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8 Unit 1 Learning About Human Services
The History of Human Services
People always have had and always will have needs. Even so, human
services is a relatively new career fi eld that has only been around for
the past 100 years or so. This does not mean that needs did not exist.
Rather, it represents a cultural shift in ideology about who is responsible
to meet needs and how to meet them. Ideology is a system of beliefs and
ideals important to a society. Before this cultural shift, people living in
poverty or with special needs were often thought of as deserving of their
circumstances. At best, they were a responsibility of family members.
This was especially true in more developed areas of the world, where
taking care of those in need was a part of community life.
In the United States and much of Europe, tending to people’s needs was
not about charity. Instead, it often came more from a concern about keeping
the social order and preventing diseases. Hospitals and temporary shelters
were used to quarantine the sick (Figure 1.3). It was not until around the
Industrial Revolution (time in history of rapid industrial growth) that a shift
in thought began to occur as families came together in urban areas. Urban
density was an issue. Along with the density, came the need for affordable
housing, food, and other necessities, including medical care. People could
no longer ignore the needs of the impoverished (poor).
At the dawn of the twentieth century, group homes were built to care
for older adults who had no family to care for them. Orphanages housed
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Figure 1.3 Sick people were often kept in hospitals or encampments to treat them and
quarantine them from others. In what ways is this hospital different from hospitals today?