Recently, renewed attention has been given to the role of collectives in social work, based on series of journal articles, newspaper coverage and a web- based Manifesto. These developments take place within contemporary society, where there is an emphasis on individualism, individualization and identity politics. This article examines the role of collectives in the early years of the twenty- first century. It examines Ferguson and Lavallette's (2004) examples of collective approaches from a critical perspective, considering the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches and their contribution to social work practice. The examples of collective approaches include, first, groups of workers coming together within and across agencies; second, the development of strong, work- based union organizations; third, the recognition of the importance of group work and community development approaches, fourth, learning from and working with collective user movements; and finally, learning from challenges to global capitalism such as the anti- capitalist movement. The article highlights the positive and great potential of collective approaches, but also indicates some words of caution, nothing that collectives are one amongst several ways of approaching interaction in social work.