When studying history, social scientists must remember to compare, rather than judge the meanings found

Provide an example of your own, or from the text, of a term that has changed meaning throughout history, or a label that may have a negative connotation. Explain what this symbol can teach the social scientist when judgment is suspended.
What will be an ideal response?


Social scientists learn about the present from the past, and must not impose modern thoughts or understandings from the present onto meanings of the past. An example is the word nurse in history. In the past, this term referred to subservient clinical helpers, assistants to physicians, and handmaidens. Today, nurses are considered healthcare professionals who are members of a team with physicians. Many males are nurses. However, terms like male nurse and female doctor betray the fact that expectations still lead people to assume that nurses are female while doctors are male, so a gender clarification needs to be in place to avoid confusion when this is not the case. The researcher must not apply one culture's definition to another. In Hebrew, nurse means sister. This may correspond to the early American definition of a nurse as subservient handmaiden, but the researcher cannot assume that the meaning is the same. Taking the time to learn the historical meanings can give the researcher information about how things have progressed, or how images have changed. It may also provide information on how medical practices have changed, or how the meaning of nurse affects patient care, and medical institutions in general.

Social Work & Human Services

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People think in ____________and ______________.

a. thoughts / symbols b. images / concepts c. words / images d. symbols / concepts e. words / phrases

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Family education has been decoupled from family psychoeducation MOST likely because:

a) Family members have tended to view psychoeducation as family blaming b) Keeping them together proved unweildy c) They have completely different agendas d) Their formats were too different

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While the broad goals of many family therapy schools are to solve presenting problems and to reorganize families, the primary aim of ____________ therapists is to reorganize families

a. experiential b. strategic c. behaviorists d. structural

Social Work & Human Services

Mr. and Mrs. Beech continuously argue and bicker, though they agree in one area: Mr. Beech's beginning career as a college teacher. Both are pleased with his choice of the profession, the salary and the university that hired Mr. Beech. Mr. Beech is on the verge of an emotional collapse, however, due to his fears of starting a career and the stress involved in completing his dissertation and his work as an instructor. Mrs. Meech demands constant attention and interferes with his work. The social worker's primary focus in treatment would be to

A. modify the attitudes that created the marital crisis. B. give support to Mr. Beech and help him work through the stresses involved in pursuing his academic career. C. examine and interpret the underlying causes of their marital conflict. D. help Mrs. Beech minimize her destructive attacks on her husband.

Social Work & Human Services