Policy Practice: The Neglected Side of Social Work Intervention

Abstract

Starting from the premise that the two goals framing social work practice are self-determination and socialjustice, the author argues that social work has been more devoted to the implementation of the former than the latter. This article proposes that implementation of the socialjustice goal requires a commitment to policy practice. From a review of the literature, methods ofpolicy practice are identified as legislative advocacy, reform through litigation, social action, and social policy analysis. Each method is analyzed in terms of its characteristics, specific social work roles, and potential effectiveness. The connection between social work as a professionand social welfare is indisputable (Day, 1989;Jansson, 1988). Social workers have been and con-tinue to be the implementers par excellence of social welfare. This fact by itself does not make social work central to social welfare in the sense of shaping policies, managing services, or introducing innovations. Imple-mentation might reduce social workers to fairly bu-