ABSTRACT
Social exclusion is a term of relatively recent origin and use. However, it encapsulates much of what has been discussed in relation to social work from its modern genesis in the nineteenth century. Social work while consistently focusing on social exclusion (or on those have been defined as having been socially excluded), may nonetheless have concentrated on different aspects from time to time and carried out its work, to some degree, in different ways. The appreciation of social work as essentially concerned with (aspects of) social exclusion and inclusion, while being an observation on practice, has potentially profound implications for social work as an academic discipline. While one can acknowledge the attractions of Marxism as a form of analysis of society, it is not of great relevance as a recipe for the conduct of practice. The logical relationship between judgement and response (what should follow the judgement) is one which is a model for social work intervention.
