ABSTRACT
Three main ways have been used in social work in the past - the first is to follow the injunction 'do it and you will know what it is'; the second suggests that an historical approach would be illuminating, whilst the third relies on definitions and very brief descriptions. It is rarely that the actions of social workers have been examined. Apparently it is feared that the essence of social work will somehow slip through descriptions of discrete services given by social workers. Moreover other people - teachers, clergymen, politicians, civil servants and many more - do things which are very similar to those which social workers do. The special function of social work, and its inalienable element, is to protect and promote the interests of the individual client or clients and to ensure that social technological changes serve and do not enslave the individual as a person in his own right.
