ABSTRACT
Although social workers have written much about self-determination, they have written very little about self-management. This is regrettable, for a concept of self-determination which fails to specify how personal choice is organised is not worthy of the name. The purpose of this chapter is to explain why self-management is important to social workers and to consider examples of self-management that might be concretely applied to social work settings. However, before commencing with the main business of these pages, it is necessary to say a little about traditional and radical views of self-determination. Social work is indivisible from society. In order to understand the potential of self-management in social work it is necessary to see where the question of radical change stands in the critical discourse of recent times. Oppenheim’s words convey anger in the face of a deteriorating resource situation and exasperation with employers.
