Social Work Profession

Abstract

Social work literature discusses how the profession’s history was organized in an effort to address problems related to poverty and individual and family problems. The problems related to swift industrial growth included, but were not limited to, poverty, individual and family problems, child welfare, immigration and emigration, and racial and gender disparities. These problems continue to challenge the country despite major policy and practice interventions. The profession’s caring or helping thrust is well covered; however, a component of social control also exists. Major national events helped shape the social welfare policies that social work professionals implement. There were internal debates relative to a working definition, professionalization, licensure, stronger evidence for best practice, and boundary maintenance. There has been growth in social welfare and its professional arm, social work, since the beginning of the 20th century. However, the United States is called a reluctant welfare state. The entry reviews social work’s first professional century, including its origins, present context, trends, and challenges for the future.

The professionalisation of social work: a cross‐national exploration

“…The 'power' approach has been central to the study of social work in recent decades (Abbott, 1995;Hopps & Collins, 1995). In particular, it has been used to explore the degree to which social work has achieved a monopoly over the delivery of services (Giarchi & Lankshear, 1998;Johnson & Yanca, 2001;Popple, 1995).…”

“…Its spread and development have been accompanied by a drive to attain professional status. Ever since Abraham Flexner declared in 1915 that social work is not a profession (Flexner, 1915(Flexner, /2001, it has striven to adopt features that have been identified as characteristic of fully fledged professions (Austin, 1983;Hopps & Collins, 1995). Despite the longstanding and unresolved debate concerning the impact and value of this 'professional project' (Bamford, 1990;Illich, 1977;Reisch & Andrews, 2001;Simpkin, 1979;Walker & Beaumont, 1981), the drive to professionalism seems to be strong in many countries today (Healy & Meagher, 2004;Weiss et al, 2004).…”