ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the challenges of professional social work as they are experienced through research as well as practice, and considers recent discourses on social work under neoliberal conditions in the context of the changing welfare state. Social work has traditionally been related to a value base that today may be referred to as it is formulated by the international federation of social workers (IFSW), with a strong focus on respect for the individual and human rights and for promoting solidarity. The chapter presents a brief historical positioning of social work in order to illustrate the forces to be faced in politics as well as in current social work. It discusses some recollection of liberalism in its latest form: contemporary neoliberalism. The chapter examines social work, part of its history and the relation to other disciplines. It also examines main reasons for the loss of scientific legitimacy among professionals: the implosion of modernity.