Social Work, a profession committed to the values of social justice and the self-determination of those persons in situations of distress, poverty and marginalisation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to offer an overview of social work in the United States at the end of the 20.th Century, more precisely, during the decades of the eighties and nineties. I have always understood, and especially during these decades and in the future, social work to be a profession committed to the practice of the policies of social welfare, together with the values of social justice andwith the self-determination of those persons in situations of distress, poverty and marginalisation. I hope that in reading this one can extract ideas and proposals for Spanish social work in these times of so many social changes and so manychanges in the study plans in Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctoral studies, in their adaptation to the European Space for Higher Education.