In this paper I review the power relations relevant to social work and social workers. At the birth of the profession, an enlightened absolutist political power structure created great freedom and creative opportunities for social workers to contribute to alleviating social crisis. Social work was willing and able to meet these needs. The above-mentioned power orientation created a particular professional manner of operation by applying improvised solutions, by „dispatching” of clients to other public services, by the brokering of information and resources. In this set-up, the importance of power of clients, especially over social workers were marginalised. All this has contributed to a serious crisis in the sphere of social work when political power has become more confrontational and has sought to resolve social issues by force.