Rethinking Empowerment

Abstract

Empowerment is one of the most frequently invoked concepts in social work theory and practice of the 1980s. In the United States, social workers representing diverse practice methods and working with highly varied populations articulate a commitment to empowerment, one that they have inherited from both the political movements of the 1960s and the much older mutual aid tradition. Though the concept of empowerment succeeds in constituting a mission for social work congruent with the historic and contemporary values of the profession, re-examination and clarification of this important notion is necessary to prevent conceptual confusion and an unintended paternalism from intruding on the relationship of social workers and their clients.