Social Functioning~~

How social problems affect social functioning?

Social problems may be categorized as problems having individual and societal aspects. Individual troubles such as losing a job, misconduct, inadequate parenting, criminal behavior, emotional disturbance and mental illness are ways that one could be personally affected by social problems. Societal aspects of problems can be seen in social disorganization such as that which displays itself in mass unemployment, a high crime rate or natural disasters like an earthquake.

A social problem can be understood as a difficulty in social functioning on the part of a person or a group, family, organization, or community. The emphasis on social functioning and the reduction of social stress helps define the role of social work in collaborative activity with other professions. Thus, social functioning and social stress are enduring concepts in social work. Barlett (1961) explained “ social work is always concerned with the same aspect, namely, the lessening of social stress and the improvement of social functioning”. Siporin (1975) defines social functioning as “ goodness of fit,” or reciprocal adaptation between people, individually or collectively, and their environments, that is family, school, and neighborhood. Social functioning also refers to “ the ability of people to perform tasks of daily life and to engage in mutual relationships with other people in ways that are gratifying to themselves and to others and meet the needs of an organized community” (Siporin, 1975)Social functioning includes the transaction between a person and his or her environment. Siporin (1985) indicates that self-actualization is achieved through a person’s optimal social functioning. Generally, a person’s self-actualization takes place in an interdependent relationship, where each person enhances the potential and personality of the other person and where each person is free to grow to be himself or herself. This is also true of families, groups, organizations and communities.

Social functioning can be negatively affected in many different ways. People may be develop problems in their social role performance. Families, groups, organizations and communities may lack social and economic resources, information and knowledge about a specific situation, or social supports and opportunities.

Problems may arise because of interference from others, developmental or acquired physical or mental disabilities, or overwhelming responsibilities in caring for others. Such problems may require professional intervention that focuses on the interaction between the person and elements in his or her social environment. Barker (1991) indicates that social workers help individuals, groups, families, organizations and communities to learn to deal effectively with the social problems they encounter. This process is viewed as educational, emotional supportive, and oriented to helping the client use existing social resources. In order to deal with these problems in living and to carry out the functions of social work, a worker needs to develop some basic skills in helping and some specialized skills related to specific problems and populations.