Michael Dover

Social work has long been concerned with the respective roles of the social work profession and the social welfare system in addressing human needs. Social workers engage in needs assessment together with client systems. They provide and advocate for the needs of clients, as well enabling and empowering clients and communities to address their needs. They also advocate for social welfare benefits and services and overall social policies that take human needs into account. However, explicit ethical content was not present in earlier Codes of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Furthermore, until very recently, little published literature in peer-reviewed journals has human needs theories to guide models of social work practice or inform social work research. Universalistic assumptions about human needs have long been found within social work’s literature on human development (see Jani and Reisch 2011, under General Overviews). However, these assumptions were often inexplicit. They did not fully utilize theories of human need, which have long recognized that although human needs may be universal, they are addressed in culturally and environmentally specific manners. Also, in practice, social workers have often conflated human needs with the need for the services or benefits available at any one time. This bibliography will explore the history and evolution of the interdisciplinary body of human needs theory and research on which social work has drawn historically, with special attention to the recent surge in interest in human needs theories. In doing so, the entry will discuss a number of key debates that have arisen regarding needs, including whether they are universal or specific to particular cultures; what the relationship is between human needs, human rights, and social justice; and how to reconcile theories of human needs and of human capabilities

This narrative is the story of the author s work in a profession he believed would provide him the ideal opportunity to both earn a living and work for social justice. He discusses his early social activism and social work in Ann Arbor, his social work activism and education in New York, his years in New Orleans working with Social Workers for Social Justice, the early days of the Bertha Capen Reynolds Society (now Social Welfare Action Alliance), and the recent implications of his new identities.

This article presents an original needs-based partial theory of human injustice and shows its relationship to existing theories of human need and human liberation. The theory is based on an original typology of three social structural sources of human injustice, a partial theorization of the mechanisms of human injustice, and a needs-based theorization of the nature of human injustice, as experienced by individuals. This article makes a sociological contribution to normative social theory by clarifying the relationship of human injustice to human needs, human rights, and human liberation. The theory contends that human injustice is produced when oppression, mechanistic dehumanization, and exploitation create systematic inequality in opportunities to address human needs, leading to wrongful need deprivation and the resulting serious harm. In one longer sentence, this needs-based theory of the sources, mechanisms, and nature of human injustice contends that three distinct social syste...

negotiate and even deploy these identities. In the case of organizing car wash workers, ethnic solidarity is necessary for organizing rank and file, but when Korean and Latino workers are being organized in a Korean ethnic supermarket, appeals are made to Korean workers to transcend ethnic ties and act on class interests. Documenting and understanding the creative and contentious ways in which organizing unfolds is fundamentally what this book is all about. In an era when labor unions seem to be in a freefall and immigrant rights are under attack, the contributors of Working for Justice should be proud of their collective effort to tell these empowering stories from Los Angeles in a critical and compelling way.

This article presents an original needs-based partial theory of human injustice and shows its relationship to existing theories of human need and human liberation. The theory is based on an original typology of three social structural sources of human injustice, a partial theorization of the mechanisms of human injustice, and a needs-based theorization of the nature of human injustice, as experienced by individuals. This article makes a sociological contribution to normative social theory by clarifying the relationship of human injustice to human needs, human rights, and human liberation. The theory contends that human injustice is produced when oppression, mechanistic dehumanization, and exploitation create systematic inequality in opportunities to address human needs, leading to wrongful need deprivation and the resulting serious harm. In one longer sentence, this needs-based theory of the sources, mechanisms, and nature of human injustice contends that three distinct social syste...

negotiate and even deploy these identities. In the case of organizing car wash workers, ethnic solidarity is necessary for organizing rank and file, but when Korean and Latino workers are being organized in a Korean ethnic supermarket, appeals are made to Korean workers to transcend ethnic ties and act on class interests. Documenting and understanding the creative and contentious ways in which organizing unfolds is fundamentally what this book is all about. In an era when labor unions seem to be in a freefall and immigrant rights are under attack, the contributors of Working for Justice should be proud of their collective effort to tell these empowering stories from Los Angeles in a critical and compelling way.

This paper responds to Richard's Swedberg's call for analysis of the craft of theorizing and to Gabriel Abend's work on the meanings of theory. Their work is applied to a retrospective case study of the theoretical content of the introduction to the author's dissertation. The case study includes lessons drawn from several sections of that chapter: the choice of a research topic; identifying originating, specifying and subsidiary questions; distinguishing between the object and the subject of the research; reviewing the social policy and social science relevance; identifying the relevant research tradition; presenting a general conceptual framework and a specific conceptual problem, and specifying the empirical problem addressed by the research design. In addition, ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions are discussed. Conclusions are drawn about the meanings of theory employed as well as implications for empirical examination work of the process ...

This narrative focuses on cross-eultural vignettes from the author's practice in New York City during three periods in his professional life: (I) while working at a group home and studying for his BSW in the late 1970s, (2) as an MSW student in his first year placement in a child psychiatry setting, and (3) ten years later while working in a unionbased social service program and teaching a course on oppression at Fordham University. The narrative explores cross-cultural social work by focusing on the themes of rapport, empathy and oppression-awareness. * All names have been changed.

s and I entered them as part of the data collection for the research leading to this dissertation, although they have not proved necessary for use in the dissertation itself. 88 Data limitations There are several data limitations: (1) property tax assessment accuracy and bias; (2) changes in city size due to due to annexation; (3) issues related to the assessment of exempt property. Although there has been considerable concern about and research on the effectiveness of property tax assessment administration (Llorens 1996), there is reason to believe that property tax assessment accuracy may have improved in recent years. Gary Cornia, the President of the National Tax Association, has recently pointed out an important unintended positive effect of measures used in Michigan, Ohio, and other states to ensure that property tax bills do not increase more quickly than inflation or produce more revenue than was intended when millages were originally improved. In Ohio, since 1977, tax reduc...

Over-reliance upon class analysis has obscured analysis of more universal human concerns related to human needs and rights as well as the natural environment. Marxism and social democracy’s reliance upon state socialism has not proven to be a viable alternative, nor has class struggle been a sufficient force producing social change. A viable alternative should counterpoise human rationality and democratic processes against unrestrained market forces. A more sophisticated form of policy analysis is needed which can rely upon class, organizational, and institutional analysis as well as analysis of inequalities based upon gender, race and ethnicity in order to ascertain the best mix of public, nonprofit and for-profit social production needed within each policy domain in order to meet universal human needs in a culturally informed manner and in a way consistent with universal human rights.

This narrative is the story of the author s work in a profession he believed would provide him the ideal opportunity to both earn a living and work for social justice. He discusses his early social activism and social work in Ann Arbor, his social work activism and education in New York, his years in New Orleans working with Social Workers for Social Justice, the early days of the Bertha Capen Reynolds Society (now Social Welfare Action Alliance), and the recent implications of his new identities.

Human need and related concepts such as basic needs have long been part of the implicit conceptual foundation for social work theory, practice, and research. However, while the published literature in social work has long stressed social justice, and has incorporated discussion of human rights, human need has long been both a neglected and contested concept. In recent years, the explicit use of human needs theory has begun to have a significant influence on the literature in social work.

This article presents an original needs-based partial theory of human injustice and shows its relationship to existing theories of human need and human liberation. The theory is based on an original typology of three social structural sources of human injustice, a partial theorization of the mechanisms of human injustice, and a needs-based theorization of the nature of human injustice, as experienced by individuals. This article makes a sociological contribution to normative social theory by clarifying the relationship of human injustice to human needs, human rights, and human liberation. The theory contends that human injustice is produced when oppression , mechanistic dehumanization, and exploitation create systematic inequality in opportunities to address human needs, leading to wrongful need deprivation and the resulting serious harm. In one longer sentence, this needs-based theory of the sources, mechanisms, and nature of human injustice contends that three distinct social systemic sources-oppression, mechanistic dehumanization, and exploitation produce unique and/or overlapping social mechanisms, which create

Can reading narratives change your life? Abstract: This is the Reflections from the Editors for Volume 23, Number 1 (Winter 2016) of Reflections, and is published December 2017. Keywords: narrative, poetry, relatedness, significant primary relationships, Reflectionsy, confidentiality, historical narratives, intersectionality

This serves as the introduction to Volume 23, Number 2 (Summer 2017). In this last issue as editor, the author summarizes the included narratives, which responded to the editor's call for narratives on the personal, professional and political aftermath of historical events for the lives of the author. Specifically sought were narratives about the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump as President.

This reflection from the editors discusses the plans to bring the journal up to date in publishing schedule by January 2018; the upcoming Special issue on Interconnections Between Micro and Macro Practice; the appointment of Darlyne Bailey as Editor-in-Chief beginning September 2018; the role of theory in Reflections and in articles in this issue; the promise and pitfalls of relationships within social work education; the occupational hazards of the narrative process, and of editing this journal.

This serves as the reflections from the editors to Volume 22, Number 2. Keywords: race, translinguistic, assessments, gender, totalitarian theocratic patriarchal terrorism, nativism, xenophobia, international social work, social development.

The parties the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which was ratified by the Islamic Republic, should approach two of the five nuclear weapons states who are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- France and the United Kingdom -- and two nuclear states which were are not signatories to the NPT (India and Pakistan), with a proposal for them to jointly agree to permanently relinquish nuclear weapons. As part of such an agreement, the United States, China and Russia would also re-affirm their commitment to longer-term plans for nuclear disarmament.

France and the United Kingdom -- two formerly colonial powers whose security needs are well provided for by NATO -- would agree to disarm contingent upon the agreement of India and Pakistan to disarm. Since 2009, France has resumed full participation in NATO. The possession and maintenance of nuclear weapons by France and the U.K. are a terrible moral and financial burden and are militarily unnecessary.

The same is true for India and Pakistan. However, these nations may have felt that if France and the U.K. could have nuclear weapons, why not nations of the developing world? Thus, India was the first predominantly Hindu nation with the bomb. Pakistan was the first predominantly Sunni Muslim nation with the bomb.  Unfortunately, that same logic could eventually lead one Third World country after another to seek nuclear weapons.

After a brief introduction and review of recent literature on microaggressions, a theoretical typology of three sources of social injustice (oppression, dehumanization, and exploitation) contributes to the theorization of the sources of microaggressions. A selected compendium of words and affective phrases generated in classroom exercises illustrates the nature of the experience of the moment of microaggression. Future research on  microaggressions as well as evaluation of practice should examine the experience of microaggression, including being subjected to microaggression, initiating such acts, and observing such acts.

Presented at the Theory Section of the ASA and published in their proceedings, this paper is valuable for persons working on a dissertation prospectus, as it related what I learned from my dissertation advisers and how I apply that to the use of theory in my topic.

ABSTRACT This book is an excellent example of how institutional analysis is an important supplement to class and organizational analysis of status and power. Gross documents the philosophical assumptions and policy implications of free market philosophy, and how they conflict with the very values they claim to uphold. He applies human rights-based institutional analysis to his study of worker's rights. The author utilizes human rights principles as his standard for judgment, and contends that in doing so he can shift the terrain of the arguments about worker's rights in the United States. By re-defining worker's rights in the context of human rights, and critiquing the manner in which property rights can conflict with human rights, Gross provides a solid basis for re-examining existing U.S. labor legislation. Nearly every chapter is grounded in historical narrative, including those on race and human rights, property rights and worker's rights, worker's freedom of association, and occupational safety and health. He also writes a fascinating history of the evolution of human resources doctrine. Gross stresses that invidious discrimination against people of color is a form of dehumanization. Racism reflects institutionalized moral choices, which are inconsistent not only with human rights but with the professed American creed. Throughout the book, Gross makes these kinds of humanist claims. In doing so, he links oppression and dehumanization to the production of injustice. This sets the moral tone for his important claim that denial of human rights in general can be traced to the perpetuation of workplace injustice. The book is full of useful quotations and citations from authors such as Polanyi, Carnegie, de Toqueville, du Bois, Galbraith, Holmes, King, Kozol, Mills (both), etc. Furthermore, the author makes excellent use of the humanities in his lively accounts. He also uses a wide variety of articles and books from subject specialists, but in a way which is accessible to undergraduates as well as academics. This book provides empirically grounded accounts of specific institutionalized practices related to labor law. In doing so, it provides an excellent example of the value of understanding the relationship of class struggles and struggles for universal human values. However, Gross ignores the literature on universal human need, and at one point conflates rights with needs. Although he at first recognizes that the moral objective of justice is human welfare, he concludes that what people need is to exercise rights in order to live fully human lives. He provides a long list of what people need, but without reference to the growing body of theoretical and empirical work on human needs. That said, one would be hard pressed to find a book that more eloquently condemns violations of human rights as crimes against humanity itself. Gross recognizes that markets are now and have always existed within an institutional context. The present institutional arrangement fails to adequately protect worker rights. Just as Jeff Noonan's Democratic Society and Human Needs has recognized that the primacy of property rights places key limitations on addressing human needs within market economies, Gross feels that human rights come up against property rights in ways that must be rectified. Gross's strategy for social movements that promote the well-being, unity and humanity for all people relies on growing revulsion against the very moral evils he ably documents. Gross hopes that the trade union movement will adopt human rights as an explicit organizing, bargaining and legislative advocacy strategy. He envisions, for example, human rights clauses in union contracts. This would shift the terrain for arbitration and litigation. It would constrain the ability to evade key moral choices at the level of the workplace. Achieving human rights in the workplace, Gross contends, is a prerequisite for achieving social justice in society at large.