ABSTRACT
A significant feature of any analysis of social work and the human services is the complex pattern of professionalization in the field. Globally, social work is the most highly professionalized of the social welfare occupations, but even that varies between countries. Moreover, in some countries there has been a long-standing critical position among some social workers against the pursuit of professional status (for example, compare Reisch & Andrews, 2002, with Olson, 2007). Similarly, community workers, youth workers, social care workers and others demonstrate ambivalence about claims to professional status (Mendes, 2002; Butcher et al., 2007; Banks, 2010; Sercombe, 2010).
