Role conflict following a change in professional ideology: a thesis which attempts to examine some of the conflicts heightened by the adoption of new “non-casework” roles by social workers

Abstract

In the last twenty years Social Work has undergone an "agonising reappraisal" of itself (Grosser, 1969) in which the social worker's multi-faceted role as therapist, social advocate, professional and bureaucrat has been subjected to a rigorous test of relevancy. Social work's right to intervene, and its effectiveness in that intervention - in terms of its professional and bureaucratic structures and its methodological preferences - has been questioned. Through this, we have been brought to realise how our pre-occupation with methodological concerns over the period 1920-1960 has caused us to lose touch with major social issues of our time.