Abstract: In the new era, social work should be integrated into the governance system of the Party and the state to give full play to its social governance effectiveness. Social work, in practice, has become an integral part of the primary-level social governance scene. The theoretical framework of “subjectivity-synergy” regards subjectivity and synergy as the two interrelated dimensions of the professional development of social work in the primary-level social governance scene. An analysis from the above-mentioned theoretical framework reveals that social work in City D of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) has played an effective role in risk prevention, conflict resolution and social mobilization through professional services and collaborative actions. However, from the perspective of the deep integration of social work into the governance system of the Party and the state, it still faces the practical dilemma of the “double weakening” of subjectivity and synergy. In order to enhance the professionalism of social work in primary-level social governance scenarios, it is necessary to find a way out of the dilemma, actively enhance the subjectivity and synergy of social work, thus promoting the subjectivity and synergy simultaneously. This is not only the target orientation of the professional development of social work in primary-level social governance, but also the inevitable logic of the deep integration of social work into the governance system of the Party and the state, and at the same time, it also provides a direction for thinking about the development of professional social work under the pattern of “big social work”.

Key words: primary-level social governance, social work, subjectivity, synergy, big social work