Social Welfare

When Anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” The law of synergy says that the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts. This means that when group members cooperatively combine their purposes, intentions, and actions as one, they become more influential and allow a higher source to add to the total of human efforts. As groups align in purpose, the energies of will and mind are pooled together and intensified. The energies of will and mind applied cooperatively is responsible for the intensification of power. Creative collaboration produces an increase in mental power. The collective will gives each individual …show more content…
Some methods of engagement embrace strong elements of social change and individual empowerment. Other methods emphasize changing a particular policy or achieving a victory. Still others may involve emphasize the role of paid staff and as a result embody lesser degrees of engaging a particular constituency in the process. These different goals and methods may all have their place in the process of community change, but it is important to understand them and to know when it is appropriate and feasible to incorporate various strategies. Some communities may believe that they are engaged in social change activities that, unfortunately, may actually be perpetuating current arrangements. Social welfare practices have been implicated in oppressive processes by fostering relations of dominance that are consistent with supporting the status quo. Communities may believe they are promoting citizen empowerment when they are actually doing things for their constituency rather than doing the work with their constituency. A community that advocates for the rights of immigrants but that is composed only of the white citizen professionals …show more content…
Although empowerment is obviously an end unto itself, it also provides fuel for social change. The more individuals feel empowered, the more sustainable community organizing campaigns will be over time. Assuming there will always be a need to do social change work, it makes sense to foster the strength and solidarity of groups. It is not uncommon for community activists to overstate the amount of empowerment and social change that their activities engender. By thinking about the central elements of community organizing as a matter of degree and always in