ROLL THEORY AND OTHER SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
COHEN, STEPHEN Z.
ROLL THEORY AND OTHER SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS STEPHEN Z. COHEN It seems to me that through careful application of even a few essential concepts and principles drawn from the social worker's bag...
...Certainly, this is what Freud meant when he spoke of counter-transference...
...The need then was so acute that the army quartermasters had to distribute from their supply of K rations: knaidlach, kashe, kishke, kreplach, kichel, kugel, and knishes...
...Let us now examine the results of our efforts to evaluate these delicacies through the careful application of social work principles...
...They're filled with poppy seeds, or prunes, pineapple, and cheese—sometimes—but mainly poppy seeds, right...
...A third essential principle is that of self-determination...
...It violates all the rules of the theory of social rolls...
...The sixth and final social work principle to be examined is that of creating the optimal milieu...
...They became so desperate, they even tried to include k'filte fish...
...Our colleagues from the Department of Mathematics would no doubt be able to affirm for us that the score is 3 to 3...
...On the north side, where everything is bigger and better, you can get a hamantasch with 6, 8, or up to even 10 sides...
...The lowliest peasant had his little bulkele, on up to his loftiest majesty, the Kaiser...
...Latkes are poured into the pan...
...Hauser of the Population Research Center long ago affirmed that the world's population is almost evenly divided in their latke preferences...
...Latkes, however, are much more psychotherapeutic...
...There are other psychotherapeutic considerations which support the latke over the haman-tasch...
...The latke certainly has greater potential for contributing to that important characteristic than the more digestible haman-tasch...
...You know, of course, that our colleague Dr...
...Actually, Freud's name was originally pronounced Fried...
...Alas, the latke offers no such opportunity for self-expression...
...That, surely, is self-determination...
...Bagels, bialys, bulkelach, Kaisers, tzibbile bundehs are social rolls...
...The theory of social rolls is clearly applicable here...
...I was driving past my local, fran-chised Dunkin Hamantaschen Shop the other day and was confronted with no less than 47 varieties...
...Having a say in your own existence is clearly essential and it is the hamantasch that allows for maximum self-determination...
...Let us look first at the concept of social rolls...
...I have selected six important social work principles that can serve this discriminating purpose...
...Once again, they are transferred from the counter to the plate for serving...
...Sour cream and schmaltz, as you no doubt know, have never gotten along very well, and the dairy industry has spared no expense to get changes in existing latke legislation in favor of sour cream...
...Thus we are involved not only in improving the client and his functioning, but we also attend to his milieu...
...Only recently we hear of dairy officials greasing the president's palm so that he would get us to grease our pans differently...
...There is no room, as with even the lowly egg, for ordering up your latkes scrambled, boiled, or shirred...
...4) Therapeutic Value...
...ROLL THEORY AND OTHER SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS STEPHEN Z. COHEN It seems to me that through careful application of even a few essential concepts and principles drawn from the social worker's bag of tricks, or as we modestly are wont to say, "our armamentarium," we might discover whether it is to be the latke or the hamantasch which will receive the blessing of our respect and admiration...
...They are easily adaptable to social gatherings...
...Home, in the kitchen, cooking latkes for her family, that's where she is...
...These, of course, are still available, but how about hamantaschen filled with chocolate mousse, peaches flambe, pate de foie gras, clam chowder, or roast suckling pig...
...He said the truly good psychotherapist should have greying hair and/or a beard for the look of maturity...
...glasses and/or a pipe for the look of intellect...
...When finished, they are transferred back to the counter for draining on a paper towel...
...What do you think the Romans were rendering unto Caesar...
...Stand around at a social gathering with a latke between your fingers, sour cream, applesauce, grease dripping down your hostess's white shag that just came back from Na-higian Bros., and you will understand the real meaning of the roll theory...
...They are: (1) The Concept of Social Rolls...
...I would classify the hamantasch in this category...
...As I have already indicated, rolls, in which category we have identified the hamantasch, are the choice of the social gatherers, those swinging singles...
...You seldom see the real Jewish mother getting rolls in the Deli-Dali—You know where she is...
...But, surely we all know that "leben" means sour cream (yogurt in Israel, you know, is "le-benia...
...The hamantasch seems not to be concerned with its environment...
...Hamantaschen are brought home in a paper bag, put on a plate, and served...
...The ascendancy of schmaltz as the premier latke milieu has greatly distressed the dairy industry...
...Of course, they are only fried...
...How many times have I been in line at the Deli-Dali waiting to pay for my family-size jar of Schmaltz herring or my family Philadelphia, and watched these swingers, these singles, ask for a half dozen Kaisers or bagels or hamantaschen...
...The latke, however, is a pain in the neck...
...As a social roll, as a vehicle for self-determination, and as a fighter against poverty, the hamantasch is clearly preferred...
...And that outer world is not the plate, not the pan, none of these...
...No, the high mark for self-determination must be given to the hamantasch...
...and (6) Creating the Optimal Milieu...
...One of their number has done quite well with our technique—a fellow named Freud...
...Some may think that his famous dictum, "Leben und Arbeiten" means "love and work...
...What sense of importance, what feeling of pride and personal merit comes to one who can walk into a bakery, look steelyeyed at a hapless clerk, and proclaim: I'll take one of these, two of those, one of these, three of those, three of those and two of those...
...These workers advocate that all poor receive an oven, some dough, a few prunes, and a triangle...
...Let us look at a second social work concept, the strengthening of family life...
...Prunes, poppy seeds, apricots, and pineapples were removed from the hamantaschen and provided to the starving population because the Department of Agriculture, in its infinite wisdom, had determined that they were filling...
...The environment that shapes the latke is the schmaltz...
...However, for strengthening family life, as a psychotherapeutic tool and as a symbol of environmental quality, it is the latke that gets the applesauce...
...You bet not...
...5) Poor Relief and the Dole...
...Our next subect area deals with those aspects of the social work profession related to dealing with problems of poverty, hunger, unemployment, and other benefits of our great society...
...The pronunciation was changed through the efforts of an early, now long-forgotten group of ha-mantasch supporters who tried unsuccessfully to deny Freud's-Fried's preference for latkes...
...So when Freud said "Leben und Arbeiten" he was actually saying "If you put on more sour cream, I'll have another bite...
...Poor relief and the dole does not refer merely to the obvious provision of pineapple hamantaschen to the nation's hungry...
...Clearly it is the latke that succeeds here...
...It was Freud, you know, who gave us the three attributes of the good psychotherapist...
...Can you ever get a hamantasch with mommy seeds, or little baby seeds...
...No, for family life, it's latkes all the way...
...One of social work's major contributions to society has been its invention and development of the technique of psychotherapy...
...It languishes in its sheltered womb of an oven, becoming what it is, and seems unconcerned with the world around it...
...Latkes, however, are intimately, inexorably bound to their outer world...
...Even today, the Departments of Public Welfare throughout the country, are engaged in the age-old struggle between those caseworkers who advocate the distribution of hamantaschen to all poor, solely on the basis of need, and those who believe that the poor should be given, rather, the tools and the training to make their own hamantaschen...
...Applesauce, sour cream, or plain—three choices only...
...Certainly it was not the gribbines...
...It is a form of roll that does not stand in the way of one's social life...
...How unique can you possibly feel knowing that about one-third of the entire world, that's just under 1 billion people, one-third is eating its latkes exactly as you do...
...And, another thing about hamantaschen...
...The batter is mixed in a bowl on the counter near the stove...
...Here in Hyde Park we are used to the usual hamantasch shaped like a triangle...
...In some households, they are even eaten directly from the bag...
...3) Self-Determina-tion...
...Surely the family is our most fundamental institution and whatever strengthens the family...
...We have willingly shared these developments with our partners in psychology and psychiatry and they have been doing a rather nice job in developing things further...
...strengthens the family...
...Applesauce, sour cream, or plain...
...Who can forget the pathetic hamantaschen lines of the 1930's...
...Their efforts failed as a result of Freud's own penchant for the double entendre...
...and hemorrhoids for the look of concern...
...applesauce, sour cream, or plain has been the lot of the latke since the time of...
...Roll theory, as you all know, is as old as the bagel itself...
...The oil boycott will result in fewer people cooking their latkes in superpermalube, thank God, and peanut oil, neat's-foot oil, Three-in-One oil, olive oil, and probably Popeye, too, will gain more prominence...
...As a matter of fact, in my entire professional career, I have never met a hamantasch that conveyed a need for help...
...Actually, the poor seems to prefer only the dough...
...Each man has the right to make for himself those decisions that affect his existence...
...2) The Strengthening of Family Life...
...It goes without saying, therefore, that the problems of poverty require the application of qualities that inhere only in the haman-tasch...
...Let's not, let's never underestimate the importance of schmaltz in our world...
...each one knew his place, his roll, as it were...
...One can stand around at a social gathering, munch a roll and still move about engaged with other people...
...But schmaltz will always be the latke lovers' lubricant...
...Even the ancients understood its importance...
...Prunes, poppy seed, apricot, pineapple, cheese, and apple, were the choices of our grandparents and theirs before them, which already is a pretty fair set of choices...
...A crucial aspect of the social worker's task is concerned with the quality of the environment wherein the client lives...
Vol. 2 • December 1976 • No. 3
