Human services, professionals, and the paradox of institutional reform

Abstract

The inadequacies and injustices of human services and their resistance to reform are generally attributed to the vested interests of the professions and bureaucracies that control them. We look beyond these factors to the beliefs that underly them. We argue that the dominance of professionals and bureaucratic organization in human services is perpetuated by the belief that the social problems of mass society can be solved best by science in the form of professional expertise and by "scientific management" in the form of bureaucratic organization of services. This uncritical belief in science perpetuates a system that victimizes both professionals and laypersons. We suggest how this situation can be changed and what social policies would be necessary in order to foster such change.