Those who are in social work are mainly concerned with bettering the lives of all around them. Among the goals would be the improvement of society's conditions, and the circumstances that bind us all. If you enter a Masters of Social Work program, you are going to be given the tools you need for these aims.
There are various functions associated with people majoring in such a topic. The beneficiaries, subjects or target groups to receive intervention are those who may be suffering from poverty, social injustice and violations in human rights. These are terms that more commonly associated with developing countries.
The African, Asian, and South American areas are often mentioned here. With some of the more commonly listed issues being famine, starvation, and poor health, these are obviously in none too good a condition. It is easy to forget that there is a child starving in some African country, perhaps, when you are sitting down to a full meal in your comfy home: yet this should never be forgotten.
It is a pity, especially when you consider that many economists now argue that there is indeed enough for everyone, with the only problem being in the distribution. Many of these inequities are primarily due to an attitude that values self-interest far above compassion for one's fellow man. These matters beg consideration and resolution.
The daily income for millions of persons is a mere 2 bucks. One cannot call this an enjoyable way to live, by any definition. While there is relative poverty in many parts of the United States (which deserve the attention of government and social work practitioners), developing countries experience extreme poverty; that kind of poverty that bites hard and deep.
It is for this reason that many programs for social work are centered on the welfare of those in developing countries. The training given to those in MSW courses also helps them recognize that other issues, such as injustices, must be dealt with. These are high-level subject areas that put together several disciplines and sciences such as political science, social science and behavioral science.
You are going to be asked to learn how to research as well as teach. Most working graduates of MSW end up being required to do research as well as instruct people. These abilities cannot be separated from social work, as they constitute so much of the work itself.
For a social worker to be successful, he or she needs to be skilled at interacting with other persons. You have to interact with people to know how to help them, after all. Social work graduates are expected to have great people skills and very low prejudice or bias levels.
Social work and the tasks that make it up have been described by at least one federation for those in the field. The organization said that social work demanded that its professionals keep in mind the setting of a particular issue, and the need to discover as much about its environment as possible. Social workers, it said, have to be aware of how complex society can be, and how things could influence even other things that would seem to be distant.
The social work professional knows and can handle matters concerning human development, social theory and social systems. You have to have the ability to look at a knot in the social fabric and unravel it. A Masters Social Work program trains and equips students in handling such matters.
