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Progressivism was an urban, middle class reform movement of the late-19tha and early-20th Centuries that did attempt to deal with the social and economic problems of the United States in a limited way, almost always through regulations on the state and local levels. In many ways, the origins of social work as a modern profession and the welfare state can be traced back to this era, particularly to the work of Jane Addams at Hull house in Chicago and other urban reformers. Addams also supported national health insurance, public housing, old-age pensions and social security at the federal level, although these did not come about until the New Deal of the 1930s and Great Society of the 1960s (Jansson, p. 201). Early social workers like Addams soon came to understand that there was an "ethic of mutual assistance" in immigrant and ethnic communities that still exists today, and this was often the only form of welfare and social security that they had (Jansson, p. 169). This has changed little today with Latino and Asian communities in contemporary urban centers. In the post-1965 period, the U.S. again became the favorite destination for millions of refugees and economic migrants from poor countries, as it had been in the years 1880-1920. They again faced the same low wages and miserable housing and health care conditions that the earlier immigrants had, and also had no "right to safety net programs and protections that other working Americans receive" (Jansson, p. 200). Since the Progressive Era welfare state was more concerned with regulation of capitalism than social welfare and entitlement programs, present-day social workers "need to be familiar with the regulatory side of the American welfare state," especially regulations of wages, hours, workers' compensation, public health, food and drug safety and housing conditions, all of which had their origin in the Progressive Era (Jansson, p. 207).

REFERENCE

Jansson, B.S. (2009). The Reluctant Welfare State: Engaging History to Advance Social Work Practice in Contemporary Society, 6th Edition. Cengage Learning.