ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the dominant changes in recognised social problems in Denmark in the period from the 1960s and 1970s, and presents the analytic point of departure. A historical conceptual analysis of the concept of social problems points at shifts in how social problems are defined at different times. This includes the study of different meanings, connotations and frameworks as both scientific and political concepts. Looking at the Danish development in a neoliberal perspective, the chapter focuses on two different types of changes in tackling recognised social problems. The first is connected to the welfare state retrenchment in the form of the withdrawal from or restriction of former welfare benefits and services. The second is the introduction of new objects of change. Social work practice in Denmark is highly influenced by the changing relationships between individual, community and state.
