ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the roots of state social work and outlines a range of understandings of the development and functions of that work. No doubt the ideologies of nationalism, evangelical Christianity, capitalist self-interest and secular philanthropy overlapped and interacted in the early development of social work as they also did in the development of the settlement movement in the late nineteenth century. The chapter provides a range of ways of understanding why and to what effect during the late twentieth century the state has intervened more comprehensively in personal social service provision. In the early 1970s, following the report of the Seebohm Committee in 1968 and the passing of the Local Authority Social Services Act in 1970, state social work was reorganized into unified local authority departments charged with the provision of statutory and non-statutory services to those in need. The chapter describes these organizational as well other practice related developments in state social work over the last forty years.
