ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between social work methods and social policy frameworks from an historical perspective. The impact of globalization on the welfare state and on social services has been widely discussed. Fordism peaked in the model of bureau-professional' social services in which academically trained social workers played an increasingly important role with their scientific case work method. Trade Union opposition to exploitation gets re-cast as a shared interest in the improvement of living standards and job satisfaction under management principles which steer the process according to neutral' scientific management principles. In the course of the nineteenth century, industrializing societies were faced with the challenge of re-constituting the basis of social solidarity culturally and structurally. Social pedagogy's emphasis on self-generated learning processes as the key to coping with social challenges, like social work's reference to self-determination and ego-strength and way back the moralistic model's favouring of self-help.
