The social work profession may be at a paradigmatic inflection point. Social work’s emphasis on evidence and scientific evaluation of knowledge is being challenged by what we term a “Postmodern/Critical Theory” perspective. To facilitate understanding of this crossroads and some of the issues involved, we trace the lineage of both perspectives and describe the core components of each. We conclude with a section laying out some of the advantages and disadvantages of either staying the “Empirical Highway” or taking the “Postmodern/Critical Off-Ramp”.

中文翻译：

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十字路口的社会工作：经验高速公路还是后现代/关键的出口？

社会工作专业可能正处于一个典型的转折点。社会工作对知识证据和科学评价的强调正受到我们所谓的“后现代/批判理论”观点的挑战。为了便于理解这个十字路口和所涉及的一些问题，我们追溯了这两种观点的谱系并描述了每个观点的核心组成部分。最后，我们用一节列出了留在“经验高速公路”或走“后现代/关键出口匝道”的一些优点和缺点。