Individual freedom, law, and social welfare

An analysis of the social welfare movement suggests two simultaneous but divergent philosophies within that movement. One philosophy includes a commitment to the individual client and action to increase the individual's opportunity to select his own goals and methods of achieving such goals. The opposing position assumes that superior wisdom comes from being a member of the professional class and commits the professional to dictating the modes and goals of living of those he presumably serves. It is proposed that the social welfare movement may be at an important decision-making point in its history, and the case is made that a decision for maximizing individual freedom is of the greatest importance.