This chapter intends to illuminate the issues within social work. In order to highlight what can distinguish and characterize these specific relationships within the field of social work, the chapter begins with a discussion of the fluid role of the citizen and how democratic government policies are developed in advanced welfare societies like that in Sweden. It presents the general developments and changes in the role of the citizen that have taken place in recent years, both within Swedish political debates as well as in the concrete manifestations of various welfare activities. The chapter then discusses the specific contexts and prerequisites of governmental authority-based professional social work. It assesses the welfare systems that citizens feel they engage with and have perspectives on. The chapter ends with a critical reflection on the consensus-orientation permeating social action in the Nordic tradition of organizing society.