Afterword: Messages for community development in working with minority groups

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Craig
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Core Values ◽  
Cultural Work ◽  
The Core ◽  
Acid Test

This chapter summarises key themes and presents some final thoughts. It argues that there will be occasions when community workers armed with the values of social justice, of whatever ethnic origin, should have no option but to intervene to promote those values. Too often, community workers, social workers, the police, and others have veered away from facing difficult issues within the community for fear of being labelled as racist. Culture is not in itself good, and the acid test should be one of fundamental human rights: does a culture impinge on the human rights of its members? Does it challenge the core values of social justice? Community workers have to arm themselves with these core values in theory and in practice. In the turmoil and confusions of cross-cultural work, and in a context of ever-increasing and more violent forms of racism, this remains their clearest and most important line of defence.

'This is a cage for migrants': the rise of racism and the challenges for social work in the Greek context

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra-Dora Teloni ◽  
Regina Mantanika
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Core Values ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Culture Of Silence

Greece has been an emblematic case for the European Union's implementation of anti-immigration securitisation and externalisation. These policies have been translated into non-tolerance and intimidation towards certain populations, which, in turn, has resulted in more and more violent forms of the rejection of migration, which has become mainstream. Parallel to this are racist attacks, pogroms and acts of violence committed by neo-Nazi groups. On the other hand, a growing anti-racist movement has emerged in the form of human rights defence and solidarity networks and anti-racist resistance. This article aims to show the ways in which the rise of situations of rejection and racism have come to challenge the work of social workers and to understand how social work can be rearticulated with regard to its core values of social change and social justice, the antithesis of the profession's traditional 'neutrality' and 'culture of silence'.

Ally Model of Social Justice in Social Work

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Philosophical Approach ◽  
Extensive List

The ally model of social justice is a philosophical approach that is congruent with social work’s values and emphasis on social justice and human rights. Using concepts from multiple identities and social justice, it directs those with privilege to act on behalf of those without privilege who belong to a different social group. It is developmental in nature and contains an extensive list of specific ally characteristics that inform social workers at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and system levels. Despites its limitations, the ally model of social justice is instructive for all social workers regardless of setting as they continue the profession’s mission to eliminate social injustice.

Human Rights and Social Work in Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Obie Clayton ◽  
June Gary Hopps
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
First Century ◽  
International Level ◽  
Human Rights Standards ◽  
Rights Issues ◽  
Individual Human

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) affirms a social worker’s responsibility to social change and social justice on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed peoples (NASW, 2008). Because of this directive around social justice, it is the profession’s responsibility to make connections between individual human rights issues within the broader social, economic, and cultural context that creates conditions where injustice can take place. This article attempts to illustrate how social workers in the twenty-first century must be able to recognize and emphasize human rights in their practice on a local, national, and international level. The article also shows the need for social workers to be the catalyst bringing attention to the need to craft solutions to human rights violations that take into account global human rights standards.

Possibilities for new social work professional resistance in Chile: times of social change?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taly Reininger ◽  
Gianinna Muñoz-Arce ◽  
Cristobal Villalobos
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Exponential Growth ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
The Past ◽  
Global North ◽  
Material Conditions

In the current unscrupulous neoliberal climate, social workers are increasingly confronted with ethical and political tensions that clash with the profession’s commitments to human rights and social justice. However, despite neoliberalism’s global reach, the scholarship on social work professional resistance has been largely limited to the Global North. Taking into consideration this absence in the literature, this article seeks to explore the possibilities for professional resistance in the Global South, specifically, in Chile, a country in which neoliberalism was forcefully imposed and that has experienced an exponential growth in social movements over the past two decades. The following article explores the structural and material conditions that have historically shaped social work resistances, arguing that the current social and political climate, specifically, the constitutional process under way, presents a space from which new resistances are possible and necessary in order to challenge neoliberal hegemony.

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.

scholarly journals Social workers’ collective policy practice in times of austerity: Italy and Spain compared1

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-120
Author(s):  
Riccardo Guidi
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Responsibility ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
The Core ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Critical Policy ◽  
Welfare Politics

Although political responsibility lays at the core of social professions, until recently it has only been weakly exerted. Effectively acting for social justice in a context shaped by neomanagerialism, economic crisis and (permanent) austerity has become crucial for the profession, the users and democracy but is particularly difficult. Based on a critical policy theoretical framework, this chapter illustrates and interprets the features of social workers’ policy practice in Italy and Spain in the austerity age. Against deactivation hypotheses, social workers’ potential in affecting welfare politics is enriched in both countries through the action of collective bodies from within the profession. Beyond flat visions of social workers’ policy practice, the analysis also shows that different mobilisation paths exist. The peculiar interactions between the political opportunities’ structure and the characteristics of professional bodies (political culture, resources, skills) in the medium term can account for the divergence. These interactions seem to be pushing social workers’ policy practice towards particularistic/professional or universal/political achievements.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiyoteru Tsutsui
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Starting Position ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Future ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Ideas And Institutions

The conclusion summarizes key findings of the empirical chapters and offers an answer to the core puzzle of the book about the rise of minority activism since the 1970s: it was global human rights ideas and institutions that transformed the movement actorhood of all three minority groups in Japan, galvanizing their activism and enabling their significant gains. The chapter also underscores the book’s theoretical contributions, pointing to the need to understand the capacity of global human rights to transform movement actorhood, rather than to assume rational actors with set interests, and illustrating the different patterns of impact of global human rights depending on the local actors’ starting position, thus offering a corrective to one-dimensional understanding of globalization as isomorphic forces shaping all local actors homogeneously. The local-to global-feedback loop is another contribution of this research, highlighting the mechanisms of norm consolidation and norm expansion in the international arena. The research also suggests important lessons for the future of global human rights.

Ethical Grounding of Social Work Practices

2018 ◽  
pp. 34-46
Author(s):  
Liranso G. Selamu ◽  
Mohan S. Singhe
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Ethical Awareness ◽  
Human Needs

Ethical awareness is fundamental to the professional practice of social workers. Their ability and commitment to act ethically is an essential aspect of the quality of the service offered to those who engage with social workers. Respect for human rights and a commitment to promoting social justice are at the core of social work practice throughout the world. Social work grew out of humanitarian and democratic ideals, and its values are based on respect for the equality, worth, and dignity of all people. Since its beginnings over a century ago, social work practice has focused on meeting human needs and developing human potential. Human rights and social justice serve as the motivation and justification for social work action. Therefore, this chapter included the ethical grounds in social work practices in a deep manner.

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