1 IntroductionEcology is usually understood as a science
that has its object outside the existence of humans and their
social life. Ecologically, however, it is also possible to study
the life contexts in which human existence and provision of care
takes place. The object is the scope of the social in the setting
of its occurrence. The texture of our common and individual
existence and the economy of its supply can be inspected. It is
this field as a sphere of action that the ecosocial approach deals
with: A theory of human services and social work is the basis for
their cause, their procedure and their outcome of that context and
in the household with its means and potentials.The contexts of
social agency are extended in space and time. Ecology captures the
connections of that agency and the human agency in general.
2 What to think of in the ecosocial conceptThe ecosocial
concept reconstructs the intercorrelations in which human care and
social work happen. We live, act and interact amidst our concrete
(social and cultural, material and natural) surroundings and world.
We are part of it, we are dependent on it and we shape it with our
conduct and way of life. The ecosocial theory omits the usual
juxtaposition of economy, ecology and social issues. To view
something ecologically means to conceive of it comprehensively and
in the entirety of the context to which it belongs. The ecosocial
paradigm is a paradigm of insiderness and participation.
3 The genesis of the ecosocial paradigmHistorically, the
construct of the ecological presupposes the idea of the social, but
this idea is linked to an old concept of economy. The biological
application to the household of nature goes back to a basic form of
domestic coexistence. The ecosocial concept ties in with this
connection. From Ernst Haeckel's (1866) introduction of the term
and topic of ecology, the transfer to social science discourses in
home economics, urban sociology, psychology and social work can be
traced.
4 The scope of the theoryThe subject matter of the ecosocial
approach in social work and in human services is the cohabitation
and interaction of people in their shared space of life with its
events and challenges, conflicts and crises. They occur in the
context of physical, cultural, economic and social conditions in
which there is a multiple set of factors that correlate with and
influence people's behaviour in a specific way. In an ecology of
situatedness of people and human community, appropriate action can
be discussed.
5 The central concept of the household and the principle of
householdingThe ecological character of cohabitation in a field
of action is encompassed in the category of the household. The
topos of the household brings together economic and social,
normative, institutional, systemic and procedural aspects. They can
be caught at the macro level in the political body – or at the meso
level in the organisations that in the social economy provide work
and benefits for members or public services for the people – or at
the micro level in the dispositions for individual well-being.
Three sections discuss: (1) the model of the ancient oikos; (2)
resources as "stuff" of purposeful and sustainable action; and (3)
householding in a caring and managing function.
6 A comprehensive field of studyAll people have a stake in
the maintenance and continuation of a household. Householding
includes domestic activities in the residence of persons, outside
it any kind of resource use. In this respect, householding also
includes enterprises and businesses of all kinds. In an ecological
respect, they must be sustainable and not disturb the metabolism
between humans and nature. Among the public, private, and common
undertakings, agencies that provide human services have the purpose
of strengthening, promoting and securing the personal and social
assets (of health, knowledge, resilience, employability,
etc.).
7 Differentiations are necessary: Domestic and
external relationsEnvironmental concerns are, in themselves,
not the subject of ecosocial theory. They do so in the milieu of
social and individual living. In the scientific discourse it is
necessary to distinguish the ecosocial perspective from diverse
environmental science approaches. Concerned with the settings and
the processes of shaping and conducting human life, the surrounding
nature is perceived ecosocially to the extent that it is important
in the sphere of action of individuals and political bodies. This
relevance of nature is given locally and globally.
8 A multilevel constructAt home, people are with themselves,
but not only in the narrower sphere of their private space. They
also belong to an urban or rural locality, to a smaller or larger
political body, finally to a state and ultimately to the oikoumene
of the world community. Belonging is perceived subjectively and
exists objectively in real relationships and settings. Intermediary
there are civil, work and leisure organisations to which people
belong. In such organisations there are different interpretations
of what to household with. It happens in an interrelation of
households. From the point of view of social care, these
relationships are investigated at the micro, intermediate and macro
levels.
9 An ecological orientation for human services and the social
professionThe structured system of human services and social
support includes the areas of health care, of housing services, of
employment services, of education, of personal social services, and
of social security and social protection. In each area, different
contexts are important, which are beneficial or detrimental to
individual welfare. Ecosocially, the respective conditions in which
professional helpers and their clientele interact are sought out.
The whole field of action, directed towards individual and social
welfare, is examined. In this field, the social profession is
ecologically referred to the range of internal and external
dispositions that determine the situation and perspectives of
people.
10 The ethical underpinningNormatively, the ecosocial
approach is based on the question: how can we live and how do we
want to live? The ecosocial focus on life circumstances does not
take place in a value-judgement free research, but with the claim
of a sustainable positive shaping of individual and common
existence in those contexts. How we can live refers to the living
conditions in the ecological contexts of our existence. In view of
the changes in the contexts of life on earth, of our economy, of
demography, and of the protection of nature, conclusions must be
drawn for our way of life. These are ethical conclusions.
11 The turn of ecological thinking in the AnthropoceneThe
human being has subjected nature and the whole sphere of life to
human work and man now bears responsibility for the common life on
the planet. Each level of social action and behaviour is involved
in the responsibility. More and more social dispositions occur due
to developments in the environment and nature. It didn't take the
Corona crisis for that to happen. Social action is generally
gaining an ecological profile.
12 Back to care and the social workIn the work on welfare a
current care expands to a common care with regard to the life
contexts of well-being. On the basis of commonality, services must
be provided in the real, cultural, normative and psychosocial space
in which people conduct their lives. Within this framework, their
situation must be assessed and plans made with them to change and
to do something for their well-being. Professional care is linked
to the concern and the caring attitudes of clients, which requires
a translation of the mutual understanding and clarification of
interests and intentions. They are taken in consideration of and
reflected in the space of common care. In it the social profession
finds a new determination.
13 Working in stewardshipEcosocially, the performance of the
professional in the sphere of social action can be understood as
stewardship. Like the ancient oikonomos, a steward (or Wirt in
German) as a “housekeeper” takes care of the needs of a household.
A steward protects and develops its resources. Stewards are
expected to manage economic and social sustainability. A steward is
motivated to act by his responsibility for common and personal
assets. With the practice of a steward, well-being is nurtured. All
participants are called upon to do so in their own interests and in
common interests.
14 ConclusionThe ecotheory of
the “social” places it in the local and temporal reference space of
the various actors, their interests and ambitions, their means and
possibilities, and orientates them towards sustainability.
Ecologically, social work is embedded in the household of
widespread caring for the well-being of people and for the common
life in our world.
Prof. Dr. phil. Wolf Rainer Wendt studied philosophy, psychology, and sociology and then practiced in youth welfare. Since 1978 he has been professor and Head of the Department of Social Work at the Berufsakademie Stuttgart, now the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University (DHBW) Stuttgart in Germany. He was co-founder and chairman (1993 to 2009) of the German Association of Social Work (DGSA), and also was chairman (2004 to 2015) of the German Society for Care and Case Management (DGCC). In 2003 he received an honorary professorship at the University of Tübingen in Germany. He has written a number of books (in German) on the theory and history of social work, the social economy and care and case management.
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