The settlement house movement history essay

Life for recently arrived immigrants could be very hard. Many could only afford to live in poor, dirty, crowded, disease-ridden, and crime-infested neighborhoods. The plight of immigrants in the cities challenged many Americans. One response was the settlement house movement.

Pre-modern antecedents[ edit ] Even before the rise of modern European states, the church was providing social services. When Constantine I legalized the Christian Church in the 4th century, the newly legitimised church set up burial societies, poorhouseshomes for the aged, shelter for the homeless, hospitals, and orphanages.

Monasteries also often served as comprehensive social service agencies, acting as hospitals, homes for the aged, orphanages, travelers' aid stations. This charity was in the form of direct relief for example, giving money, food, or other material goods to alleviate a particular needas opposed to trying to change the root causes of poverty.

As there was no effective bureaucracy below city government that was capable of large scale charitable activities, the clergy carried out this role until the Early Modern Period. Modern development[ edit ] It was not until the emergence of industrialization and urbanization that the informal helping systems of the church and family began to be replaced by social welfare services.

The practice and profession of social work has a relatively modern and scientific origin, [6] and is generally considered to have developed out of three strands. The first was individual casework, a strategy pioneered by the Charity Organisation Society in the midth century.

The second was social administration, which included various forms of poverty relief. 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 Organisation 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. All had their most rapid growth during the nineteenth century, and laid the foundational basis for modern social work, both in theory and in practice. Because poverty was the main focus of early social work, it was intricately linked with the idea of charity work.

Poverty relief[ edit ] The Poor Laws in the aftermath of the Black Death picturedwhen labour was in short supply, were concerned with making the able bodied work. Sturdy beggar With the decline of feudalism in 16th century England, the indigent poor came to be seen as a more direct threat to the social order.

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The origins of the English Poor Law system can be traced as far back as late medieval statutes dealing with beggars and vagrancy but it was only during the Tudor period that the Poor Law system became codified.

Monasteriesthe primary source of poor relief, were dissolved by the Tudors Reformation causing poor relief to move from a largely voluntary basis to a compulsory tax that was collected at a parish level. The first complete code of poor relief was made in the Act for the Relief of the Poor and some provision for the "deserving poor" was eventually made in the Elizabethan Poor Law of Some aged people might be accommodated in parish alms housesthough these were usually private charitable institutions.

Jane Addams and the Successful Hull House Essay Words 4 Pages Jane Addams and her colleague, Ellen Gates Starr, founded the most successful settlement house in the United States otherwise known as the Hull-House (“Settlement” 1). Jane Addams, the most prominent of the American settlement theoreticians, and founder of Hull-House in Chicago, described the movement as having three primary motivations The first was to “add the social function to democracy,” extending democratic principles beyond the political sphere and into other aspects of society. Addams, who came to. A number of settlement leaders and residents conducted research, prepared statistical studies, wrote reports or described their personal experiences in memoirs (e.g., Hull-House Maps and Papers, Robert Woods’s City Wilderness, Jane Addams’s Twenty Years at .

Meanwhile, able-bodied beggars who had refused work were often placed in Houses of Correction or even subjected to beatings to mend their attitudes. The first recorded Almshouse was built in near Philadelphia by William Penn, and was only open to Quakers.

A second one was built nearby inthis time with public money. Although the aim of the legislation was to reduce costs to rate payers, one area not reformed was the method of financing of the Poor Law system which continued to be paid for by levying a "poor rate" [20] on the property owning middle classes.

Although the Poor Law Amendment Act did not ban all forms of outdoor relief[21] it stated that no able-bodied person was to receive money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except in a workhouse.

Conditions in workhouses were to be made harsh to discourage people from claiming. Workhouses were to be built in every parish and, if parishes were too small, parishes could group together to form Workhouse Unions. The Poor Law Commissioners were to be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Act.

Private philanthropy[ edit ] Social work involves ameliorating social problems such as poverty and homelessness. The 19th century saw a great leap forward in technological and scientific achievement.Critical Review of Social Work History Background – Throughout this course you will be introduced to the exciting, challenging, and vital role that social work plays in our society.

We want you to learn about its history, explore dimensions of the profession that are of interest to you, and learn about the real-life work of professional social workers. Pre-modern antecedents.

Compare and contrast the Charity Organization Society and the Settlement House Movement

Even before the rise of modern European states, the church was providing social services. When Constantine I legalized the Christian Church in the 4th century, the newly legitimised church set up burial societies, poorhouses, homes for the aged, shelter for the homeless, hospitals, and orphanages.

The origin of the settlement house movement is richly documented. The Founders of the American Settlement Movement, including Robert A. Woods, Albert J. Kennedy, and Jane Addams, were all inspired by Toynbee Hall in London, England.

A number of settlement leaders and residents conducted research, prepared statistical studies, wrote reports or described their personal experiences in memoirs (e.g., Hull-House Maps and Papers, Robert Woods’s City Wilderness, Jane Addams’s Twenty Years at .

Dorsey AP History DBQ Essay Progressive Movement The Progressive Movement was a movement that came about due to changes in society after the Civil War. The Movement was a political response to industrialization and social imperfection. Hull House Dance Festival, cs.

Settlement houses were important reform institutions in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Chicago's Hull .