Ethics and Social Welfare Call for Papers ~ Special Issue "More-than-human ethics for social work" Guest Co-Editors (original) (raw)

Environmental ethics for social work: Social work's responsibility to the non-human world

International Journal of Social Welfare, 2012

Gray M, Coates J. Environmental ethics for social work: Social work's responsibility to the non-human world This lead article in this Special Issue begins discussion on an environmental ethics for social work and raises arguments as to whether and, if so, why social workers have duties, obligations, responsibilities and commitments to the non-human world. It provides an overview of the field of environmental ethics in searching for a moral stance to affirm an environmental social work. To what extent should social workers engage in fundamental geopolitical issues concerned with climate change, global warming, environmental degradation, pollution, chemical contamination, sustainable agriculture, disaster management, pet therapy, wilderness protection and so on and, if so, why and how? Are these issues incidental and peripheral and only of concern when they impact upon humans or do social workers have a responsibility beyond human interests? What is the significance of the ‘non-human’ for social work? The article explores the terrain of the burgeoning field of environmental ethics to determine whether convincing ethical grounds for environmental social work might be found beyond hortatory claims of what the profession ought to be doing to address environmental concerns.

Law Versus Morality: Cases and Commentaries on Ethical Issues in Social Work Practice

Ethics and Social Welfare

This article examines two cases that present ethical challenges encountered by social workers in making decisions either to maintain professional boundaries or fulfil moral obligations while working with service users in vulnerable situations. In the first case, a Lebanese social worker narrates how she was motivated to step out of her official responsibilities to assist a refugee mother of three who showed suicidal ideation. In the second case, a Ugandan social worker recounts her experience while working with a family whose 12-year-old daughter was raped and became pregnant, but whose parents refused to accept abortion when medical diagnosis showed that the girl's life was in danger. A commentary from the authors is provided after each case. Both social workers were arguably motivated to act based on their concern to care for people, protect human rights, and save lives in the two case scenarios. This underscores the relevance of the ethics of care and virtue ethics in describing the associated ethical challenges in both cases. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of the ethical challenges encountered by the social workers demands open minds and flexibility in decision-making.

The ethical implications of current theoretical developments in social work

British Journal of Social Work, 1995

This paper examines the ethical implications of current theoretical developments in social work and proposes that in attempting to achieve as accurate an understanding of social work reality as possible, social work should not forsake its worthwhile ideals. Social work needs to overcome its preoccupation with the development of ethical principles and rather find ways to understand what it means to respect other people, for this is the fulcrum on which its value system turns. Social workers need to develop empathy with the plight of their clients and a true concern for their well-being. It is from this that their moral disposition to help stems. The technical application of moral rules does not necessarily result in ethical behaviour. Moral sensitivity develops from seeing clients in a moral light and being mindful of their value as human beings. It is the product of a special kind of understanding which can be developed only through reflection and an appreciation of the all encompassing nature of morality.

The Ethics of Human Intervention on Behalf of 'Others

Environmental Values

I regularly pass several homeless persons surviving on the streets even in winter. One sits on a folded scrap of a blanket leaning against a wall looking thin, pale and resigned, doing some calligraphy of messages on card for those who want them. Almost everyone walks quickly past, some manoeuvring to the opposite side of the wide pavement, others almost treading on some of their sparse belongings. Hardly anyone makes eye contact. The harsh reality of living on the street is some days without enough food and basic provisions. Christmas produces a spike of concern and generosity that vanishes immediately afterwards. Advice issued by the local authorities and charities cautions against giving money, on the basis of characterising all street people as substance abusers. Since the rise of Thatcherist meritocracy and neoliberalism, homelessness, living and dying on the streets has become rife in the UK. This policy failure suggests a moral obligation on 'witnesses' to help, to prevent or reduce suffering, but what interventions on what basis? A recent newspaper article by a once homeless person (Lavelle, 2019) offers sobering simple guidance to those who wish to help, and that includes talking and engaging with those suffering. Sympathy and engagement seem hard enough with other humans, but they at least have the potential to directly express their concerns and communicate, while there are many who remain effectively silent-such as children, future generations and non-humans. In environmental ethics strong themes have been to debate human obligations toward the last of these groups and Nature more generally. Arguments are put forward for moral status of sentient beings as well as other non-human organisms and entities (such as rivers or lakes) in decision-making and seeking to enable flourishing and enforce rights. This raises the problem of how intervention should be undertaken when rights or flourishing-potential of different morally considerable subjects conflict. The major alternative, consequentialist reasoning, has its own problems such as reduction of values to utilitarian pain and pleasure principles. More generally, in this materialist managerial age, there are concerns over objectification of the other and excessive technocratic 'solutions' that pay little attention to the constituent values of 'others' and their autonomy. This issue of Environmental Values concerns a range of arguments about what is appropriate intervention on the behalf of non-human 'others'. According to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, 2019) the top three drivers for biodiversity loss are: (i) changes in land and sea use; (ii) direct exploitation of organisms; and (iii) accelerated climate change. These human-induced factors involve a complex web of interests, interactions, dependencies and different levels of

«Evil’s Place in the Ethics of Social Work». Ethics and Social Welfare, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2010.

Abstract: This article argues that the concept of evil is needed in normative ethics in general as well as in the professional ethics of social work. Attention is drawn to certain shortcomings in the classical theories of normative ethics when it comes to recognizing the profound destructiveness of certain types of acts that exceed the mere ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ applied in the most common theories of moral philosophy. Having established the category of morally evil acts in general, the author turns to the field of social work and applies it to some paradigm cases of evil that many social workers are likely to be confronted with during the course of their service. In the final part of the article, the concept of moral evil is discussed in relation to the professional ethics of social work in general, with reference to certain value assumptions that are found to be inherent to social work. Keywords Moral evil; Social work; Professional ethics

Ethics in Social Work. Working with Vulnerable Groups

Scientific Annals of the “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University, Iaşi. #TAB#New Series SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL WORK Section, 2008

Le travail social est un activité professionelle qui se concrėtise par l"intervention ou l"aide dans des situations de difficultés. Cette action suppose pour le travailleur social la connaisance et la compréhension d"une réalité complexe aux dimensions multiples qui se caractérise aussi par un changement continu et nécessite une action multidimensionelle. La profession d"assistant de service social a consigné ses rėgles de déontologie qui concerne les bases éthiques, les principes, les objecttifs et les devoirs professionnels de l"assistant de services social. Motts clé: éthique, le travailleur social, les normes professionnelles, assistance sociale, les groupes vulnérables Social work has, from its conception, been a human rights profession, having as its basic principle the fundamental value of every human being and as one of its main aims the promotion of equitable social structures, which can offer people security and development while upholding their dignity. IFSW and IASSW believe that greater knowledge and understanding of human rights will improve the actions and interventions of social work professionals for the benefit of those who require their services. In a 1994 publications, IFSW and IASSW declared that human rights are inseparable from social work theory, values and ethics and practice (U.N., 1994, 5). Social workers work with their clients on a variety of levels: the micro level of individual and family, the meso level of community, and the macro level of society nationally and internationally. Concern for human rights must be manifested by social workers at all levels and at

Concepts and Theory of Social Ethics in Social Work

Spirituality, Ethics and Social Work, ISBN 978-3-928969-86-4, 2021

The aim of this manual is to offer a guide and training tool for social workers and other helping professions dealing with clients in the dynamic European social, economic, political, cultural, and religious frame in the beginning of the 21st century...following some basic ideas on social ethics addressed to the profession (Lacca, II.3.)