ABSTRACT
Needs The term is used very frequently in social welfare, and Plant et al. have argued that 'the concept of need is absolutely fundamental to the understanding of contemporary social policy and the welfare state' (p. 20). The term is also regularly used by social workers to understand the behaviour of clients (as under pressure from certain personality needs) or to legitimise certain requests for help (as really needed). 'Need' refers to that which is required in order to restore or create a valued state (a hungry man requires food to restore a valued physical/psychological condition); to the legitimacy of what is required (what is sought proceeds not from a whim); and to what is to be satisfied if the requirement is obtained (as in a human need for recognition). Thus 'need' is a complex notion, and statements using the term are often of different kinds. Bradshaw has usefully called attention to different ways of arriving at 'need' statements, through expert judgment, through experience, and through comparison of provision for one group as contrasted with another. Bar-Yosef, R. (1980) 'The Social Perspective of Personal Needs
and their Satisfaction', in Welfare or Bureaucracy ?, ed. D. Grunow and F. Hegner, Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain, Cambridge, Mass.
