From the early 1990s and up until today, a number of reforms have been implemented in Denmark, which points towards a transition of the Danish state form from a universal welfare to a competitive state. This development has had a substantial influence on the social work, which increasingly is being subjected to ideas and norms about self-regulative behavior and personal responsibility. The rise of the competitive state has thus made it increasingly difficult for social workers to base their work on values and norms which supports and acknowledges that every individual should have access to a good and meaningful life.

On this basis the present study identifies the need for a normative and critical social science approach in regards to theory and practice within the field of social work. The purpose of this study is thus, through a critical theoretical analysis of the contemporary Danish society, to explore how current trends in the sociopolitical landscape, affect the view on the human being and how this changes the conditions for social work. This is done by showing how acceleration processes and political principals become embedded as new trends in our society which arguably can be seen as social pathologies. On the basis of Ove K. Pedersens analysis of the transition from welfare to competitive state and Hartmut Rosas critical theory regarding alienation and acceleration, this study analyses the current rationales behind political management and structural embedment, which can be perceived as a maldevelopment within social work. The analysis is divided into three parts:

Firstly, the study explores how social work and the view of the human being is affected by the transition from welfare to competitive state. Based on a temporal structure of experience, social trends, which change the conditions for practices within social work, are recognized. A depiction of historical lines makes it possible to understand the current trends that hinder the social work from relying on ethical norms.
Secondly, the study aims at identifying political and institutional conditions that might result in social pathologies and alienation. The study identifies three specific management trends - accountability, workfare and evidence - which affects and changes the techniques, methods and norms of social work. These trends are criticized based on the normative ideal of this study, which derives from a notion of humanity that supports and acknowledges that every individual should have access to a good and meaningful life.
Thirdly, the study explores how the Christian view on the human being within diakonia – which perceives every human being as an end in him/herself and not a mean to an end – offers an essential alternative to the economical norms of the competitive state. This leads to a discussion of, how social work within Christian church has an important role to play in regards to the social challenges that society are faced with.

Conclusion: The study finds that social work is subject to structures in society and becomes embedded in institutional power relations. The development of the competitive state has led to the dominant socioeconomic notion, that social institutions should be economical and effective. The fact that the competitive state is structured around marked principals, has pathological implications because they don’t recognize ethical normative ideals but rather construct their view on the human being based an explicit ideal about the opportunistic individual. Contemporary social work is thus affected by a regime of truth which favors the opportunistic individual and tends to neglect the vulnerable and disadvantaged. Diakonia offers an alternative to the economical norms of the competitive state and becomes a critical counterpoint to the rationales and structures of our time. Because diakonia is committed to an ethical view on the human being, it sharpens and expands the critical theoretical norms and creates a framework for ethical social practice. Through its view on the human being, diakonia promote the idea that everybody should have the opportunity of creating a good and meaningful life. In sum the study concludes that the competitive state has interfered with the premises for carrying out humane and ethically justifiable social work. There is thus a need for other players within the field of social work, who can take a different stand in relation to the social challenges that our society is faced with - and one of these players could be the Christian social work.