ABSTRACT
It is difficult to set bounds to the knowledge any one kind of professional should have. In social work, for example, it seems it is always possible, and hence not very useful, to say that social workers should know more about this or that phenomenon. Many attempts have been made to list the various kinds of knowledge required by the social worker. This chapter considers learning about one particular element in human behaviour, sex-typed behaviour, and one way of organizing our knowledge that seems to suggest interesting possibilities for the future. Illegitimacy amongst the American negroes, is explained on the basis that sexual misconduct is culturally more acceptable amongst the non-white population. Services designed to help people in different kinds of difficulty have been evolving quite rapidly in the present decade or so, and the consequent complex agencies, personnel and eligibility rules seems often to constitute a considerable barrier between the social worker and the potential client.
