Scholary Anaylsis

In the history of social work practice, there are two theories, among many, that have influenced the field greatly. The theories in which I speak of are those of social systems theory and ecological perspective theory. Social systems theory is referred to as large systems interacting with each other and, ecological perspective focuses on persons interacting with the environment and vice versa. Within this paper I will be discussing a few concepts in which help explain each theory and undoubtedly reflect how they are interrelated to that particular one. In order to demonstrate the concepts and the understanding of the overall theory the case of four years old Abby will be applied to the concepts to provide clarity through examples.

Social Systems Theory

The first theory to discuss is social systems theory, this perceptive emerged in the late 1960’s/1970’s. This theory “provides social work with a way of seeing the complex interrelationships among biological, psychological, and social forces, emphasizing interdependence, interaction, and adaption (T. Parker-Dominguez, personal communication, September 3rd, 2007) ” this certain theory views everything as a system. “A system is a set of elements that are orderly and interrelated to make a functional whole (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, p.g. 12)” in other words a set of things or parts forming a whole. An example from Abby’s case would be Abby herself. The individual, Abby, is comprised of biological, cognitive and emotional elements which work together in order to help her function. There are also subsystems present within this theory; subsystems are the components for a system or the things that make up the system. Referring back to Abby as a system, the subsystems would be those biological, cognitive and emotional elements, which were mentioned earlier. A Suprasystem on the other hand is larger than a system, or contains larger amounts of components. Abby is the system so therefore examples of suprasystems would be her family, church and neighbors.

Another concept, which helps define this theory, would be Homeostasis. Homeostasis is a concept that means a system tries to maintain steady balance, “a process of constant flow and change that is called a dynamic steady state (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, p.g. 41).” In this case, homeostasis is being maintained by Abby’s aunt coming to live with the family. By having the Aunt stay with the family and pay the children attention balance is being regained within the family system. After the death of Abby’s sister, Abby’s mother stopped paying attention to the children and fell into some kind of depression. The Father began to work longer hours and the family system was starting to fall apart. The concept of entropy was clearly reflected within this family system. Entropy “is the tendency of a system to progress toward disorganization, depletion, and death (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, p.g. 14)” so because the parents changed their behavior and began neglecting their other children the family was starting to lose its normal order.

The father, mother and aunt in this case are essential elements within Abby’s life, the labels in which we name these figures is the concept of a role. A role “is culturally established social behavior and conduct expected of a person in any designated interpersonal relationship (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, p.g.12).” The mother’s role in this case was to take care of the children; the father’s role was to work and bring money (energy) into the family system in order to meet the family’s basic needs.

Ecological Perspective

The second theory in which was promised to be discussed is the ecological perspective, the ecological perspective “came to the fore in the 1970s and was part of the trend of increased concern for better environments and quality of life (Greene, p.g 261).” This partiuclar perspective narrows its focus into the relationships and interactings between persons and their environment, also it’s known within this perspective that the person and their environment is a unit in which can not be seperarted. “The Ecological perspective considers the environment to be comprised of a heirarchy of nested systems (T. Parker-Dominguez, personal communication, September 3rd, 2007)” these nested systems are micro system, mezzo system, and finally macro system. A micro system can be defined as a system that refers to individual/individuals. Micro practice has a focal point on enhancing a person functioning. In Abby’s case study, Abby