How is Social Work Affected by Different Contexts?

Abstract

Social Work is one of the oldest professions, dating back to pre-industrial societies - even though it may not then have been called social work. It is a profession that deals both with society and individuals. Social work has been changing as the society has evolved, which in turn entails changes in peoples behaviours. Society and the individual are caught in an intense and changing relationship whereby each one seeks to influence the other. Moreover social work seeks to influence society (and individuals within it) and society in turn seeks to set limit on what social workers should do and should not do. So, social work is situated in the middle pulled between the individual and society, the powerful and the excluded, negotiating, and at times in conflict with both.