The Social Construction of Social Work Ethics: Politicizing and Broadening the Lens

Abstract

Structural barriers and the intrinsic paradoxes of practice often lead to a discrepancy between what a social worker would like to do and what that individual actually implements, resulting in ethical tensions. However, the canonical approach to ethics has had a narrow perspective on what constitutes ethics and has tended to treat these issues as peripheral rather than central to the social construction of ethics. This essay provides an explanation of how the construction of ethics evolved and what interests are served by this viewpoint, therebyilluminating the political ramifications of the current social construction. The author suggests ways to broaden the lens of focus.

Autonomy and Protection in Self-neglect Work: The Ethical Complexity of Decision-making

“…The focus on relationship, so appropriate in self-neglect work, is pursued too by Weinberg and Campbell (2014), seeing an ethical relationship not as a product but as a process that "instead of being impersonal and abstract is highly personal and specific, involving affect, not just cognition" (p43). Weinberg (2010) brings too an additional dimension to the construction of social work ethics, arguing that a view of practitioners as autonomous agents, enacting universal abstract principles, constrains understanding of the wider structural influences and paradoxes within which practice is located, and the taken-for-granted discourses that frame their development. Thus the notion of ethical dilemma is, she argues (Weinberg, 2014), better replaced by that of ideological dilemma, which (citing Billig et al, 1988) she construes as emanating from the contradictory principles and practices that emerge as discourses in the society or culture as a whole.…”

Group Work and Social Justice: Designing Pedagogy for Social Change

“…As Weinberg asserted (2010), "questions about privilege and perquisites should be fundamental parts of the social construction of ethics, not sidebars viewed as political difficulties" (p. 41). In this stance, the notion of ethics then shifts from what interactions are ethical or not to the roots of social issues (Weinberg, 2010).…”

Professional stances and personal values in the realm of transnational family reunification with older parents: social work practice in an emerging field

“…Elderly migrants joining their families are an exemplary case of a group confronting social workers with highly complex problems; they and their families are a category of clients liable to make professionals feel unable to provide acceptable European Journal of Social Work 423 solutions (Weinberg, 2010). Might the predominant view, which holds that this type of migration and the modes of family organisation it implies represent an unsatisfactory solution leading to cultural and financial problems, then only be reinforced by actual contacts with real-life clients?…”