The ups and downs of the professionalization of social work in Poland after 1990. The comments on the debate

The article attempts to present the process of professionalization of social work in Poland after 1989. It was shown in terms of the classical attribution model and in the concept of Abbott, in which the essence of the pro-fessionalization process is primarily the functioning of the profession in a complex system of internal and exter-nal dependencies. Analyses indicate that the process of professionalization of social work in Poland is currently far incomplete, and the ongoing and planned changes in the social welfare system are unlikely to favour its development. We deal with specific monopolistic practices of the state in shaping the institutional foundations of social assistance in accordance with the interests of the central administration, which seeks to shift responsibility for implemented activities to external entities, retaining full and even increased possibilities of exerting influence and control. This is also reflected in the ongoing attempt to standardize social services, which is ultimately an element of deprofessionalisation of social work