AbstractsSocial Work

In our present day democratic society certain important needs can best be met through group activities. These include the need for social contacts, for cultural expression, for the organization of action, and for group concern for the common good. The group plays a vital role in meeting these needs and in the preservation of our democracy. It is the practical training ground where people learn both the form and the practice of democratic living. Miss Coyle has pointed out that, “Many of them (groups) are permeated with the basic homespun relations of mutual respect, orderly procedures and common consent out of which the larger framework of political, economic, and social democracy must evolve. Because of the importance of group life in our democratic society this study has attempted to get a picture of group activities among Jewish teen agers in Indianapolis. Because group activity deals with that period of leisure time that is available after all necessary chores and tasks have been completed, the study is primarily concerned with the problem or how this leisure time is spent. The fact that the manner in which this leisure time is used is a matter or some concern to parents of teen agers and to the teen agers themselves is attested to by the comments made to the writer by several parents. Typical of these comments are the following. “Our teen agers are wasting their time.” “Our high school children are lazy. They show no creativity in their after-school activities.”[...]