Ethical Dilemmas Facing Social Work

Within this essay the areas in which discrimination and oppression occur will be highlighted and then evaluated to show how ‘good’ anti oppressive/ discriminative practice within social work can ‘aid’ and empower service users who are in groups that experience oppression and discrimination to overcome their problems. Gil (1994) states that “the conditions that cause people to seek help from social services are usually direct or indirect consequences of social, economic, and political institutions, and... the profession of social work is ethically committed to promote social justice. Insights into oppression and social

Social work is based on respect for the inherent worth and dignity of all people as expressed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights(1948) It is therefore of paramount importance that a social work professional should work towards promoting the best interests of individuals and groups in society. I very much recognize the contribution that social work brings to inclusion having worked alongside social workers during the course of my shadowing placement. I possess a real commitment to promote equality which I have had the pleasure of doing in a multitude of different roles. From academic journals as well as my lecture notes I now appreciate the central importance of using the fundamental principles of human rights and equality to underpin my practice, and the inherent need to promote justice in relation with the people I will work.

Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work’. Social work origins arise from the effects of a change to an industrial sociality and increasing impact and focus upon poverty. However it is argued that current social work practice, as illustrated by the broad definition of social work by the IFSW, finds itself expected to address wider social issues such as racism, sexism, and discrimination relating to physical or mental ability. Furthermore social work itself has changed from its origins of a charity style response to social problems of poverty. Banks (1995, p1) argues that the changes to social work have introduced different roles for different purposes of ’redistribution of resources to those in need... social control and rehabilitation of the deviant’ Banks further argues that as social work changes, the emphasis is less upon a helping relationship and more on the distribution of resources and on social control.

In relation to social work diversity does not simply mean difference in race and gender but also the unnoticeable differences such as values, religion, social background, economic wellbeing and political beliefs. It is important to acknowledge and understand diversity in social work as there have been matters of holding assumptions and prejudices about an individual or group in the manner they are treated and the services they receive. The issue with making assumptions and prejudices is acknowledged in the Social Work Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) as domain 3 explains that diversity is multi-dimensional, diversity can effect an individual’s life experience in a positive or negative way. This is due to the issues that occur with differences such as oppression, marginalisation and alienation as well as the positive side which includes privilege, power and acclaim (Capabilities within the PCF, 2014). “Anti- oppressive practice

I believe that Carniol’s view of social work is appropriate and timely. For the profession that is trained to analyze and address social problems, it is unfortunate that we have not established our mark as champions of oppressed and/or its voice in policy making. We have not embedded in the consciousness of the public that we are the experts on these matters. There are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is that we have allowed ourselves to be oppressed and have failed to change the system that oppressed us. Also, most of the social workers are trained in and practicing conventional approach that limits their attention to the client and his/her immediate environment.

This essay will focus on how contemporary social workers work to balance the competing demand of care and control. It will start by outlining the nature of the contemporary social work and what it is like and how it works within society. The discussion will then move on to look at and discuss the key professional values of social work practitioners and analyse its relationship to their own personal values, this will also bring into account how these values and views influenced the relationship a social worker can have with both service users and other agencies. Lastly it will explore the range of challenges and dilemmas that are faced by social work practitioners in everyday practice when it comes to trying to balance the demand of care and control and how they work to overcome these problems in order to ensure an effective and fair service to all who avail of it.

“… there are no easy remedies in social work, especially when we are confronted daily with oppression and deprivation…” (Trevithick, 1)

In order to define critical social work, one must define the concept of social work - and in defining social work, one must also define critical thinking, and critical consciousness. This paper will attempt to define such concepts and ideologies and it will address and include themes of the intersectionality of social work and the Sociological Imagination, social structure and institutions.

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.

Additionally, the attempts made to correct the situations has been viewed as “special rights” causing more resentment of the aboriginal people today. The continued existence of ‘Indian reserves’ serves as one of the most visible reminders of the racebased segregation of First Nations people in Canada (Musto, 1990). I chose social work as my professional career path because it is a diverse field unique from the name to the diversity, and most importantly the power to make a difference in people’s life’s. Social workers don’t just tell people to get better they give them the tools to enhance there lives. Despite the negative connotation and stereotypes, I believe that it is important to have social workers because they are the protectors and guiders of the everyday people. The ability to communicate precisely with those who’s cultural perspective differentiates from mine is not just a matter of respect but a matter of appropriateness. In relation to these learnings and as an aspiring social worker. “It is practice that you are tailored to client’s belief system in order to develop a healthy identity development.” My learning of the legacy of oppression tailors my professional ability to practice cultural appropriation and respectful cultural competence when working with aboriginal

According to Duffy (2016), there are two different types of social work practice when it comes to working alongside a disadvantaged population. The first kind, is used more often and is called conventional social work approach, which focuses its attention on undertaking assessment and ensuring that individuals are families are received the correct support through organised services and support. On the other hand, critical social work, the less utilized approach aims to challenge the inequalities and oppression in society, by targeting the societal structure via activism and research, in order to bring forth criticism and questions on discourses attached to particular marginalised groups. The author proposes that both social work practices are important, however, critical social work should be emphasized on more frequently, especially with groups such as the ageing population as it targets the stubborn discourses (Duffy, 2016). Mattsson broadens critical social work, by relating it to critical reflection. Critical theorists have proposed critical reflection as a method to understand how social work practices can uphold oppression due to seemingly everyday actions, words and attitudes. Therefore, this can have an implication on how social workers execute their practice, as ordinary and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies may senselessly abide social workers to uphold and reproduce social oppression, even though they might be well-intentioned. Critical reflection

In order to really grasp how to approach such a problem from a social work perspective, it becomes important to have a firm understanding of what it might mean to have social work aimed at decolonization. Sium, Desai, and Ritskes (2012) say that “Decolonization does not exist without a framework that centers and privileges Indigenous life, community, and epistemology” (p. ii). As such, it becomes necessary to understand social work’s indebtedness to Western epistemological structures and the necessity for change. Rather than understand this problem as one that operates within an existential rubric of gains and losses in which the MMPI-2 could achieve some multicultural understanding, we must begin to think more deeply about the libidinal economies which make such an achievement impossible at the epistemic and ontological levels. The MMPI-2’s commitment to Western epistemologies ensures that a shift towards Indigenous ways of knowing would necessarily undo its project, and, more generally, threaten the entire field of psychiatry as the reason/madness nexus is thrown into question (Hill et al., 2012; Foucault, 1988).

A Social Worker’s reflection on Power, Privilege and Oppression, this is the title of Michael Spence’s article, but what really does that mean? Spence talks about his personal experiences in life that dealt with all three of these aspects, power, privilege and oppression. In this paper this writer will also talk about power, privilege and oppression in regard to Spence’s outlook on the topic. What is power? How does it relate to Social Workers and social situations? Is privilege really something that can be given to you just based on race and where you grew up, or how you were raised? Lastly Oppression, what causes one type of social group to be oppressed?

A commonality between the two articles is that inequality within agency structures has created a power divide between the majority and minority groups. The gap between groups is not because of an individual or one’s ignorance; it is the result of society’s structure and value system. Cindy Baskin emphasises the importance of needing to examine these structures that have created barriers that oppress groups, such as racism and capitalism. Additionally, June Jing Yee adds that from a Marxist viewpoint domination of racial minority groups were to further the motives of the majority group. In social work practice, explanations of oppression come from exclusionary practices within agency practices. Each book chapter has explained their ideas on

The first point was that the discourses of hegemony was identified as accountability, effectiveness and social control. The second was that the social workers addressed the discourses of resistance in terms of incompatibility, social defense and others. The third was that the social workers considered