Ethics in social work will be the extension of the philosophical work in the welfare discipline known as social work. The transformation of social work as a profession flows from the pleadings of social philosophy for a deeper humanitariannization and valuation of social work. It is the marriage of the wise ones with the kind ones. Philosophy being seen as a disciple that creates professionally wise ones while social work is seen as the discipline that creates human welfare workers that help to alleviate the personal and societal problems of man. Ethical education will lead to ethicalization of social work and the socialization of ethics. More people in social work will work in accordance with the values of ethical propriety while ethics will be socialized and popular. This article takes note of the fact that ethics education in social philosophy and social work practice has dramatically evolved over decades in response to cultural and technological changes affecting social work practice in Africa. This ethicalization will lead to the transformation of a profession in a continent filled poverty and social challenges in the 21 st century. This is the conjunction of ethicalization and socialization as a social philosophy for achieving a paradigm change in Africa for social workers and practical philosophers of change.
What should be the African social worker in the modern world. The African social worker has discovered that most clinical and other modern social work practices are Euro-centric. And only reflect only European values. He knows that African communal social work practices existed in an ethnocentric environment that encourages an African-centred world view. How this African centred world view wouyld help him to define a new social work values with a paradigmatic shift to his roles as a profession is a challenge to both social philosophy and its social work concentrates. Therefore this article raises serious concerns about the ethnocentric nature of existing paradigms within the social sciences that form the basis for social work theory and practice with implications for modern social work in Africa. In addition, it highlights the theoretical deficits within existing social work models that do not reflect the worldviews of diverse cultural communities in modern world. Can existing social work models continue to express ethnocentric value systems as the universal way to explain human behaviour in the light of growing demands for pluralism not only between groups but also between epistemologies and worldviews? The authors of the article, writing from the perspective of the new African social science, argues for an alternative paradigm that is grounded in the cultural and historical reality of the African communal experience.
The philosophical penetration of the social work practice in Africa comes full cycle when a critical exposition of the contending issues and questions is carried out. Social challenges and problems in Africa make human suffering in the continent to be one of the highest in the world. An attempt to know the mind of the social worker in Africa reflects the issues of social work that dominate the African society. The mind of the social worker is perturbed by the problems of human suffering, poverty, societal stratification and conflicts, increasing gap between the rich and the poor, old-age problems, educational destitution, street begging, youth drug abuse, increasing religious terrorism and psychological instability of the elites. Posing these critical questions will reveal a lot about the mind and the psychological dispositions of the social worker in the African environment. The article seeks to reveal and expose these new questions as the platform for the search for the new psycho-socio-philosophical and integrative methodology that will solve the social problems of Africa in the 21st century.
One of the most difficult and challenging areas of research in social work practice is to create a philosophy of integration whereby some presumed assumptions are questioned and new areas of collaboration designed for best practices. It is the function of philosophy to question such assumptions and design newer areas of research for the practice in Africa. In this article, we have deigned to question the collaborative work of social work and entrepreneurship. This is what one might describe as the duty of the social innovator, social problem solver in business practices of the commonly defined deliverables from the social entrepreneur. In the social business innovator or entrepreneur, we have the best skills of the entrepreneurship, social philosophy, social work and social interested innovator. Many would have questioned the conjunction between the aggressive business entrepreneur who is profit oriented and the charity oriented non-governmental organizer who cares and works for others happiness. If both are for business and are investors, what kind of investment and profit is the social entrepreneur committed to in his business as different from the profit orientation of the business mogul. In Africa, such questioning and questions lead to a paradigm change in the popular understanding of the emerging area of the social entrepreneurship and the challenge of solving social problems of poverty and crisis in Africa. This article seeks to contribute to such social problem solving by enhancing the public awareness and education on the developmental possibilities of social entrepreneurship in Africa.
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