Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 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 Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com 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?