ABSTRACT
A common attitude towards social work is represented in one of Kingsley Amis' characters, who supposes that social workers are necessary, but wonders if they have to behave 'like a kind of revivalist military policeman'. Practitioners of social work, on the other hand, have not found it easy to describe their work in ways that are theoretically or imaginatively compelling. The chapter considers some of the reasons why social work is both so little regarded and so elusive. The faults that contemporary critics find in social work closely resemble those discovered in earlier philanthropists, whilst the response of the modern social worker also follows an earlier pattern. The chapter is concerned with elucidating traditions of philanthropy. The attitudes of practitioners of philanthropy and social work towards their activity are, of course, complex. The chapter discusses the elements which appear prominent in accounting for difficulties in communicating to others the kinds of activity philanthropists and social workers pursue.
