Conceptualisation of a Transdisciplinary Resource Theory for Social Work

Focusing on resources and thinking in a resource-orientated way has become a standard in social work, psychology, and psychotherapy. Various disciplinary strands are dedicated to fundamental questions of resources but are hardly connected to each other. Resource-orientation has been a fundamental element in the thinking and action approaches of social work from the very beginning. However, no resource the-ory conceptually incorporates and shapes the transdisciplinary approach of this discipline. Basic questions about what is meant by a resource, what makes a resource a resource or what significance re-sources have or should have in social policy or social work thinking and action are rarely asked. This article takes up relevant aspects from existing sociological, philosophical, psychological and social work concepts of resources, establishes conceptual links between them and develops a transdisciplinary concept of resources that can be fundamental, especially in the theory and action spectrum of social work, but not only there.