Toward a Social Work Frame of Reference

It is an experience familiar to all of us that objects may be viewed from different angles or positions, and thus appear different in perspective. The object remains the same; but the appearance is somewhat different because of the perspective, and no one perspective can claim greater validity than another. In a less concrete, but equally precise, sense, that part of human reality with which the practice of social work is concerned may also be seen in different perspectives, deriving in this instance from differences in cognitive, rather than physical, position. The social work frame of reference simply means the main lines of the human perspective seen from the social work position. As we all know from experience, even from the professional social work position, there is considerable variation in individual perspectives and therefore between the main lines constituting the frame of reference each of us uses. However, there is equally cogent evidence for the existence of some commonalities which cut across