Examining Human Service Work's Impact on Social Change

This essay delves into the multifaceted nature of human service work, examining its potential as a catalyst for social change while also acknowledging its susceptibility to being used as a tool for social control. The author reflects on personal values rooted in socialism and existentialism, emphasizing the importance of liberation, empowerment, and unbiased improvement of social welfare. The essay critiques the current state of human service, suggesting it often prioritizes profit and social order over genuine empowerment, and discusses dominant societal ideologies such as nepotism and sexism that hinder its effectiveness. Drawing on Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine," the author highlights how corporations sometimes exploit vulnerable populations under the guise of human service for financial gain. The essay concludes by advocating for genuine government and private sector involvement, urging corporations to prioritize empowerment and inclusivity to foster true social change and improve living standards, with Desklib offering resources for further exploration.

Running Head: HUMAN SERVICE WORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE 1
Human Service Work for Social Change
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Human Service Work for Social Change
Human services have been thoroughly researched, studied and has also been regularly
reviewed as an independent body of knowledge in the field of social science. It is defined as the
study of every human system, social innovations and most crucially service technology, which
have been modeled with an aim of enhancing the living standards of individuals, their
households and the community that they live (Almog-Bar, and Schmid, 2014, p.24). There are
very many different schools of thoughts on the discipline, one such, makes us believe that human
services and social work encourage social change. It also brings in liberation and empowerment
among individuals and makes them have faith that the principle of social justice and human
rights are the uniting factors that they have to practice for them to progress economically and
stay in peace and harmony. This is because this discipline aims at improving the living standards
of the people and also improving the welfare of the community at large.
There is also the existence of other individuals who still believe that human service at most
times is used as a masquerade to acquire social control. This is because some individuals and
firms try to take advantage of situations to gain in the name of human service. This is mostly
seen when disasters occur. Michael Foucault a sociologist gives us a suggestion that social
control is one of the most crucial parts of any act of human service. From this suggestion, we
may have no choice than to agree that social control is hard to avoid (Astvik, and Melin, 2013,
p.344).
I have personal values such as autonomy, commitment, responsibility, and the resilience
towards the service to humanity. Personally, my values are founded on the philosophy of
socialism and existentialism. I strongly believe that each activities main aim should be to liberate

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the people, empower them and try to improve their social welfare without being bias. I believe in
uniting the people and giving them the power to rule their own lives. I also believe that all
activities should aim at improving the living standards of every member of the community
without discrimination (Garrow and Hasenfeld, 2014, p.88). Hence, my stands on human service,
in its current nature are to some extent negative. In my view, I think in the present day, human
service is a strategy to gain social control and order instead of any real improvement and
empowerment in the lives of the people. It is extremely choosy and it also has a habit to shift
towards profit motivation instead of improving, empowering people lives and rendering services
to them without any bias (Cohen, and Felson, 2016, p.212).
The dominant ideologies that exist in the society include nepotism in that one needs to help
people of same blood. The self-love ideology has made leaders become full of greed, corrupt and
hard-hearted. They do not practice service to humanity but focus of their well-being. Democracy
is an ideology that aims at making people free to move around and talk without fear as long as
they do the right in the society (Hochschild, 2015, p.52). Other leaders have become dictatorial
and have been exercising forced rule on the people. The society is full of absolutism ideology in
that they have unlimited powers to control and make people suffer. Sexism is an ideology from
the media that makes people even the young mistreats those of the opposite sex in the society. In
this case the women fall victims of sexual misconduct from such ideology.
Currently, a lot of things around us are as a function of perception governance where realities
are made and brought down every day for the masses by the mainstream media. A lot of the
human service efforts carried out by the multibillion-dollar firms are nothing better than claptrap
and an activity made to further their own interests and to widen their brand awareness.

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These firms know that when the media reports that they have done a certain human service to
some people, many people will be aware of the firm thus increasing their market and as a result
of that they will enjoy increment in the revenue they collect from sales. Naomi Klein in her
book ‘’ the shock doctrine “clearly illustrates how firms in a period of chaos or destruction when
individuals are physically and also emotionally drained, choose to assist them on the outside
pretending its human service, but their main agenda is to take advantage of the sad condition and
create revenue out of the calamity and also make the individuals to only depend on them
(Gillingham, 2011, p.305)
To make matters worse, some of the disasters are not caused by nature but by this corporation
so that they can make money out of the situation. Possessing socialistic value in my heart, to me,
such activities are a big blow on the face of all those beings and academic institutions which
honestly work to understand human service as a subject and put an effort in making sure the
living standards of the people are improved. The centre of attention ought to be relocated from
such a travesty to these true firms and rather than giving free marketing services to the firms. The
government should sponsor these entities. We are crafting more divisions in the society and they
are being a barrier to our distribution of the gains of human services. This is the main reason as
to why am saying that human service is not functioning as expected Because human service
should not bring on board divisions in the community .it should result in peace and harmony in
the community and also lead to an improvement in the living standards of the people.
The attitudes of human rights and social justice should aim at the spirit of human service and
not motivations like taking advantage and selectiveness. Genuine chipping in, by the government

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and the private sector players is the desire of the hour to make human service, truly inclusive and
functional in every part of the state (McLaughlin, 2009, p.1112).
Corporations should be encouraged to carry out human sacrifice activities without a hidden
agenda. They ought to understand that when they empower the people they increase the
purchasing power of their customers (Mosley, 2011, p.448). Transformation activities ought to
be carried out for the subject of human services beyond doubt make a very significant impact in
the living standards of the community and the people thus resulting into liberation and a great
improvement in the social welfare.

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References
Almog-Bar, M. and Schmid, H., 2014. Advocacy activities of nonprofit human service
organizations: A crit Lynch-Cerullo, K. and Cooney, K., 2011. Moving from outputs to
outcomes: A review of the evolution of performance measurement in the human service
nonprofit sector. Administration in Social Work, 35(4), pp.364-388.ical review. Nonprofit and
voluntary sector quarterly, 43(1), pp.11-35.
Astvik, W. and Melin, M., 2013. Coping with the imbalance between job demands and
resources: A study of different coping patterns and implications for health and quality in
human service work. Journal of Social Work, 13(4), pp.337-360.
Cohen, L.E. and Felson, M., 2016. Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity
Approach (1979). In Classics in Environmental Criminology (pp. 203-232). CRC Press.
Garrow, E.E. and Hasenfeld, Y., 2014. Institutional logics, moral frames, and advocacy:
Explaining the purpose of advocacy among nonprofit human-service organizations. Nonprofit
and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43(1), pp.80-98.
Gillingham, P., 2011. Computer-based information systems and human service organisations:
Emerging problems and future possibilities. Australian Social Work, 64(3), pp.299-312.
Hochschild, A.R., 2015. The managed heart. In Working In America (pp. 47-54). Routledge.
McLaughlin, H., 2009. What's in a name:‘client’,‘patient’,‘customer’,‘consumer’,‘expert by
experience’,‘service user’—what's next?. The British Journal of Social Work, 39(6), pp.1101-
1117.

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Mosley, J.E., 2011. Institutionalization, privatization, and political opportunity: What tactical
choices reveal about the policy advocacy of human service nonprofits. Nonprofit and
Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(3), pp.435-457.