Bureaucratisering van het maatschappelijk werk een omknelling?

Samenvatting

A critique of De bureaucratische omknelling van het maatschappelijk werk door J. E. Ellemers en A. ter Hoeven (de Sociologische Gids October 1955). The following 4 points are made: (1) The authors have no clear idea of what social work is; they seem to confuse it with social welfare. (2) Even a superficial examination of social work in the Netherlands shows that this work has always been done by organizations; an unaffiliated individual social worker is an unknown phenomenon. (3) The authors state that the bureaucratization of social work has produced, as a reaction, informal forms of social aid which are in turn being bureaucratized. This assertion must be backed by research; otherwise it remains a mere assertion. (4) Social work is done efficiently within the framework of institutions; there is a constant need for greater specialization, and bureaucratization is not an irremediable process. On all these points, the authors have taken a one-sided viewpoint. I. Langnas.