ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is about a particular grouping of seemingly ordered and organised values, namely social work values. It argues that the case of complexity in the problems raise in systematic discussion of social work values and in their resolution. The book aims at a critical description of 'values' in social work, and at understanding and developing the role of value-talk through a historical and a conceptual approach. It presents a preliminary conceptual analysis of conscience and moral conscience in social work. The book examines the usual 'list' approach to social work values and reconsiders some of the main 'traditional' values with a view to resolving some of their more problematic features. It considers aspects of the treatment of values in areas outside social work.
