Abstract
Why does social work need methods? Why should social workers engage in the tedious business of theorizing? Does it not impede them in ‘getting on with the job’, of ‘doing what is necessary’, of doing their work with personal commitment and immediacy’, applying ‘common sense’? These questions are as old as social work itself, and at no time have they found a satisfactory answer, an answer that would obviate further questioning. The search for a theoretical grounding is closely connected with the development of professional autonomy, but at the same time the scepticism of relying too much on theory and of distancing professional action too much from everyday human interaction has remained a feature of the social professions. It cannot be therefore the purpose of these reflections to provide this definitive answer or to draw a definitive picture of the state of this debate in Europe. Rather, I would like to offer some reflections on why I maintain that the debate on clarifying the profession’s relationship to the academic business of theory formation and theory testing must be conducted continuously. Furthermore, I maintain that it must be instigated where the development of autonomous social work methods and theories has begun only relatively recently and that it must be re-kindled in countries where it has been interrupted or suppressed in the era of Communism. Posing such fundamental questions time and again is neither a sign of seeking status and professional self-importance nor of self-doubt and inferiority complexes, but must be done precisely in order to do social work effectively and responsibly as a professional activity in constantly changing social and political circumstances.