Radicalism in Casework

Social casework seems always in tension between some inherent tendency to be radical in a social and political way and a comparable drive to hold on to the established modes of life that are conventional and conservative. The profession has never pretended to be value-free, and within the values held forth resides this tension to which I refer. Similarly, social casework has long been a socially activist field -- as simple comparison with any other accepted profession readily demonstrates -- and in its assertive endeavors this same combination of radical and conservative tendencies can be identified. To a radical, such as I consider myself to be, social casework has long been a field with insistent promises that never seem quite to reach the level of attainment that it would be reasonable to expect