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle adulthood)
|
||||
Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Late adulthood)
|
||||
|
||||
=== Conflict theory ===
|
||||
Conflict theory, influenced by Karl Marx, explains how oppression, discrimination, power structures, power struggles and social inequalities impact people's lives and contribute to social problems. Social workers applying this theory may focus on initiatives, social justice, and structural change to address poverty, discrimination, and oppression.
|
||||
|
||||
=== Others ===
|
||||
As an example, here are some of the models and theories used within social work practice:
|
||||
|
||||
== Profession ==
|
||||
American educator Abraham Flexner in a 1915 lecture, "Is Social Work a Profession?", delivered at the National Conference on Charities and Corrections, examined the characteristics of a profession concerning social work. It is not a 'single model', such as that of health, followed by medical professions such as nurses and doctors, but an integrated profession, and the likeness with medical profession is that social work requires a continued study for professional development to retain knowledge and skills that are evidence-based by practice standards. A social work professional's services lead toward the aim of providing beneficial services to individuals, dyads, families, groups, organizations, and communities to achieve optimum psychosocial functioning.
|
||||
Its eight core functions present in its methods of practice are described by Popple and Leighninger as:
|
||||
|
||||
Engagement — social worker must first engage the client in early meetings to promote a collaborative relationship
|
||||
Assessment — data gathered must be specifically aimed at guiding and directing a plan of action to help the client
|
||||
Planning — negotiate and formulate an action plan
|
||||
Implementation — promote resource acquisition and enhance role performance
|
||||
Monitoring/Evaluation — ongoing documentation for assessing the extent to which the client is following through on short-term goal attainment
|
||||
Supportive Counseling — affirming, challenging, encouraging, informing, and exploring options
|
||||
Graduated Disengagement — seeking to replace the social worker with a naturally occurring resource
|
||||
Administration — planning and managing social work programs, providing operations management support, and administrating case management services
|
||||
There are six broad ethical principles in National Association of Social Workers' (NASW) Code of Ethics that inform social work practice, they are both prescriptive and proscriptive, and are based on six core values:
|
||||
35
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||||
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|
||||
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|
||||
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|
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|
||||
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|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:45.966175+00:00"
|
||||
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|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Service — help people in need and provide pro bono services
|
||||
Social Justice — engage in social change activities for and with people to promote social justice and challenge social injustice
|
||||
Dignity and worth of the person — treat people with care and respect, be sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity, and promote individuals socially responsible self determination
|
||||
Importance of human relationships — maintain positive client relationships because they play a vital role in driving change, and engage with people as partners who empower them through the helping process
|
||||
Integrity — engage clients with honesty and responsibility to build trust, and you are not only responsible for your own professional ethics and integrity but also of the service organization
|
||||
Competence — practice and build expertise as a social worker, and continually seek to enhance and contribute professional knowledge and skills
|
||||
The International Federation of Social Workers also outlines essential principles for guiding social workers towards high professional standards. These include recognizing the inherent dignity of all people, upholding human rights, striving for social justice, supporting self-determination, encouraging participation, respecting privacy and confidentiality, treating individuals holistically, using technology and social media responsibly, and maintaining professional integrity.
|
||||
A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession's focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Social workers promote social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients. A "client" can be an individual, family, group, organization, or community. In the broadening scope of the modern social worker's role, some practitioners have in recent years traveled to war-torn countries to provide psychosocial assistance to families and survivors.
|
||||
Newer areas of social work practice involve management science. The growth of "social work administration" (sometimes also referred to as "social work management") for transforming social policies into services and directing activities of an organization toward achievement of goals is a related field. Helping clients with accessing benefits such as unemployment insurance and disability benefits, to assist individuals and families in building savings and acquiring assets to improve their financial security over the long-term, to manage large operations, etc. requires social workers to know financial management skills to help clients and organization's to be financially self-sufficient. Financial social work also helps clients with low-income or low to middle-income, people who are either unbanked (do not have a banking account) or underbanked (individuals who have a bank account but tend to rely on high cost non-bank providers for their financial transactions), with better mediation with financial institutions and induction of money management skills. A prominent area in which social workers operate is Behavioral Social Work. They apply principles of learning and social learning to conduct behavioral analysis and behavior management. Empiricism and effectiveness serve as means to ensure the dignity of clients, and focusing on the present is what distinguishes behavioral social work from other types of social work practices. In a multicultural case, the behavior of multiple members from different cultures matters. In such cases, an ecobehavioral perspective is taken due to the external influences. The interpersonal skills that a social worker brings to the job make them stand out from behavioral therapists. Another area that social workers are focusing is risk management, risk in social work is taken as Knight in 1921 defined "If you don't even know for sure what will happen, but you know the odds, that is risk and If you don't even know the odds, that is uncertainty." Risk management in social work means minimizing the risks while increasing potential benefits for clients by analyzing the risks and benefits in the duty of care or decisions. Occupational social work is a field where the trained professionals assist a management with worker's welfare, in their psychosocial wellness, and helps management's policies and protocols to be humanistic and anti-oppressive.
|
||||
In the United States, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, professional social workers are the largest group of mental health services providers. There are more clinically trained social workers—over 200,000—than psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychiatric nurses combined. Federal law and the National Institutes of Health recognize social work as one of five core mental health professions.
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Examples of fields a social worker may be employed in are poverty relief, life skills education, community organizing, community organization, community development, rural development, forensics and corrections, legislation, industrial relations, project management, child protection, elder protection, women's rights, human rights, systems optimization, finance, addictions rehabilitation, child development, cross-cultural mediation, occupational safety and health, disaster management, mental health, psychosocial therapy, disabilities, etc.
|
||||
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== Roles and functions ==
|
||||
Social workers play many roles in mental health settings, including those of case manager, advocate, administrator, and therapist. The major functions of a psychiatric social worker are promotion and prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. Social workers may also practice:
|
||||
|
||||
Counseling and psychotherapy
|
||||
Case management and support services
|
||||
Crisis intervention
|
||||
Psychoeducation
|
||||
Psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery
|
||||
Care coordination and monitoring
|
||||
Program management/administration
|
||||
Program, policy and resource development
|
||||
Research and evaluation
|
||||
Psychiatric social workers conduct psychosocial assessments of the patients and work to enhance patient and family communications with the medical team members and ensure the inter-professional cordiality in the team to secure patients with the best possible care and to be active partners in their care planning. Depending upon the requirement, social workers are often involved in illness education, counseling and psychotherapy. In all areas, they are pivotal to the aftercare process to facilitate a careful transition back to family and community.
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== Mental health of social workers ==
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Several studies have reported that social workers have an increased risk of common mental disorders, long-term sickness absence due to mental illnesses and antidepressant use. A study in Sweden has found that social workers have an increased risk of receiving a diagnosis of depression or anxiety and stress-related disorders in comparison with other workers. The risk for social workers is high even when comparing to other similar human-service professions, and social workers in psychiatric care or in assistance analysis are the most vulnerable.
|
||||
There are multiple explanations for this increased risk. Individual components include secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and selection of vulnerable employees into the profession. On an organizational level, high job strain, organizational culture and work overload are important factors.
|
||||
There is a difference in gender. When comparing to their same-gender counterparts in other professions, men in social work have a higher risk than women. Male social workers, when compared to men in other professions, have a 70% increased risk of being diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorders. Female social workers have an increased risk of 20% when comparing to women in other professions. This might be due the baseline prevalence of common mental disorders, which is high among women and lower among men in the general population. Another potential explanation is that men in gender-balanced workplaces tend to seek help from healthcare providers more often than men in male-dominated industries.
|
||||
|
||||
== Qualifications and license ==
|
||||
|
||||
The education of social workers begins with a bachelor's degree (BA, BSc, BSSW, BSW, etc.) or diploma in social work or a Bachelor of Social Services. Some countries offer postgraduate degrees in social work, such as a master's degree (MSW, MSSW, MSS, MSSA, MA, MSc, MRes, MPhil.) or doctoral studies (Ph.D. and DSW (Doctor of Social Work)).
|
||||
Several countries and jurisdictions require registration or license for working as social workers, and there are mandated qualifications. In other places, the professional association sets academic requirements as the qualification for practicing the profession. However, certain types of workers are exempted from needing a registration license. The success of these professionals is based on the recognition of and by the employers that provide social work services. These employers don't require the title of a registered social worker as a necessity for providing social work and related services.
|
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title: "Social work"
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source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_work"
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category: "reference"
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tags: "science, encyclopedia"
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date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:45.966175+00:00"
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instance: "kb-cron"
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---
|
||||
|
||||
=== North America ===
|
||||
In the United States, social work undergraduate and master's programs are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. A CSWE-accredited degree is required for one to become a state-licensed social worker. The CSWE even accredits online master's in social work programs in traditional and advanced standing options. In 1898, the New York Charity Organization Society, which was the Columbia University School of Social Work's earliest entity, began offering formal "social philanthropy" courses, marking both the beginning date for social work education in the United States, as well as the launching of professional social work. However, a CSWE-accredited program doesn't necessarily have to meet ASWB licensing knowledge requirements, and many of them do not meet them.
|
||||
The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) is a regulatory organization that provides licensing examination services to social work regulatory boards in the United States and Canada. Due to the limited scope of the organization's objectives, it is not a social work organization that is accountable to the broader social work community or to the ones certified by ASWB exams. ASWB generates an annual profit of $6,000,000 from license examination administration and $800,000 from publishing study materials. As such, it is an organization that is focused on revenue maximization, and by principle, it is only responsible and answerable to its board members. The objective of a social work license is to ensure the public's safety and quality of service. It is intended to ensure that social workers understand and can follow NASW's Code of Ethics in their occupational practices, ascertain social workers' knowledge in service provision, and protect the use of the Social Work title from misuse and unethical practices. However, a study found out that having a social work license is not related to improved service quality for consumers. They substituted paraprofessionals with qualified licensed social workers and found out that there was no improvement in overall facility quality, quality of life, or the provision of social services. The paraprofessionals with training were able to perform similarly to licensed social workers, just like any trained human resource in a workforce would perform a job for which they are trained. Social work graduates gain this knowledge and training through academic and financial investment in earning an accredited social work degree, degree equalization process, and from receiving professional supervision during and post-graduation.
|
||||
For decades, the social work community has called on ASWB for transparency regarding the data on the validity and racial sensitivity of the exams. However, ASWB suppressed this information, leading many critics to assess that if the exams were free from flaws and bias, such data would have been released a long time ago. In 2022, ASWB released the pass rate data, and a Change.org petition called "#StopASWB" highlighted with academic citations that the Association of Social Work Boards' exams are biased with feedback from white social workers. The petition also pointed out that the exams unfairly penalize social workers who practice in other languages, require privileged resources for success, and utilize oppressive standards in formatting the exams, which are inconsistent with social work values. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) expressed opposition to the social work licensing exams conducted by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). This came after analyzing ASWB data, which revealed considerable discrepancies in pass rates for aspiring social workers of diverse racial backgrounds, older individuals, and those who speak English as a second language (ESL). Pass rates of exams indicate that white test takers are more than twice as likely to pass on their first attempt compared to BIPOC test takers indicating high construct irrelevant variance among other issues. This finding raises questions about the reliability and credibility of social work licensure process through ASWB exams.
|
||||
NASW's firm stance on the matter serves as a significant reckoning moment regarding the systemic racism in the social work profession, particularly within its regulatory system. It also highlights ASWB's silence about the licensure apparatus that perpetuates racial disparities, leading its association members to institutional betrayal. After the release of ASWB data showing race and age-related discrepancies in pass rates, the national accreditation body, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), removed the ASWB licensure exam pass rates as an option for social work education programs to meet accreditation requirements. Members from various communities in social work have expressed that discussions about addressing this systemic oppression should be guided by a formal acknowledgment of wrongdoing and a spirit of reconciliation and healing. The state of Illinois passed a landmark bill, HB2365 SA1, marking a significant step in reducing its regulatory body's dependency on ASWB. With this bill, Illinois has addressed the uneven power that ASWB held and its unfettered pursuit of profit, which affected the qualification of educated social workers for practice entry. Now, educated social workers can obtain licensing by completing 3000 hours of professional supervision, eliminating the previous requirement of ASWB exam results for licensure, which often led to issues of unemployment and related emotional, behavioral, and physical health consequences.
|
||||
Since the early 1990s, researchers have critiqued ASWB exams for their lack of content and criterion validity that undermines the test validity all together. In a study conducted in 2023, it was discovered that there are questions in ASWB exams that have rationales based on theories that are not evidence-based, and that have significant item validity issues. The researchers used generative AI application, ChatGPT to test ASWB rationales and found that the rationales provided by ChatGPT were of higher quality. They revealed that ChatGPT exhibited an excellent ability to recognize social work-related text patterns for scenario-based decision-making and offered high-quality rationales while taking into account the safety and ethics in social work practice, even without specific training for such a task. They suggested that it may be necessary and timely to move away from oppressive assessment formats used to evaluate social workers' competence and reconsider licensing exams with serious validity issues that disproportionately exclude individuals based on their race, age, and language. A proposed assessment format is one based on mastery learning, which would lead to competency-based licensing.
|
||||
Due to the accumulated evidence of significant validity flaws in ASWB's tests, its conflict of interest, and other issues, many researchers have urged state legislators and regulators to discontinue the use of ASWB exams for licensure or temporarily suspend them until a novel, anti-oppressive, and validated alternative is established. In the interim, they suggest relying on traditional supervision methods to ensure the safe and ethical practice of social work. They elucidate that supervision not only guides licensure seekers but also allows well-equipped supervisors to assess individuals' capabilities to practice safely and ethically more accurately in contexts, which is a more valid approach to assessing such competence.
|
||||
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||||
---
|
||||
title: "Social work"
|
||||
chunk: 10/11
|
||||
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_work"
|
||||
category: "reference"
|
||||
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
|
||||
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:45.966175+00:00"
|
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instance: "kb-cron"
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
== Professional associations ==
|
||||
Social workers have several professional associations that provide ethical guidance and other forms of support for their members and social work in general. These associations may be international, continental, semi-continental, national, or regional. The main international associations are the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW).
|
||||
The largest professional social work association in the United States is the National Association of Social Workers, they have instituted a code for professional conduct and a set of principles rooted in six core values: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. There also exist organizations that represent clinical social workers such as the American Association of Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work. AAPCSW is a national organization representing social workers who practice psychoanalytic social work and psychoanalysis. There are also several states with Clinical Social Work Societies which represent all social workers who conduct psychotherapy from a variety of theoretical frameworks with families, groups, and individuals. The Association for Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA) is a professional organization for social workers who practice within the community organizing, policy, and political spheres. The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) is a national honorific society of scholars and practitioners who focus on social work and social welfare.
|
||||
In the UK, the professional association is the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) with just over 18,000 members (as of August 2015), and the regulatory body for social workers is Social Work England. In Australia, the professional association is the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) that ensure social workers meet required standards for social work practice in Australia, founded in 1946 and have more than 10,000 members. Accredited social workers in Australia can also provide services under the Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS) program. In New Zealand, the regulatory body for social workers is Kāhui Whakamana Tauwhiro (SWRB).
|
||||
|
||||
== Trade unions representing social workers ==
|
||||
In the United Kingdom, just over half of social workers are employed by local authorities, and many of these are represented by UNISON, the public sector employee union. Smaller numbers are members of the Unite the Union and the GMB. The British Union of Social Work Employees (BUSWE) has been a section of the trade union Community since 2008.
|
||||
While at that stage, not a union, the British Association of Social Workers operated a professional advice and representation service from the early 1990s. Social Work qualified staff who are also experienced in employment law and industrial relations provide the kind of representation you would expect from a trade union in the event of a grievance, discipline or conduct matters specifically in respect of professional conduct or practice. However, this service depended on the goodwill of employers to allow the representatives to be present at these meetings, as only trade unions have the legal right and entitlement of representation in the workplace.
|
||||
By 2011 several councils had realized that they did not have to permit BASW access, and those that were challenged by the skilled professional representation of their staff were withdrawing permission. For this reason BASW once again took up trade union status by forming its arms-length trade union section, Social Workers Union (SWU). This gives the legal right to represent its members whether the employer or Trades Union Congress (TUC) recognizes SWU or not. In 2015 the TUC was still resisting SWU application for admission to congress membership and while most employers are not making formal statements of recognition until the TUC may change its policy, they are all legally required to permit SWU (BASW) representation at internal discipline hearings, etc.
|
||||
|
||||
== Use of information technology in social work ==
|
||||
Information technology is vital in social work, it transforms the documentation part of the work into electronic media. This makes the process transparent, accessible and provides data for analytics. Observation is a tool used in social work for developing solutions. Anabel Quan-Haase in Technology and Society defines the term surveillance as "watching over" (Quan-Haase. 2016. P 213), she continues to explain that the observation of others socially and behaviorally is natural, but it becomes more like surveillance when the purpose of the observation is to keep guard over someone (Quan-Haase. 2016. P 213). Often, at the surface level, the use of surveillance and surveillance technologies within the social work profession is seemingly an unethical invasion of privacy. When engaging with the social work code of ethics a little more deeply, it becomes obvious that the line between ethical and unethical becomes blurred. Within the social work code of ethics, there are multiple mentions of the use of technology within social work practice. The one that seems the most applicable to surveillance or artificial intelligence is 5.02 article f, "When using electronic technology to facilitate evaluation or research" and it goes on to explain that clients should be informed when technology is being used within the practice (Workers. 2008. Article 5.02).
|
||||
|
||||
== Social workers in literature ==
|
||||
In 2011, a critic stated that "novels about social work are rare", and as recently as 2004, another critic claimed to have difficulty finding novels featuring a main character holding a Master of Social Work degree.
|
||||
However, social workers have been the subject of many novels, including:
|
||||
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Reference in New Issue
Block a user