© British Association of Social Workers
Professional Ideology, Middle Range Theories and Knowledge Building for Social Work Practice
Frank M. Loewenberg studied at Harvard (History and Literature), Columbia (Social Work) and received a doctorate from Wayne State University (Sociology and Social Work). He emigrated to Israel 13 years ago and is currently a professor of Social Work at the School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. He is the author of many books and articles, including Fundamentals of Social Intervention and Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice (with Ralph Dolgoff).
Please address requests for reprints to Professor F. M. Loewenberg, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, 52100 Ramat Gan, Israel.
Summary
More effective social work practice will require increased efforts toward knowledge building and theory development. Until a unified social work theory is available social workers will choose eclectically relevant theoretical formulations from the large number of middle range theories available to them from other professional disciplines. New middle range theories and innovative theoretical formulations appear continually, resulting in a smorgasbord of theories, from which social work practitioners can choose. This article examines the effectiveness of an aclectic theory base for a practice profession. In the discussion of the findings note is taken of the need for explicating social work's professional ideology as a next step in knowledge building.
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