A crisis of identity: Social work theorising at a time of change

Abstract

Social work is a discipline innately engaged in and influenced by the political and social context in which it is practised. The disciplinary response to the constancy of social change, however, has demonstrated a profession continually dogged by issues of identity, legitimacy and direction. This paper compares the debates of the UK and USA as examples of very differing national responses, and suggest they are clear examples of how national responses to global change in political and philosophical environments are central to the identity dilemma and the form it takes. It presents Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social actions as a way of understanding both the disciplinary responses to change an..