Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1990
College/Unit
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program/Center
Social Work
Abstract
This paper explores a singular chapter in Social Work, Appalachia and
American culture. Like many other aspects of Appalachian culture and politics, it is
primarily a tale of extended effort for what proved to be a lost cause. Like many
other chapters in the history of the social work profession, it is a tale of a bright
beginning and insufficient follow-through. It is an optimistic narrative of expected
and unanticipated consequences that have proven to be beneficial for the culture
and economy of the region. It is also a deeply political narrative, if only because it is
dramatically at variance from both the boldly heroic and utilitarian myths of origin
that the social work profession usually offers and the view of social work usually
offered by the other social sciences. In the former views, social workers often
construct for themselves myths of origin in which wise and insightful predecessors
foresaw the need for the modern profession in the daily details of the sooty
industrial city. In the latter views, early social work is usually presented as a largely
ineffective, female dominated, idealistic, pre-scientific and even slightly daft
collection of do-gooders with little impact on culture or history and no real idea of
the meaning of science.
Digital Commons Citation
Lohmann, Roger A., "Allen Eaton and the Department of Art and Social Work: Social Work in the Appalachian Arts and Crafts Movement1" (1990). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 780.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/780
Included in
Appalachian Studies Commons, Art Practice Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons