Minimums and Maximums: A Theory and Design of Social Service Reform; [and Seminar Discussion].

In 1974 American institutions of social service--i.e. nonprofit agencies whose purposes are to assist groups and individuals to maintain or advance themselves in the social order--are in the midst of a crisis of confidence. As a social order, Americans are least effective in delivering social service to those who are impoverished, of color, physically handicapped, or otherwise different in ways that are observable. Effective social service reform must be characterized by both technical proficiency and an institutional climate that acknowledges and respects the unique characteristics of the client population. The design for betterment presented here has three parts which, taken together, describe a method of successful intervention in social service delivery. First, clients must become as influential as constituents in defining the uses to which the social service setting will be put; second, the social servants, as internal advocates for reform, must develop and articulate a "maximum" concept of effective social service; third, the community to which the service is to be delivered must adopt the "utility of minimums" as the conceptual basis for describing improved social service. (Author/JM)