This historical and contemporary overview of key developments in social work’s professionalisation demonstrates its intricate enmeshment with political framework conditions. The current scenario is characterised by stark polarisations as evidenced by the seemingly insurmountable dilemmas over how to overcome wars, epidemics and the economic and climate crises. These polarisations indicate a systematic erosion of the social dimension of societies largely through neoliberal politics which pose a central challenge to social work and its professional social mandate. The experience of social workers in confronting ambiguity and dealing dialectically with the polarising tendencies of modernity in their position as an “in-between profession” therefore offers transformative possibilities for dealing with current global dilemmas through the affirmation of core social work competences, which is illustrated with examples.