This paper argues that social work is defined less by any intrinsic qualities and more by its relationship to dominant values. This relationship, the paper argues, is a hierarchical one in which social work is a dutiful servant to the dominant values. This the paper calls the “service” function of social work. Such a function, it is argued, precludes social work from social change. Another function, “criticism”, is then described and differentiated from “service”, by the critical attention it gives to dominant values, particularly the values' “darkside”. A case-study of structural functionalism is then presented. This paper sees it as the most powerful theory in Western sociology. It is presented differently here; as a sophisticated justification of liberal values, and claims that social work is very much influenced by it. As an alternative to structural-functionalism, social conflict theory is briefly looked at through the writings of Lewis Coser, Ralph Dahrendorf and Karl Marx.
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