Abstract:

Constructing an autonomous knowledge system of social work is a key issue in the development of the discipline in China. From a scholarly standpoint grounded in cultural self-awareness, this article moves beyond the inward-looking research paradigm of conventional indigenous knowledge production and proposes the construction of an indigenous social-work knowledge system through cultural comparison. First, it systematically explains the culturally constituted nature of social-work knowledge and reveals the deep connection between its character as cultural practice and the logic of knowledge production, thereby laying a theoretical foundation for cross-cultural comparative research. Second, through a critical analysis of the limitations of existing indigenization approaches, it demonstrates the distinctive value of cultural comparison in knowledge production. Establishing cross-cultural frames of reference can both activate tacit knowledge elements within local practice fields and reconstruct the agency of knowledge producers through a systematic comparative framework, ultimately enabling paradigmatic innovation in the indigenous knowledge system. Taking gerontological social work as an example, this article analyzes how cultural comparison can operate in knowledge construction and demonstrates its methodological advantages in breaking through the entrenched East-West dichotomy and achieving a dialectical unity of global universality and local particularity. This exploratory study not only provides an externally anchored comparative perspective for social-work knowledge production but also opens new possibilities for constructing a theoretical system of social work with Chinese characteristics by establishing a mechanism of intercultural dialogue.

Key words: social work, indigenous knowledge, cross-cultural comparison, knowledge construction