This paper examines the continuities and changes of the role and function of social work at a time of political transformation in Hong Kong, notably between 1986 and 1994. The authors found that `mediation of conflicts between the individuals and the social system' was perceived as the most important functionof social work, and the belief in the social control function of social work seems to have been continually reproduced over the past 8 years. On the contrary, there seems to have a decline in the commitment among social work graduates towards the social reform function of social work at thsi stage of time where reforms in the political structures are taking place. It is argued by the authors that social work practice in Hong Kong has,against all odds, become more de-politicised on an already minimal political foundation. The supremacy of remedial social work practice, especially in the scope of individual and group counselling, has been established, while reformist social work has failed to gain an independent legitimacy.

　　　　　本文旨在探討在政治過渡期中香港社會工作之功能和角色的延續與改變。作者發 現多數社工以調和個人與環境間之矛盾為社工最重要的功能，而認為社會控制為社工最重要 功能者的現況不單得以維持, 且更有所增強。然而, 在香港經歷政制民主化發展的同時，愈 來愈少社工認同社會改革為己任。作者認為香港社會工作的推行似有愈發向「非政治化」發 展之勢, 補救性的社會工作，特別是個人輔導，已成為香港社會工作的「至尊」，而社會工 作的社會改革功能似乎失卻了獨立存在的認受性。