The Scientific Heritage

Abstract

Abstract Social work’s ongoing quest for professional status began with the 1915 Flexner Speech, and continued with a struggle to achieve balance between micro and macro practice interventions. The Social Work Grand Challenges, a national initiative of the Academy of Social Work and Social Research, promoted an emphasis on science to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Mary Richmond’s publications explicated the casework method, and the Pittsburgh Survey and The Philadelphia Negro were early efforts to use science to advance informed and planful approaches for understanding and developing evidence-based interventions for solving the pressing social ills of the times.