Ethical Absolutism Theory In Social Work

As new counselore evole into hisor he career it will help to have a model that will serve as a road map to guide your ethical decision making process (Herlihy, and Corey,

This essay will address the ethical dilemmas faced by social workers and how they address these ethical dilemmas when working with service users and carers. It will be illustrated that codes of practice and codes of ethics are of paramount importance when dealing with these dilemmas as they are ones that guide social workers as to how they should try and solve these dilemmas.

Social workers face complex ethical issues in every aspect of their profession. This work is often ethically challenging because it involves direct contact and interaction with individuals who are vulnerable. There are many factors that influence our decision making especially when working with at risk youths, we often face challenges in wanting to take on certain roles to protect our clients. These roles often conflict with our professional obligations. When our personal and professional values conflicts, our decisions may affect the individual, family, group, community and the organization.

As a social worker many problems may arise because of the constant grey area of either letting your personal values interfere with your professional opinion. It is essential to provide your client with information and tools to help them succeed and overcome their problems. Following the core values is essential to being a resourceful, competent social worker. In some cases, core values are in conflict. In a situation where more than one core value is in conflict it is considered an ethical dilemma (Hick, 2009). It’s not guaranteed that a perfect solution will arise, therefore one of the core values is subsided because the other has more of an impact on the client.

The ethical dilemma for this case can be identified as best interest of client against the obligation to nonmaleficence (Rothman, 2005). The principle of nonmaleficence is an ethical principle based on the broader idea of do no harm. This idea of do no harm is central to the social work profession. Social workers have an obligation to the client by protecting the clients’ best interest, as well as any third party individuals. The caseworker in this situation must balance the best interests of both Suzanne and Cindy.

There are many ways in which social workers can avoid ethical dilemmas. In regards to the Jones case I will explain five ethical dilemmas. I will explain what 3 core values could have benefitted the Jones family and I will give three strategies I will use to practice ethical behavior in my field of social work in the future.

There is a great necessity for the code of ethics in social welfare. The first code of ethics was “adopted in 1960” and was a single page (NASW,1998, para. 8). The last major adoption was in 1996, which was similar to what we see today, in the 2008 edition. In this changing profession it is absolutely necessary for a social worker to have something to reference to when there is an ethical dilemma, because they will transpire from time to time (NASW, 1998).

The National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics is helpful in guiding decision making and clarifying ethical considerations for social work practice (NASW Press, 2015). The standards below may provide the guidance a social worker is looking for when facing an ethical dilemma such as the one described in this paper. Standard 1.01, Commitment to Clients, addresses the social work role and responsibility in promoting the client’s well-being (NASW Press, 2015). Legal obligations and/ or obligations to the greater social good may sometimes impact the social worker’s primary interest in the client’s well-being (NASW Press, 2015). Standard 1.03, Informed Consent, addresses the social work role in explaining the purpose of a service

One tricky part of the job that human service professionals have to face in the course of their jobs is to make decisions pertaining to ethical dilemmas. Often, such decisions can be tricky because they trigger conflicts of interests between various stakeholders of the dilemma whereas human service professionals have their responsibility towards more than one stakeholder groups at the same time. This means they cannot violate the rights of one stakeholder in order to protect the rights of another stakeholder. Such decisions are often referred to as 'Right versus Right' decisions (Corey, Corey & Callanan,2005). This paper aims at evaluating the decision making process of human service professionals under situations facing ethical dilemma. The ethical dilemma being discussed in this paper involves the problem of

The ethical theory of moral absolutism has raised many arguments since Plato produced the Theory of the Forms. Philosophers have argued over it for centuries; whether it is correct, whether we should be absolutists or relativists or whether we bypass both of these theories and decide our actions based on virtuous people.

I am now reviewing the ACA Code of Ethics to find out whether I can use these guidelines to find a solution to the problem. Reading the Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) I find the following aspects that are part of this dilemma:

Making consistently ethical decisions is difficult. Most decisions have to be made in the context of economic, professional and social pressures, which can sometimes challenge our ethical goals and conceal or confuse the moral issues. In addition, making ethical choices is complex because in many situations there are a multitude of competing interests and values. Other times, crucial facts are unknown or ambiguous. Since many actions are likely to benefit some people at the expense of others, the decision maker must prioritize competing moral claims and must be proficient at predicting the likely consequences of various choices. An ethical person often chooses to do more than the law requires and less than the law allows.

Traditionally, social worker are expected to not impose their own values on their clients, and suspended judgment about client behaviors, even when their own values or society values demand a judgement (Dolgroff, Harrington & Loewenberg, 2012). This can often pose difficult ethical decisions for social workers and clients, as personal value systems are inevitable. Social worker value gap, value neutrality and value imposition are important to consider when analyzing any ethical situation with our clients. Consideration needs to be given to both the social worker and the client as they interact together, although it is the social worker’s role to not impose their own values onto the client. The social worker must uphold the value of self

A discussion of moral theories must begin with a discussion of the two extremes of ethical thinking, absolutism and relativism. Moral Absolutism is the belief that there are absolute standards where moral questions are judged and can be deemed right or wrong, regardless of the context. Steadfast laws of the universe, God, nature itself are the forces that deem an action right or wrong. A person’s actions rather than morals and motivations are important in an Absolutism proposition. Moral Relativism states, that the moral propositions are based on Ethical relativism is the theory that holds that morality is relative to the norms of one's culture. That is, whether an action is right or wrong depends on the

Ethical relativism and ethical absolutism are two differing theories on how we ought to or ought not to decide on right from wrong. We question and evaluate morality in the terms of right and wrong constantly throughout life. The moral values that we decide to indoctrinate into our everyday lives are strongly motivated by cultural constraints in the eyes of some, to include anthropologist Dr. Ruth Benedict. Ethical relativism is defined as moral values being strongly dependent on time, place, and standards of a given culture. A contrasting theory to relativism is absolutism. The concept of a single, unwavering moral code used by all humans universally is absolutism. Dr. Christina Hoff-Sommers is an American philosopher who supports the idea of basic moral values and virtues based on absolutism. As humans we all have a duty to treat each other with a baseline of morality, while striving to improve character within our cultural environments.