Srečo Dragoš, Blaž Mesec

Blaž Mesec, Srečo Dragoš

For the purposes of terminological clarity, considering the significance of the field of informal help (in "natural" settings), and for the purposes of research, the authors present a taxonomy of informal help they elaborated on the basis of the empirical data from the interviews carried out by the students of School for Social Work. The main criteria of the proposed taxonomy are stability of informal help and the range of the social circle to which that stability applies. Next, they compare this taxonomy with Weber's typology of social action and with the division of social activities into individual sectors (from the point of view of the welfare system). Through this comparison, they point out the different applications of the various kinds of classifications, especially regarding their origin, the object to which they refer, the criteria they use, and the purposes they set out. To differentiate on this level is the condition for them to be useful in social work.

Bernard Stritih

The author points out, with respect to people's personal and social problems, the necessity of turning away from the traditional epistemology to the principles of a new (nonlinear) epistemology, ie., to the kind of work in which the expert's singleminded definition of a problem is consciously renounced, the consent between the giver and the receiver of help is constantly tested, the self-image of the receiver and his/her relational system is taken into account, unexpected complications are expected, and everything that leads to all-mastering (all-anticipating) modernist construction of the "hard reality". The difference between the old and the new approach to helping is illustrated with three possible models of problem-solving, which represent a continuity between the traditional and the systemic paradigm of human help and enable the processes of autopoesis, autonomy and self-referencing.

Vito Flaker

This condensed presentation of the historical development of treating mental health and madness in Slovenia since the 16th century makes it clear that there is a continuity of locking up and excluding, which remains the basic feature of the work with a marginal and deviant population. Concerning the field of mental health, three approaches are presented (medicalisation, risk management, psychologisation of normality) which are also important from the point of view of social work. A brief survey of the relevant legislation is presented, together with the statistical data on the number of hospitals in Slovenia, on the vocational structure of professionals, on the frequency of registered mental disturbances, on the extension of the organisational network, etc., and finally, some problems and contradictions of further development of the psychiatric and social services in general are pointed out.

Darja Zaviršek

The article is composed of the three topics that are not acknowledged enough in the theory and practice of social work: that of violence against women and children in family, of child sexual abuse, and of rape. As a rule, the offenders are men, which proves that the position of men and women is unequal both in family and in society at large. Social work in Slovenia normally does not acknowledge this fact, and that is demonstrated by the treatment of violence chiefly within the family, not separate from it. The author presents the new ways of solving these problems: shelters for battered women and children, work with networks in cases of child sexual abuse, counseling for raped women, advocacy service network for women, etc. The characteristic of all these services is that they take into account gender differences and unequal opportunities for women in ordinary life. It is about the social work that considers the language of gender and pays attention to the differences among once homogeneously defined groups of people.

Bernard Stritih

The aim of the paper is to distinguish between medical or psychiatric work with alcoholics and the approaches used by social work. The author explains the aetiology of alcoholic dependence by the mechanism of "double bind" (G. Bateson), and the social aspects of problem solving by means of the system theory and the theory of games (E. Berne). The advantage of the systemic approach (for social work) is that, for it, the unit of survival is not an individual but a group, and the main problems of dependence are not chemicaj or physiological but interactional - the structure of communications and roles, as formed from exterior or interior systemic (social, personal) impulses or disturbances, and regularly leading to excess, is accounted for by the script of the game called "an alcoholic". These are the starting points for the author's presentation of some more important foreign research whose findings are linked to the survey of the concrete techniques of social work in this field.

Andreja Kavar Vidmar

Having initially clarified the notion and the types of unemployment, the author presents the definition of unemployed person according to the Law of Employment and Insurance in Case of Unemployment, as well as the statistical figures of the problem. On the basis of 41 interviews with unemployed persons she indicates the situation and general characteristics of the unemployed, points out the particularly threatened groups, and quotes their own views on the problem from the material, emotional and relational point of view. Regarding the activity of the unemployed to solve their problem, she presents their expectations of the employment bureau and describes both how they look for work or a job on their own and the related activities of social work centres. Finally, the author summarizes the problems and suggests the perspectives for the solution of unemployment, notably from the perspective of social work.

Andreja Kavar Vidmar

The author starts with a short survey of employment and insurance against unemployment in Slovenia and cites the legal regulation of the field. Next, she presents the tasks of the national establishment of employment - mediation of employment and work, taxation and services in case of unemployment, the policy of employing, public works, scholarships - and describes the course and the mode of work with the unemployed. She concludes the presentation by describing the organisational network and the personnel structure of the establishment and its regional units and branch offices. Finally, she points out the problems and perspectives of such organisation - in particular the need for social work in dealing with unemployment. Though it is not in the capacity of the national establishment, that work is necessary in this field and can be developed in other (existing) social institutions.

Nada Turnšek

The author examines the concept of the socialisation of pre-school children education (as the central socio-political aim and the ideological norm of the previous regime) through the criteria of the achieved social equality which are evidenced (a) by the ratio of inclusion of children in these institutions, (b) by the accessibility of kindergartens to pre-school children regardless of the degree of development or urbanisation and the rate of unemployment in the areas they come from, (c) by the inclusion of children regardless of the social features of their families. She exposes, on the basis of statistical data, the crisis of the model that attempted to achieve its goals primarily by spreading the network of kindergartens, but doing that achieved the opposite. The solutions are seen by the author on two planes: in the democratisation on the macro level (the plural model of sectors) and particularly in the changes on the micro level (among the participants of tutelage in institutions).

Pavla Rapoša Tanjšek

In the first part of the paper, the transfer of social problem-solving from the state to the local level and, paralelly, the increasing significance of common living surroundings (or world) for the community method in social work is pointed out. The author shows the differences between community work and community approach, as well as between community organising, community planning and community action. In the second part, she gives a survey of the development of community social work in Slovenia and its perspectives in the new (plural) system of social welfare, while in the third part, she classifies the current forms of community work in this country into a few characteristic categories (regarding the problem area or population, regarding the mode of organisation, institutionality and alternativity of projects etc.), and presents the activities of social work centres in these kinds of activity.

Srečo Dragoš

Having initially defined the idiomatic term "clochard", the author presents a short historical survey of the phenomenon, laying stress on its legal status in the Slovenian territory since the end of the previous century. This is followed by a description of the Shelter for the Homeless, founded within the Centre for Social Work of the Ljubljana- Centre municipal unit in 1989. The activities of the Shelter are presented from the point of view of efficacy and efficiency: while their efficiency is very good, their efficacy is hardly satisfactory. Finally, the data are presented on the extension of the problem in Slovenia (outside Ljubljana) as seen in the centres for social work. The data obtained from the interviews with the key workers in the centres show that the extent of homelessness is not alarming but that the activities of the centres are dull.

Srečo Dragoš

The subject is treated on two levels, in principle and in view of the social concepts as they appear in the recent Slovenian history. For that reason, in the first part, the author considers the original meaning oí caritas for the Christian religion, its fundamental ethics, its socio-historical significance and its role in face of the present social condition. In the second part, various concepts of the arrangement of the whole society, as issued (since the end of the previous century) by more notable Slovenian Catholic authors, are presented. The emphasis these authors ascribe to the caritas in terms of their concepts is compared with how they treat other important fields, and this comparison shows it is not the social role of the caritas and its teleological aim, but the socio-political concepts which attribute to the caritas inadequate social functions, that are contestable.

Tone Kikelj, Darinka Piskule, Nives Potočnik

The author provides a detailed overview of the intricate charitable activities of the Slovenian churches and a condensed description of the individual activities and organisational forms. First, he presents the history of the charitable activities of the churches in Slovenia; next, he lists the forms of their organisations in the recent time (1991). He points out the variety of charitable activities within the Catholic Church, the similar activities carried out by other religious groups in Ljubljana, and the presence of the international charitable activities in Slovenia. Each of the forms is described with regard to its contents, time of origin and dissemination. The article is concluded by the sources that give more details about the activities.