generic–specific controversy

A debate among social workers that has existed since at least the 1920s. One faction sees the profession as comprising a group of different specialists, each with a unique body of knowledge and highly refined professional skills that require considerable training and practice to master and that are applied to a specific and defined area of social welfare needs. The other faction sees professional social work as being made up of generalists who have a macro orientation and who can be useful by developing and integrating services and channeling people to them. The generalist faction also believes that social work skills are sufficiently similar from one specialty to another so that a social worker can be effective in a variety of settings. Since the 1929 Milford Conference was convened to attempt to resolve the controversy, most social workers have taken positions that fall somewhere between these extremes. See also content-and-process issue.