scholarly journals Social work and COVID-19 pandemic: An action call

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 753-756
Author(s):  
Solomon Amadasun
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Public Value ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Current Loss ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global Discourse

The social work profession, more than any other, is most hurt by the rampaging coronavirus (aka, COVID-19) pandemic given the scourge’s pernicious impact on society’s underserved and undervalued populations. More so, the pandemic has undermined the profession’s historical value commitment to social justice and human rights while overturning our insistence on the importance of human relationships. The purpose of this essay is to explicate the nexus between social work and COVID-19 pandemic. While noting the deafening silence of the profession in the global discourse of the pandemic, it advocates for the urgency of our response if our profession is to attain significant public value amid the current loss of lives and threats to human rights. Strategies for our professional action, in flattening the curve of the contagion, are laid out.

How the environment is conceptualised and represented globally in social work codes of ethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110200
Author(s):  
Kang Liu ◽  
Catherine A Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Physical Environment ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
The Social ◽  
Holistic Understanding

While the environment is fundamental to humankind’s wellbeing, to date, social work has been largely focused on the social, rather than the physical, environment. To map how the broader environment is captured in the profession’s foundational documents, an exploratory sequential mixed methods study (QUAL → quan) analysed data from 64 social work codes of ethics. Findings indicate that although the environment is mentioned in the majority of these, there is a continued focus on the social, overlooking to some degree the physical, predominantly the built, environment. A more holistic understanding of the environment would enable social work to better fulfil its commitment to human rights and social justice.

Social Exclusion and Inclusion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lyons ◽  
Nathalie Huegler
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
International Development ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
The Social ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

The term social exclusion achieved widespread use in Europe from the late twentieth century. Its value as a concept that is different from poverty, with universal relevance, has since been debated. It is used in Western literature about international development, and some authors have linked it to the notion of capabilities. However, it is not widely used in the social work vocabulary. Conversely, the notion of social inclusion has gained in usage and application. This links with values that underlie promotion of empowerment and participation, whether of individuals, groups, or communities. Both terms are inextricably linked to the realities of inequalities within and between societies and to the principles of human rights and social justice that feature in the international definition of social work.

Neoliberalism, austerity and social work with children and families: challenges and critical/radical possibilities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Rogowski
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Uk

In the UK, neoliberalism and associated austerity have dominated social work and welfare provision over the last decade. Consequences include severe financial cuts to social work with children and families, as well as public services generally, and large increases in poverty and inequality. Despite increasing numbers of people in difficulty, the social work and welfare system has become more punitive and presents ongoing threats to social work’s commitment to human rights and social justice. This article examines such developments and includes the views of practitioners. Despite the strength and depth of challenges, it argues that critical/radical possibilities remain for practitioners to work both individually with service users and collectively. Such opportunities need to be taken with a view to working towards a more just and equal society, this being a much-needed antidote to the unequal neoliberal world we currently inhabit.

Social Work Scholarship on Forced Migration: A Scoping Review

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odessa Gonzalez Benson ◽  
Karin Wachter ◽  
Jessica Lee ◽  
Darlene Nichols ◽  
Erica Hylton
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North

Abstract This scoping review identifies and analyses historical to present–day contributions of social work scholarship on forced migration, with the aim of reviewing trends and identifying priority areas for the discipline moving forward. This review examined 331 articles related to forced migration published in 40 social work journals over four decades (1978 to 2019). Findings illustrate notable trends in temporal, methodological, topical and geographical dimensions and how those vary by first authors' locations, research sites and study populations. Temporally, the number of articles has been increasing, quadrupling between 2001–2010 and 2011–2019, with 20 social work journals doubling their number of articles. Methodologically, the large majority of articles were qualitative and/or conceptual. Topically, the most common were practice, intervention, health and mental health, while the least common topics included human rights, social justice, poverty, religion, violence, history and theory. Geographically, social work scholarship was mainly focused on refugees in the Global North and third-country resettlement contexts, and authored by scholars in the Global North. Findings thus reveal critical gaps in topics and geographical biases, raising questions related to issues of ethics, power and the production of knowledge about forced migration in the social work academy.

scholarly journals Social Workers’ Attitudes on Social Justice in Taiwan

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824402098828
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yi Chen ◽  
I-Chen Tang
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Moderating Factors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Work Concept ◽  
Work Education ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach

As social justice is an essential social work concept, this study examined the factors that influenced the attitudes of social workers in Taiwan toward social justice through an analysis of Social Justice Scale-TW (SJS-TW) questionnaires conducted on a sample of 276 social workers. It was found that years of work experience, human rights training, and past participation in social protests were important moderating factors of supporting social justice. It was concluded that including a human rights–based approach in social work education has the potential to increase the social workers’ knowledge of and actions in support of social justice.

Social work with refugees: Examining social workers’ role and practice in times of crisis in Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110469
Author(s):  
Dimitra-Dora Teloni ◽  
Sofia Dedotsi ◽  
Alexis Lazanas ◽  
Aristeidis Telonis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Restricted Access ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
The Social

Since the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015–2016, the hostile EU migration policies, the restricted access of refugees to welfare and neoliberalism have put social work in a rather difficult position. This self-funded quantitative research was carried out from June to August 2018 in Greece, addressing social workers working with refugees in various organizations, such as NGOs, public institutions and EU-funded projects. This article will present and discuss social work’s day-to-day practice with refugees and the social workers’ role as human rights defenders and claimants of social justice in the context of systematic violation of the human rights of refugees.

Case Management and Social Support System for Families in Distress: A Social Work Response

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
W akar Amin
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Support System ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Support System ◽  
The Disappeared

History is witness to the fact that warring factions in any armed conflict often commit several human rights violations like murder, rape, torture etc., and the act of disappearance of person is one among them. While the persons who are subjected to disappearance are the primary victims, the families they leave behind are the secondary victims. The situation makes families of the disappeared person suffer great anguish when their loved ones go disappeared. The phenomenon produces anguish, fear and unspeakable sorrow for thousands of families. Appreciating the importance of social work professionals in helping families deal effective with their life situations the present paper aims to provide a case for social work interventional techniques of Social Support System (SSS) and Case Management to modify and make the social environment conducive for the families to live a normal life.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and the calls of humanistic social work: Exploring the developmental-clinical social work concerns of the pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110079
Author(s):  
Robert K Chigangaidze
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Clinical Social Work ◽  
Health Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face

Any health outbreak is beyond the biomedical approach. The COVID-19 pandemic exposes a calamitous need to address social inequalities prevalent in the global health community. Au fait with this, the impetus of this article is to explore the calls of humanistic social work in the face of the pandemic. It calls for the pursuit of social justice during the pandemic and after. It also calls for a holistic service provision, technological innovation and stewardship. Wrapping up, it challenges the global community to rethink their priorities – egotism or altruism. It emphasizes the ultimate way forward of addressing the social inequalities.

Social workers, critical theory and the political sphere: addressing political misrecognition and marginalisation in the Republic of Ireland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Electoral Representation ◽  
Irish Politics

Despite the traditional social justice mandate of social work, and critical and radical theoretical traditions that pursue egalitarian and just societies, the engagement of the social work academy with Irish politics has been underwhelming at best. While there are abstract analyses that address sociopolitical theory and ideological wrongdoings related to neoliberalist rationality, attention in social work academia to the nuts and bolts of everyday political life in Ireland, such as democratic party politics and electoral representation, leaves much to the imagination. This article therefore pursues a more grounded reading of social justice in Irish politics for social workers. The supporting proposition is that to effectively interject in political misrecognition and marginalisation, social workers must understand the present political state of play. Towards achieving this, Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition aids thematic critical commentary on the literature.

Social workers’ attitudes toward human rights in a sample from Taiwan

2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsin-Yi Chen ◽  
I-Chen Tang
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
General Knowledge ◽  
Educational Training ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Protests ◽  
Social Work Practitioners ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire

The human rights concept is that everyone is entitled to enjoy those rights inherent to being human, without distinction. However, should human rights be considered a self-evident value for the social work profession? This study was to explore how social workers in Taiwan perceive the human rights concept. Responses from 276 social worker participants were analyzed by using a self-administered questionnaire. This study showed that social workers had a general knowledge of human rights. Receiving human rights educational training and engaging in social protests were important variables in increasing human rights awareness for social work practitioners.

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