ABSTRACT
The previous chapter suggested that there were a number of ways of changing policy and management of welfare states at the present time. One means was by describing the human costs of welfare state reforms. A second was by critically appraising economic and policy assumptions and managerial implementation of the reforms taking place. However, for professionals to have an impact upon change in the management and policy of welfare states entails more than simply knowing the situation with which they are faced: it also means knowing themselves. This can be understood in two ways. First, it requires of professionals the ability to reflect upon and come to a better understanding of their practice and its implementation, which means the stepping up of present debates about the conception of professional practice. Second, it requires the ability to reflect upon the professionals’ place and function in institutional and societal terms, to understand the ‘ecology’ of the different professions. Both of these issues need to be examined.
