Social work has not always been considered "social work" as we know it today, in terms of being a science and a profession. Before the 19th century, even before the beginning of charitable works that attempted to improve the conditions of the poor, those who found themselves in poverty were cared for by those who did so out of piety. It began with what some would consider missionary work, trying to combat (but not necessarily change/find the cause of poverty) things such as prostitution, poverty, disease, etc. by donating money, food and other things; all this was accompanied by the increase in the country's population and the growth of cities. The privileged, those at the top, helped the poor but also made assumptions about the poor and poverty (those who were poor needed help, they were not able to help themselves due to moral issues , who created these situations for them); the poor were in poverty because they were immoral and had faults. Strategies and approaches to address/manage the problem of poverty were numerous; some saw poverty as a personal problem (character/moral flaw), others as a need to order and educate the poor (keep them away from poor neighborhoods and surroundings, etc.). The idea of ​​working with the poorest, alongside them, did not appear until much later. (Boyer, 1978; Ehrenreich, 1985). As cities grew, with more immigrants and workers seeking employment, society's elites (those with wealth and power) became concerned about conditions which developed within the Settlement House movement, as well as other charitable movements, helped to shift service to the poor from secular to more private hands; philanthropists also began to create charities to help the poor. Much of the work is aimed at the poor themselves (keep blaming them for their poverty predicament). Conflicts found in the field of social work can be seen as conflicts between social work and social policy (implementing policy, being a foot soldier versus influencing policy, being an officer) as well as conflicts over whether whether social work was a single profession or composed of several (social work versus social work). group work versus reform work). The idea of ​​working alongside the poor, through community action, to help implement and design programs is a problem faced during the years of the War on Poverty; because social workers were reluctant (didn't know how) to involve their clients, because they were the ones who needed help because they didn't know how to use resources to help themselves, and that's why social workers were there first place (Ehrenreich, 1985).