Strasbourg system
The Strasbourg system of communal poor relief was first introduced in 1905. Due to the professionalization and centralization, it was a further development of the Elberfeld system .
Development and functioning
The Elberfeld system of poor relief that emerged in the middle of the 19th century was based on voluntary work and extensive decentralization. However, due to the strong immigration movements during the high industrialization, it reached its limits. In Strasbourg , a modified concept was developed which provided for a division of labor between voluntary and full-time poor carers.
In the Strasbourg system, a municipal administration was created to examine cases of need and then decide on the provision of assistance. The first point of contact was an authority that acted according to established administrative procedures and legal provisions. By including professional poor caregivers in poor welfare, the foundation stone for social work was laid and pure voluntary work was replaced. In this way, a de facto centralization of competencies to the full-time employees was accomplished.
The Strasbourg system showed the first contours of the coexistence of bureaucratic administrative activity and advisory-controlling educational social work.
The female volunteers had the task of investigating the families and the male full-time poor carers had to decide whether the requested help and support should actually be granted. This separation between “determining needs” and “granting assistance” has been partially preserved up to the recent past in the separation between back office and field service. This separation was only lifted in the course of the reorganization of social services and work.
literature
- Jürgen Reulecke: History of Urbanization in Germany . Frankfurt, 1985 ISBN 3-518-11249-X p. 67
- Kiel University of Applied Sciences: History of Social Work , Kiel, 2007, module reader p. 8