[영문]Australia and the U.S. are both liberal welfare states. During thepast quarter century, they have begun the transition from a welfareto a workfare state, albeit at different rates and through differentpaths. Social work developed in each country in ways congruentwith the local liberal welfare state, and as such, has been destabilizedby the transition to the workfare regime. Drawing on neo-institutionaltheory and extant empirical research in other professionalizedfields, the paper suggests that this transition can be understood asan aspect of institutional change. By comparing the developmentsin two similar, yet different nations, this analytical framework providesfresh insights into the nature, motives, and consequences ofthe transition and its impact on social work. Further, by adoptingthe comparative approach, the paper demonstrates that the theoreticalframework used has utility beyond specific nation state boundariesto understand developments in social work more broadly