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Bshs 325 Week 4 Macro System

Macro Systems

The concept of personal empowerment is drawn within each individual. Personal empowerment is the ability to have influence on events and those individuals who surround themselves at an intimate level. It is a place in time when an individual knows and understands his or her goal and where they are headed. It is also when an individual that they are ready for change. An example of personal empowerment is a wife and mother who have decided that a change is necessary for her and children and makes the necessary steps to leave her abusive husband who has physically and verbally and abused herself and children. At this point of time the wife has determined that positive change is in order for the safety of her and her children. As it relates to interpersonal empowerment is when one or more persons collaborate to make decisions to follow through with a plan. Last, political empowerment is the government working to help the community and promoting political participation on specific issues for the community population (Zastrow & Krist-Ashman, 2010).

Social work is viewed in three categories: macro, mezzo, and micro. These three categories at times have a tendency to coincide and influence each other. The practice of macro social work is the effort to help clients by intervening in a larger system, such as at the neighborhood, institution, or at a smaller group level (Zastrow & Krist-Ashman, 2010). Macro practice empowers clients by involving them in systematic change. An example would be part of a change in a social change at a large scale. .Mezzo social work practice deals with groups considered a smaller and medium size group. This can include school system, a local neighborhood, or at the community level. This will go a long way to ensure that the needs and challenges of individual clients are understood and addressed in conjunction with larger social issues (Macro, mezzo, and micro social work, 2012). An example would be community organization. Micro practice is the third and considered the most common type of social work. This is a type of service most individuals imagine social workers should be participating on his or her behalf. The micro category is one that the social work social worker engages with the individual and family level to assist with solving their problems. Examples would be helping individuals find housing, jobs, health care and social services (Macro, Mezzo, and Micro Social Work, 2012).

The functionalist view is one where an individual considers that everything in society must have a proper function. If it is part of society it must have a function, which also encompasses those at the poverty level. Based on the functionalist poverty level it is viewed to have two main functions. First it acts as a motivator because it is viewed as a warning. People would most likely and want to strive to work harder and succeed than be considered labeled as an individual at the poverty level. At some level, many individuals have seen poverty, and this is a constant reminder for him or her to work hard to avoid society associating poverty to them. Second, poverty acts as a means to have a “feel good factor.” It is a way of measuring how well one is doing and to work harder to attain and maintain a level above poverty. When individuals have struggled and experienced poverty, he or she realizes that their due diligence to rise above this level has proven to be successful. These individuals find themselves exceeding in this area level, and understand that their current level could be much worse (Perspectives on Poverty, 2010).

As it relates to an interactions’ theory, these individuals will view poverty as a shared expectation. Unfortunately, the poor are judged negatively by influential groups. So they have a tendency to believe how they are viewed and settle on their position in life. They do not try to improve their living arrangements or work toward achieving success. They believe that poverty is not a cause of economic depression, but involves the person’s self-concept. To solve the poverty problems; interactions’ lean toward believing that the stigma associated with poverty should be eliminated. This in itself will perhaps cause positive changes to occur.

The human service worker plays a large part in the macro environment. The social worker will often be engaged in policy practice because policy changes happen very often in communities and organizations. The social service workers have varies roles such as planner, policy analyst, program coordinator, community organizer, manager, and administrator. The social worker also has responsibilities that deal with change in communities and organizations. They must identify the systems in need of change and the type of change needed. These changes may lead to community intervention, or intervention in an organization.

The macro system deals with communities, and organizations. One may ask them self how does this system impact child maltreatment, sexual abuse, crime, and delinquency. It should be noted that none of these are taken lightly. If a child is experiencing mistreatment the police and a social worker will get involved. The social worker will have regular visits with the child and his or her family. If mistreatment is found then the child will be removed from the household and placed in foster care. The parents will lose custody of their children and be charged with child neglect in the correct manner. Sexual abuse is also very serious. Anytime a report of sexual abuse occurs the police are notified and become involved with the case. The perpetrator is charged and is taken into custody. If it is a child, proper protocol involves counseling and regular checkups. Crime is also handled in a similar way. The police and courts get involved and the perpetrator is sentenced accordingly based on the crime committed, which is contingent on the severity of the crime. These systems also have delinquency prevention programs and develop programs based on historical findings (Macro Practice in Social Work, 2012).

In conclusion, both the social worker and client participate in the macro, mezzo, and micro system to work toward a positive outcome and a means to secure that collaboration amongst all are working toward the same goal.

References

Macro, mezzo, and micro social work, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2013 from:

http://socialworklicensemap.com/macro-mezzo-and-micro-social-work

Macro practice in social work. 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2013 from:

http://www.peasonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205838782.pdf.

Perspectives on Poverty, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2013 from:

http://www.school-portal.co.uk/groupdownloadfile.asp?groupid=46096&resourceide=133736

Zastrow, C.H., & Kirst-Ashman, K.K. (2010). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.