Surface and depth in social-work practice

Abstract

Social work’s theories and practices reflect the times in which they live. In a deep sense, social work is defined by the evolving relationship between the state and the individual. Any changes in definition of either the political or the personal therefore result in shifts in how we understand that domain in which the state and the individual meet. This domain or discourse we now know as the social. Recent upheavals in the philosophy and politics surrounding welfare have resulted in redefinitions of both the social and those who work-the-social, rightly called social workers. In the wake of such changes, social work’s knowledge base and practice repertoire have also experienced major alterations in their character.