Social Work and Social History: Some Interpretations

Abstract

Historians have interpreted social work in terms of political history, as an aspect of a perennial clash between liberals and conservatives. With regard to social history, however, the dominant trend is from the very heterogeneous social structure and population of the late nineteenth century to a relatively homogeneous society today. This trend has reduced the bitter conflicts which once restricted our welfare policies and has increased the pre- dominance of the middle class, in which professional social work has found its strongest support. Given a likelihood of more generous resources and more general sympathy with their purposes, social workers might well address themselves more confidently to the tech- nical problems of their enterprise.