ABSTRACT
Some writers have suggested that there has been a shift from an emphasis on a ‘response to need’ to a ‘response to risk’ orientation in social work. Social exclusion and social work are concerned with those who are marginalised through some disadvantage. That disadvantage and the notion of social exclusion are consistent with the idea that they are, in some respect, in need. An undiluted relativistic notion of need is not sufficient on intellectual grounds, and not sufficient in relation to the nature of social work. Our analysis while showing the necessity for an objectivist core to need, to make it meaningful for and consistent with social work, nevertheless leaves it inadequate to fully explain need as a concept for social work. Social work in its very nature, enshrines elements of societal standards which encapsulate social need.
