Management and Social Work Dear Sir
| Author | H.J. Davies |
| Published date | 01 September 1982 |
| Date | 01 September 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058202900333 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
118
or
the
Social
Services
for
two
decades
or
more
will
have
lived
through
a
variety
of
treatment
’eras’.
In
the
late
1950’s
and
early
1960’s
Freud
loomed
larger
than
life.
Practically
every
client
was
slotted
into
an
anal,
oral
or
oedipal
pigeon
hole.
Colleagues
too
if
they
smoked,
chewed
the
end
of
their
pencil
or
insisted
on
neatness
and
order
also
ran
the
gauntlet
of
labelling
and
the
phoney
psycho-
analysis
which
followed.
Then
came
the
Behaviourists
fresh
from
Liverpool
courses
and
as
quick
to
practice
their
new
found
’skills’
as
Pavlov’s
dogs
were
to
saliver
at
the
ring-
ing
of
a
bell.
Freudian
Psychology
and
Behaviourism
(whatever
happened
to
Derek
Jehew?)
gradually
gave
way
to
enthusiasm
for
’group
work’.
More
economical
than
in-
dividual
therapy
but
perhaps
doing
more
for
the
vanity
of
the
officer
possessed
of
so
called
’expertise
in
group
work’
than
for the
bemused
clients
(and
sometimes
colleagues
too)
who
were
involved
in
the
exercise
and
expected
to
benefit.
And
so
it
went
on
and
goes
on
but
for
what?
Although
M.
Gough
points
out
that
most
people
went
to
sleep
during
Michael
Zander’s
address
to
the
conference
last
year
perhaps
they
should
have
remained
awake
to
take
heed
of
his
conclusion
about
the
effectiveness
of
past
and
pre-
sent
’prescriptions’
upon
the
incidence
of
crime.
He
stated,
’We
are
at
the
beginning
and
appallingly
ignorant’.
Practically
every
professional
article
I
read
is
about
the
offender,
the
criminal
justice
system
or
ourselves.
We
seem
to
pay
scant
attention
generally
to
the
vic-
tims
of
crime
who
get
about
as
much
attention
as
the
mouse
just
eaten
by
the
cat.
(Here
I
must
apologise
to
colleagues
who
are
involved
in
victim
support
schemes.)
But
probation
officers
too
are
human
(apart
from
the
few
saints
in
our
midst)
and
we
know,
if
we
are
prepared
to
admit
it,
that
we
also
feel
anger
and
seek
retribution
if
we
are
wronged
or
offended
quite
as
natural
and
strong
as
the
other
against.
The
latter
is
a
human
emotion
human
passions
and
equally
demanding
of
satisfaction.
Have
we
not
ignored
retribution
for
too
long
and
in
so
doing
have
created
an
increasingly
anxious
and
apprehensive
society,
which
views
with
extreme
con-
cern
the
increase
in
crime
and
the
seem-
ing
ineffectiveness
of those
tasked
to
deal
with
it?
If
we
are,
as
Professor
Zander
states,
still
at
the
beginning
and
lacking
in
knowledge,
should
we
not
be
realistic
and
come
out
from
behind
that
academic
facade
and
perceive
the
human
race
as
it
really
is,
cruel,
cunning,
aggressive,
avaricious
with
a
marked
propensity
to
prey
upon
itself.
Then
we
begin
to
look
at
less
palatable
but
perhaps
more
effec-
tive
mothods
of
dealing
with
offenders
as
indicated
by
John
Fennell.
Yours
sincerelv
F.
R.
BARKBY
Senior
Probation
Officer,
British
Forces
Germany
Management
and
Social
Work
Dear
Sir,
As
someone
who
regards
the
two
Journal
articles
by
Dave
Burnham
(A
Ned
Orthodoxy?
and
The
New
Ortho-
doxy,
March
1981
and
December
1981)
as
the
most
important
and
theoretically
instructive
on
the
current
direction
of
the
service
for
some
considerable
time,
I
am
extremely
disappointed
if
not too
sur-
prised
at
the
incomprehending
and
mis-
interpretive
responses
received
in
the
letter
pages
of
the
latest issue.
Terry
Scarborough
was
’left
confused’
and
gives
us
ample
proof
to
back-up
his
initial
admission.
He
suggests
that
Dave
Burnham
’almost
expects
us
to
endorse
the
new
ideology’,
and
manages
to
stand
the
article
on
its
head.
He
goes
on
to
place
faith
in
the
’old
orthodoxy’
and
creates
a
concept
which
Dave
Burnham
would
surely
argue
has
never
existed.
H.
A.
Thomas,
ACPO,
gives
us
a
truely
managerial
response.
’Burnham’s
(theoretical?)
comments
seem
very
con-
trary
to
my
own
direct
experience.’
Not
to
mine,
Mr
Thomas.
In
Manchester
our
non-negotiable
policy
document
quite
firmly
explained
to
me
that
I
was
no
longer
going
to
be
able
to
’do
my
own
thing’,
yet
despite
the
’area
policy
alter-
natives
to
custody
managerial
treatment’
now
being
apportioned
out,
any
number
of
my
colleagues
are
welcoming
’man-
agers
now
managing’.
The
essence
of
Dave
Burnham’s
case
is
that
an
overall
direction
for
probation
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