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Social work may be regarded as a product of the Enlightment together with other social sciences. The ontological shift from religious perspectives to a secularly based responsibility that opens up for political as well as individual action is regarded as a baseline for modern social work. Social work itself has struggled to develop an academic identity and a sustainable social field within the social sciences. Social work has historically experienced a gap between research and practice, relating to social sciences and other subjects as part of its teaching without a firm scientific foundation for social works own practice. If social work earlier developed related to ideas of welfare and social policy in practice it may now be moving in a new direction towards more than being based on scientific development within its own field. Over the last decades the need for scientific development within social work has strengthened its relation to research and social science. There seems to be arguments to support that social work is moving with research in directions which may be regarded as an epistemological turn based on understanding of knowledge production as well as a linguistic turn where the construction of meaning enhance the importance of regarding different lifeworlds and worldviews as basis for claiming some egalitarian positions for different positions as clients as well as researchers and practitioners.

Talking social work science -- Doing social work science -- Historical moments for social work and science -- Technology and social work -- The social work science community: controversies and cooperation -- Social work science and evidence -- Social work science and understanding -- Social work science and justice -- Impacts and influences

Interest has grown in the past few years about the place of social work in science. Questions remain, such as whether social work should be considered a science, and if so, where it fits into the constellation of sciences. This article attempts to shed light on these questions. After briefly considering past and present constructions of science and reflecting on views of science within the social work profession over time, we present an argument for how social work contributes to predominant questions facing science today through its unique ability to draw together and integrate knowledge from a variety of disciplines. Finally, we address how the profession can best prepare the coming generation of social workers to operate to their full potential in the current transdisciplinary world of science.