Dysfunkcja społeczna i pojęcia pokrewne w pracy socjalnej

The concept of social dysfunction refers to a broad spectrum of issues, so in order to explain what is the dysfunction, you should also specify the importance of several other concepts. These include such concepts as "social norm", "need" the "problem", "conflict", "crisis" and "pathology". Let's start with a discussion of the latter notion, since it can be a source of confusion. In the literature, the term "social dysfunction" ("dysfunctionality") and the term "pathology" are in a similar sense, means conduct contrary to current social norms. The term "pathology" appeared for the first time in American literature, where it was defined as "behavior or attitudes inconsistent with generally accepted principles of conduct in a given society and behavior affecting the requirements and prohibitions contained in the provisions of criminal and civil laws." According to this definition, the action is pathological if it violates a social norm or a rule of law. Of the "classic" of the Polish definition should include the definition of A. Podgóreckiego, who pointed out the inconsistency of behavior known as "pathology" of the established in the society "worldoutlook of values." In turn, A. Lipka pathological behaviors in addition to noncompliance with social norms (which will be discussed later) for the distinctive feature of the pathological behavior deemed rejection "values objectively in accordance with the interests of the individual and the general public." This raises the question here, of course, the instances have the authority to decide what in a particular case is, and what is not consistent with the "objective" interests of the individual and the community. In Poland, the notion of pathology is currently used not only in the work in the field of pedagogy and social work theory, but also medicine, criminology, law, sociology, psychology and many other fields. It is also often used in public debate, but in everyday language is characterized by strong negative connotations. In theory and practice of social work outside the ambiguity and negative emotional coloring, the biggest shortcoming of this concept seems to be his very narrow range of meaning. Speaking of pathology, we mean the social status of a "disease" and thus a condition which must be the "treatment" so as not to endanger the rest of society. Meanwhile, in social work, these "pathological" cases constitute only one of many types of problems, not always the most important type in terms of "health" of society as a whole. The tasks of social workers are, after all activities such as making the decision to grant material benefits, care for people with disabilities and helping people in crisis, unemployed, and so the problems are not in ordinary language, nor in the literature is not defined as pathology society.