Social development is individual minds flourishing in interaction with community
Social work history in 20 books
L. T. Hobhouse, social science and social work
In previous posts, I introduced Hobhouse as an influential sociologist in England in the first quarter of the 20th century. One of his sources of influence was his presence in the London School of Economics (LSE), where he taught social studies (more practical social science) students alongside sociology students, at the same time as important social work colleagues such as Clement Attlee.
Although not a public intellectual, he worked for the socially liberal Manchester Guardian newspaper (now The Guardian) for some years, and wrote an influential text on liberalism, which marked his shift from the Liberal party and his commitment to the (more socialist) Labour Party. In particular, he rejected the laissez-faire aspects of the old liberalism and increasingly embraced socialism, state aid to labour through such developments as old age pensions and trade union activism (Hobson, 1931, p. 39).
Hobson quotes (p. 47) Hobhouse’s Manchester Guardian obituary, summarising the import of his work:
…it brought all the materials of the social sciences to prove that ultimate good consisted in the liberation of the human personality.
We can see, then, that his sociology provides an intellectual and moral social science basis for social work’s connection between both social and individual flourishing.
