please respond to the peer post below
- How might a social worker apply ” Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs” to assess client needs. Explain your answer.
- Discuss poverty from a Functionalism perspective. Give at least 2 examples of how poverty could be considered to be functional or advantageous for those who control society.
“Abraham Maslow (1954, 1968, 1971) viewed humans as having tremendous potential for personal development. He believed it was human nature for people to seek to know more about themselves and to strive to develop their capacities to the fullest” (Zastrow, Kirst-Ashman, & Hessenauer, 2019, p. 492). The Maslow’s Theory is a compass to help social workers navigate through all the individuals and the community’s needs. Understanding your clients’ needs is where I would start with the Maslow Theory. Every person is different and we must piece together what is missing for them. With the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, I would focus on safety and physiological needs, self-esteem, belonging, immediate verse long term care needs, client advocacy finding resources for clients and recognizing the unmet needs of the clients, cultural considerations using the Maslow’s Hierarchy theory to align with the cultural values of the clients. I would also focus on professional development and self-care meaning respecting the clients needs, helping them pursue their own goals and help them stay motivated in their careers and that might want them to help others.
“According to the functionalist perspective, all social systems have a tendency toward equilibrium- maintenance of a steady state or particular balance, in which the parts of the system remain in the same relationship to one another” (Zastrow, Kirst-Ashman, & Hessenauer, 2019, p. 546). Functionalism exists because it serves a purpose in society and that can include motivating people so they work hard to pursue their success. Someone who is a functionalist for example would say that poverty helps to maintain a stable supply of low wage labor for economic growth. In the United States there are so many low wage jobs and those jobs are filled by workers who live in poverty and they would think that serves a purpose for maintaining a stable work place that is necessary for this economy to function properly. Another example would be poor people doing the work that other people do not want to do or the poor purchasing goods such as days old food because it is marked down or purchasing used clothes that other people do not want and those three examples show that is it functional because that is what happens. Now we can see why the middle and upper class especially the upper class do not help out in poverty so that they can ensure it continues.
References
Zastrow, C.H., Kirst-Ashman, K.K., & Hessenauer, S. (2019).
Empowerment series: Understanding human behavior and the social
environment. 11th ed., Boston, MA: Cengage.
