ABSTRACT
The conflicts and tensions that exist in any open society will impinge on the social worker's field of action, but it is unlikely that any one influence will emerge as carrying undue force. To point that out may beg as many questions as it answers, but it does at least indicate the source of social work's legitimacy, and emphasises that social workers are, and can never be, a law unto themselves. Inevitably this tips the balance of attitudes towards a consensus model of practice, though it certainly preclude the conviction that societies evolve and improve as a result of conflicts within them and that the social worker's perspective can and must contribute to desirable changes in policy and practice. Ironically it is the social worker's emphasis on individualism which is despised by the radical Left and which leads her to undermine the corporate model of family and community life beloved by the Right.
