This text strives to review an article that was published in the Social Work Journal (RTS) regarding the Basic Method of Social Work in view of the experience gained over the years and as a result of the contributions and critiques that have enhanced it. The review of this method endeavours to create a forum enabling this tool to be useful for social workers and for social transformation.

The article begins with a summary of the origins and history of the profession when pioneers such as Mary Richmond realised that poverty arose from social and structural roots and that the emphasis needed to be on preventing social inequalities. It also examines the training in case work, group social work and community social work which social workers in Catalonia received from experts from all around the world from the 1950s onwards. The article casts doubt on whether we need our own specific method in social work that goes beyond traditional methods, which were at one point criticised for being associated with more liberal ideologies.

Renewal is heralded when there is a need for a rethink and to establish a degree of uniformity, and indeed to clearly set out the differences between methodology, method and process, allowing for new tools to deal with new realities.