Social Justice Perspectives, The Fifth Force

Chapter 3 explains the importance of ethical competence specific to the human services field. As a professional it is important to know and understand an organizations code of ethics, as it will be a reference tool in how to handle certain situations you are faced with. Human service professionals enter into the profession with a personal set of values, goals and ethical conduct but, must always remember that their actions should always reflect the values and ethics of the company they are now a part of (site). In the event of an ethical issue a professional should always refer the ethical standards to determine what action should be taken (site). Ethics are also in place to facilitate legal implications that stem from malpractice lawsuits.

We’ve had a lot of discussion about ethics, values and morals this week and have drawn some lines between the meaning of each that applies to our personal and professional lives. Our values help guide us in our understanding of right and wrong, basically what we believe to be acceptable action in any situation we’re presented with. Morals are types of values that deal more with good and bad, the foundation for our behavior and decisions (The Definition of Morality, 2014). Ethics use shared morals and values in a system of accepted rules that a specific group of people agree to abide by. For example, most physicians agree to abide by the Code of Medical Ethics established by the American Medical Association since it is considered to be the most comprehensive code available (AMA's Code of Ethics, 2015).

When encountering an ethical dilemma, it is important for the counselor to be aware of ethical considerations. Making good ethical decisions is dependent on being familiar with models of ethnical decision-making, knowledge of ethical situations, and one’s own code of ethics. If a counselor is not knowledgeable of his or her ethical standards, they are more likely to break a code without even knowing it. According to Neukrug and Milliken (2011) say that few professionals are actually accused of unethical conduct during their careers, but those who can be traumatized as well as their clients from the repercussion’s of the counselors mistake (p. 206). Thankfully, there are many organizations that have established a code of ethics for their employees to abide by while in that organization.

The commitment to act ethically is an essential aspect of social work due to the effect it can have on the quality of the service offered to those who engage with us. Through group discussions in our foundations of social work practice I have become extremely ethically aware and now will always seek to ascertain and respect, as far as possible, each individual’s preferences, wishes and involvement in decision making. From discussions with my fellow classmates I have learnt to strive to respect and uphold the values and principles of the profession by making sure I promote and work towards the code of ethics wherever possible. This in turn enables me act in a reliable, honest and trustworthy manner having worked closely with service users in a professional setting and learned of their good and bad experiences with practitioners through the service user experience we undertook in class. I believe I am now in a good position to apply the social work ethical principles to my professional practice, in a way that seeks to empower my service users and enable me to emulate the best practice. In addition from reading social work journals and staying on top of news regarding the profession more generally I am knowledgeable about the value base of social work as a profession .

Human services is known as the helping profession by many, when helping though we should keep in mind that ethics are a large part of the profession. Professional ethics can be defined as a codification of the special obligations that arise out of a person’s choice to become a professional (Dolgoff, Harrington, & Loewenberg, 2012). When looking the ethics of human services or social work they are intended to help the practitioners in the field recognize morally correct practice and learn how to decide and act ethically in professional situations (Dolgoff, Harrington, & Loewenberg, 2012). There are so many things to consider when it comes to ethics in the human service profession, I will highlight many of them throughout this paper, starting with dual relationships.

Social injustice can have a devastating and crippling effect on persons, both physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Injustice carries with it the potential to trigger life events that negatively affect individuals’ health, lifestyle, and relationships with family members, friends, and the workplace (Hays & Erford, 2014). Currently, in the United States, there are many and more individuals and groups who struggle to overcome past and present prejudices in the areas of housing, education, differential treatment, discrimination, child exploitation, and racial profiling. Barrett (2011) found that multidimensional issues associated with the biological, psychological, and societal differences among persons, social justice, and fundamental human rights many times prevent practitioners from supplying adequate services to all the peoples of a town, area, or country. The complexities of national, state and public administration have generated institutional inequity that is so entrenched within communities that “professional standards and documents and United Nations Conventions and Declarations are not enough” (Barrett, 2011, p. 5). To understand and apply the construct of multicultural counseling and social justice as interdependent and interactive forces practitioners and researchers should analyze and fine-tune traditional counseling theories and methodologies using a systems approach.

This workshop allowed us to compare codes of ethics from different professions and articulate how; personal, professional values, beliefs, and how perspectives influence ethical decision making. Within our groups, we discussed case

Fear and cruelty are the weapons of animals, not humanity, and social injustices derive from fear-the masked ego of one who has sustained through power: white power. It is only fair to continue to talk about social injustice by defining what is social justice. Social justice embodies a framework (and certainly not limited to) a community, a united nation, equitable in standing together in belief and acceptance of diversity; equality; freedom; and equal opportunity to income and its privileges. Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States of America proclaims that "a house divided cannot stand." I believe President Lincoln is correct with his statement, if the "house" is not endowed in a universal cause and foundation, then the infrastructure is faulty and will collapse. Here is how this connects to social justice, if that same "house" is not socially just, separation will impel and will cause dilapidation within the foundation. This paper will implement foci on Michelle Alexander 's (The New Jim Crow) approach of the social issue of a "new Jim Crow" system of mass incarceration in a colorblind society, and Barbara Ehrenreich 's (Nickle and Dimed) notion to the social injustice that derives from a capitalistic driven society that undermines the working lower-class men and women. With the forth

The notion of justice is existence of proper balance of rights and its access under the laws of land. It refers to not depriving any person from availing privileges, opportunities etc. John Rawls writes, "Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override"It means that the interaction in a society must be free from any sort of discrimination such as religion, race, color, caste or sex. It ensures fair distribution of assets and equal opportunity. José P. Laurel defines Social Justice as “Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the state so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated.”

One of notable contributions of social psychology is research on social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010), racism, and prejudice (Ross, Lepper, & Ward, 2010). Within the topic of social justice, themes such as equality, equity, liberty, morality, and others are studied. The surge of academic attention in social justice post World War II partially attributes to the political interest in fighting fascism. Nevertheless, issues that are related social equality are continuing to be relevant today. A challenging aspect of this topic is a lack of consensus among scholars with regards to its definition. Moreover, understandings of social justice require integration of individual, group, and system level insights. Holding a balance between subjective and objective experiences with respect to what construed as just is essential. Understandings gained from research would assist researchers to identify obstacles to fair community including selfishness, laziness, human tendency to dehumanize perceived enemies, and common social misconceptions. Research results can assist the public to encourage dialogues integral to social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010).

Loewenberg & Dolgoff (1996, p.12) point out that learning about ethics can sometimes hinder ethical decision making behaviour because there are no easy answers and it is easy to feel ‘stuck’. As they have stated “social work students and practitioners who spend too much time reflecting about professional ethics may find themselves in the same situation as the centipede who become incapable of moving about when it tried to understand how its legs worked.”

Social justice is not an “us versus them” mentality; rather it is a “were in it together” mentality where the powerful and powerless work together. Obviously those who are in need are the poor and oppressed: women, African-Americans, Jews, Latin Americans, etc. However, due to the fact that these people are in these oppressive situations, they gain insight into the injustices that surround them specifically, and society in general. Although they are made poor by those in power and the structures, institutions, and organizations run by those in power, they still possess “strength to resist, capacity to understand their rights, [and the ability] to organize themselves and transform a subhuman situation (Boff, 1)”. The poor and oppressed are held above the rich and powerful, in other words are given preferential treatment. Due to their oppression in life,

The notable differences between classical and contemporary theories of social justice are the way the issue is explored. Differences also occur in the emphasis placed on different aspects of social justice and how to achieve it. The notable similarities seem to be that there is a need for social justice and that to achieve social justice many changes need to occur. Another similarity is the debate that social justice is not an easily achievable outcome.

Social sciences and social justice are both based on the structure of rights. Our rights were designed to create equality for all. However, there are always outliers in our justice system and these outliers can be seen by all. My background and demographic are aggressively average growing up in a small, rural community with little diversity which has affected my views about justice. The class Social Problems and Social Injustice has aggressively opened my eyes to new statistics about society and has made some of my intuitions validated and destroyed some of my prior views. My new understanding of social justice is that is was created for all by excluding some. Justice is the structure of our institutions and society.

This case study was a powerful example to illustrate the presence of ethics within the