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The Determination of Social Need—A Model of Need Statements in Social Administration
Author(s) -
Ife Jim
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1980.tb00671.x
Subject(s) - confusion , positivism , focus (optics) , project commissioning , publishing , administration (probate law) , psychology , management science , social psychology , sociology , epistemology , political science , engineering , law , philosophy , physics , psychoanalysis , optics
It is suggested that much of the confusion around the use of the concept of social need in social administration is that need has been conceptualized primarily within a positivist paradigm, with the implication that it is objectively measurable. An alternative model is proposed, which is a model of need statements rather than need per se, so that the focus of study is the definition of need and the person or group making that judgment. This model incorporates the experience of the need definer, and the data base on which the need judgment is made.