| Abstract: | Correspondence to Dr Silvia Fargion, Social Work Unit, Faculty of Sociology, University of Trento, Via Verdi 26, 38100 Trento, Italy. E-mail: silvia.fargion{at}soc.unitn.it Summary Based on a project on the use of contract work by practitionersin Family Support Services in Italy, this article addressesthe relation between theory and practice from a language perspective.Practitioners' representations illustrate two main ways of interpretingthe concept of contract, one focusing on the agreement betweenclient and practitioners, the other on a structured way of working.These two images of contract appear connected to different ‘languagegames’, that is frameworks practitioners use to make senseof their work. This finding casts doubts on the very possibilityof conjugating, in concrete practice, empowering approacheswith a highly structured way of working, as the contract methodand other approaches in social work attempt to do. The researchalso shows how theoretical concepts can be reinterpreted andused in different ways by practitioners, consistent with thebroader languages that social workers adopt to communicate about,and make sense of, their work. |
