Psychodynamic and conflict theory analysis of the Chase family case

Applying multiple theories to one case study allows social workers to understand clients from different perspectives, allowing for a more realistic and holistic vision of what the client needs, and how the client can best benefit from evidence-based interventions. The client in this case is Lynn Chase, and her family. Based on the unique features of the Chase family, social workers can beneficially apply both conflict theory and psychodynamic theory to the case. Whereas conflict theory addresses some of the macro-issues and sociological issues affecting Lynn and her family, placing their challenges into context and perspective, the psychodynamic approach offers the opportunity to look more closely at the micro-level and psychological challenges Lynn and her family face.

Introduction: The Chase Family

Lynn Chase (nee Shaughnessy) describes herself as an Irish-American and a Roman Catholic, firmly situating herself within her cultural and religious context, and allowing the social worker to more directly understand her challenges and conflicts. Similarly, Lynn describes the neighborhood she lives in as \"middle class.\" Although she does not mention the neighborhood\'s racial composition, she does say that it is \"minimally integrated,\" and her not mentioning it suggests that it is probably predominantly white. Conflict theory will describe the Chase family and Lynn in particular, in terms of the intersections between race, class, gender, and power. Psychodynamic theory will help to understand the communication and relationship dynamics between the different family members, and also between the family members and their community.

Lynn is married to Richard Chase, and they have one son together, Robert. Their dog Sly is considered part of their family. Lynn and her family are actively engaged in their community, which potentially spreads Lynn\'s energy thinly. She is most active in church-related activities. Her son Robert attends Sunday School and is active in sports. Lynn claims her son does well in school but his teachers describe him as being shy. Richard is also somewhat of an introvert, as Lynn claims he does not have many of his own friends besides his family. However, the Chase family gets together about once per month with other neighborhood families.

For the past six months, Lynn has worked for the Fox manufacturing company but describes it dispassionately, as it is just a job. Before she got this job, she was staying at home to take care of Robert. Her husband works as a carpenter for a construction company and relishes his work; he even has his own workshop at home because carpentry is his passion. Lynn claims that her husband\'s job, although solid, does not allow them to save money for Robert\'s college, which is why she decided to take on a new job.

The presenting problem for Lynn is her relationship with her son Robert. There are other issues that Lynn describes, too, such as the fact that she recently started smoking again after five years of being tobacco-free. She has had trouble sleeping, has lost weight, and is losing her temper frequently with Robert even though Lynn admits he has not been misbehaving in any way. Lynn also admits that the problems she is having can be traced to her taking the job with the Fox manufacturing company. Her goals in social work are to reduce her irritability, reduce her tendency to argue with both her husband and son, to improve her health through better sleep, and to stop smoking.

Assessment from a Conflict Theory Perspective

Conflict theory is a crucial component to critical social work, which synthesizes a number of theories that describe the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and power Sue, Rasheed & Rasheed, 2016, p. 37). As a woman who flitted about from job to job, never finding what she might call her life\'s work as her husband did, Lynn might be experiencing conflict related to her powerlessness as an income generator. Applying conflict theory to the Chase family helps to understand more about why Lynn can trace the genesis of her recent problems to her new position with Fox manufacturing. Conflict itself is simply described as \"a clash or struggle between opposing forces or interests,\" (Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2012, p. 62). In Lynn\'s case, the opposing forces are relatively clear: they are between her role in her family and her desire to increase the family\'s income. There are conflicts between the amount of work she puts into exogenous forces including church activities and what she receives in return for her labor, as much of her work is unpaid. Moreover, Lynn has several competing social obligations that may be draining her of energy and causing conflict, including her work with the church and her participation in community and family-based activities.

Lynn\'s perceived financial struggles can be explained through conflict theory, which is rooted in Marxist discourse. Conflict theory reveals the obvious difference between Lynn and her husband and their respective attitudes towards work. Whereas Richard loves his work and feels empowered and energized by it, Lynn is the opposite because unlike Richard, she is alienated from the work. She is merely a worker at a company she cares nothing about. She is not the owner of the means of production of course, and although her employer has expressed gratitude for her and values her work, it is not something she is personally passionate about as Richard is about his work. Conflict theory rooted in Marxism shows that workers who are alienated from the entire production cycle, (Robbins, Chatterjee & Canda, 2012). People like Lynn who are wage laborers in a division of labor model may be especially susceptible to conflict. Lynn also wants to ensure that her son can go to college, in the hopes that he can increase his value on the labor market. Lynn\'s conflicted relationship with wage labor may also stem from her family of origin, as she describes her father as a workaholic, but someone who was never happy in his work either.

Using conflict theory to provide a roadmap for change would entail helping Lynn find a life coach, who might help her channel her productivity and energy into work that she finds meaningful. If Lynn can, for example, work from home with a business of her own, she might be able to resolve the conflict between her desire to see her son achieve his educational goals and her desire to remain an active member of her community and not be spread too thin. Her work at Fox manufacturing only brings in a small amount of money, and yet it is her first full-time job. Lynn\'s energy might be better off spent on pursuits she finds meaningful, and through those alternative pursuits, she might find ways of ensuring that Robert goes to college -- such as helping him receive a scholarship through his Catholic school. Her hobbies, even those that have fallen by the wayside like gardening, could be clues for Lynn to direct her attention towards activities she likes as a means of garnering income in ways that make her feel powerful.

Conflict theory can show how the intersections between race, class and gender might affect a person\'s relative power in their community. Lynn and her husband share the power in their family, creating an egalitarian network. Thus, conflict theory cannot be directly applied to the family dynamic. Conflict theory can, however, be applied to Lynn\'s overall gender issues with regard to her having assumed stereotypically female work roles throughout her life: low-status positions like the one she has now at Fox Manufacturing. For example, Lynn worked as a secretary after she got out of high school. She was not necessarily encouraged to see herself as a powerful person who could affect change in society; she sees work as being a means to a paycheck rather than as an expression of one\'s power and vitality as a human being.

Assessment from a Psychodynamic Perspective

Just as conflict theory extends from Marxism, psychodynamic theory extends from Freudianism. The foundational theories of Sigmund Freud are complex, focused on the individual rather than on systemic issues. Freudian theory is based on a tripartite division of the individual into id, ego, and superego, with the id comprising infantile or childish desires, the ego representing the person\'s self-concept and personality, and the superego the person\'s conscience. Issues like sexual repression are central to Freudian theory. However, modern psychodynamic theories in social work \"bear little resemblance to outdated stereotypes of Freudian models,\" (Bliss & Rasmussen, 2013, p. 211). No longer is social work focusing exclusively on the neuroses of individuals and the Oedipus complex; at the same time, social workers still recognize the value of psychodynamic theory in illuminating patterns of psychological dysfunction.

Some of the critiques of the psychodynamic theory have been related to its emphasis on pathology and the status quo, rather than on positive psychology and change-oriented interventions (Bliss & Rasmussen, 2013, p. 211). Psychodynamic theories can show why a behavior pattern or mood disorder may be present, but offers little in terms of how to resolve it. However, the current application of psychodynamic theory to Lynn Chase and her family will show how the theory can be integrated not only with conflict theory but also with positive and forward-thinking models of intervention. For example, psychodynamic theory will be especially illuminating for Lynn, who wants to understand the relationship between her work and her emotional outbursts with her loved ones, as well as the relationship between her stress levels and her health behaviors.

Defense mechanisms are a cornerstone of psychodynamic theory. The underlying principle of defense mechanisms is that they are subconscious responses to stress, coping mechanisms rooted in the person\'s desire to repress (if not resolve) the conflict. Any unresolved issues will be shoved deeply into the unconscious so that it becomes difficult to understand, for example, one\'s sudden misplaced irritability. If Lynn is stressed out because of her work, or angry because she cannot afford to send her son to college, then she transfers that anger or worry onto other object. In Lynn\'s case we can see several defense mechanisms at play. For example, her reversion to smoking after five years of quitting is a form of regression to past behavior. She also seems to be displacing her anxiety and fears over the family\'s financial future and their ability to provide for Robert.

Psychodynamic theory might also be able to draw a connection between Lynn\'s formative years and her current psychological neuroses. For example, Lynn reports feeling guilty for her natural urges to masturbate when she was 14 or 15 years old. Given her Catholic upbringing, the feelings of guilt projected onto her from a hypocritical church might have been internalized, leading to sexual repression and causing oral fixation in the form of habitual cigarette smoking. Likewise, her repressed sense of shame at being called \"fat\" by a boy she liked might have been repressed, leading to her recent losing weight as a defense mechanism against not feeling good enough or capable enough to match her husband\'s earnings. Lynn also reports having been sexually harassed, and was almost molested, by her uncle, something that psychodynamic theory would show as being a trigger event leading to sexual repression and defense mechanisms.

Lynn does appear to have repressed feelings of anger, in the way she describes her family of origin. If she were to explore these issues in therapy, she might be able to resolve the current behavioral problems even if she retains her job at Fox manufacturing. Alternatively, becoming aware of her family of origin issues and how they led to her defense mechanism habits could lead to her self-empowerment with a nudge from her superego to pursue a more meaningful career or life path instead of her current work. Lynn could also resolve her conflicts by finding greater meaning in her work, given that her supervisors have also expressed gratitude for her contributions.

Pros and Cons of Conflict and Psychodynamic Theories

Conflict theory and psychodynamic theory can be used together, to provide a more meaningful understanding of Lynn\'s issues. The pros with using conflict theory in this case is to show how class conflict issues might be creating the psychological stress Lynn has been experiencing, and also to show how alienation from a meaningful form of work also causes stress. Psychodynamic theory can show how Lynn ineffectively processes the class conflict and alienation, by repressing her emotions and then projecting them onto her family. Her defense mechanisms are revealed to be responses to the issues exhibited by conflict theory.

However, conflict theory and psychodynamic theory are not sufficient for encompassing all of Lynn\'s issues or for offering a roadmap for the future. Both conflict theory and psychodynamic theory are better at revealing what is not working than showing what can be done to create change. Although conflict theory highlights the inherent tensions within social conflict, implying change is inevitable, it does not necessarily give social workers or their clients a blueprint for success. Psychodynamic theory is also impeded by its limitations in focusing on unconscious processes, neuroses, and pathologies, as opposed to problem solving. As Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney & Strom-Gottfried (2017) also point out, psychodynamic theory can be less than useful as a \"source for specific interventions,\" because it tends to be abstract in its analyses (p. 18). Conflict theory can seem similarly abstract, and because Lynn is situated as a middle class white woman, conflict theory might fail to account for all the dimensions of structural inequality. To resolve the weaknesses inherent in these two theories, it may be helpful to introduce other theories or to at least offer a problem-solving paradigm for the client.

Ethical Issues

The Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW, n.d.) covers issues related to social justice, just as conflict theory does. Similarly, the NASW (n.d.) Code of Ethics covers issues related to the importance of human relationships, recognizing the value, dignity, and worth of a human being, and also the right of the client to self-determination. Working with Lynn will entail examining the various relationships she has developed outside the family as well as within it. If Lynn does not wish to directly address her family of origin issues, that is her right. When working with Lynn it is essential to protect her privacy and confidentiality, as well as that of her family.