ABSTRACT
Malcolm Payne is one of the best-known social work academics in the UK. He has written about many aspects of social work theory and practice for over 40 years, including exploring the history and profession of social work. The extracts here were included in the first edition of the Reader. In spite of the passage of time, they remain a clear statement about the different ways of thinking about professional social work, as therapeutic, social order or transformational. Payne’s contribution lies in his realisation that social work is not ‘either/or’ these things, but rather, ‘both/and’ (Hill Collins, 2000).
