DISCUSSION 1

American Social History Discussion

Resources

Microsoft Word icon Figueira-McDonough, J., The welfare state and social work: Pursuing social justice text.

Website icon NASW Web Site. http://www.socialworkers.org/

Compare a period in American social history with this current period (1990s to present). For example, compare Today with the Colonial period, the Revolutionary period, the pre-Civil War era, the Reconstruction, the turn of the twentieth century, westward expansion, the First World War, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Civil Rights era and Great Society, or the Seventies and Eighties.

How were “discriminated against, disadvantaged, and at-risk” people identified and perceived in both of these time periods?

What role was government expected to play and what role was the individual or family expected to play to improve conditions and outcomes for these “discriminated against, disadvantaged, and at-risk” people?

Use subheadings to identify the two time periods and respond to both questions for each time period. Rely primarily on the Figueira-McDonough text and the NASW Web site to support your claims. You are welcome to use additional resources.

DISCUSSION 2

Discrimination, Disadvantage, and Risk Discussion

Resources

Scoring guide icon Discussion Participation Scoring Guide.

Briefly trace the social justice issues and social problems faced by one group that has lived with discrimination, disadvantage, or risk throughout American social history. Suggestions: the poor, the disabled, the mentally ill, immigrants, an ethnic group, a religious group, the aged, orphans, and so on.

Try to avoid women and blacks, even though they have been certainly discriminated against repeatedly and fairly continuously throughout American history, because they are heavily and constantly analyzed.

Provide 2–3 well-constructed and well-organized paragraphs.

Describe the group well enough to distinguish it from the mainstream.

Describe changes over time in perceived causes of discrimination, disadvantage, or risk for social problems and of responses to the group’s needs from society or government.