Social Work Theory and Ethics

Dorothee Hoelscher, PhD, is a lecturer and social work programme advisor in the School of Human Services and Social Work at Griffith University, Australia, and a research associate with the Department of Social Work, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Dorothee's main areas of interest are applied ethics in social work, anti-oppressive social work theory and practice, social work with cross-border migrants, and social work education; and her primary focus has been on developing feminist relational readings of social justice in these fields. She has published 35 journal articles, book chapters, special journal issues, and books. Two books, published in 2020 and 2020 (fc) respectively, have been co-edited with Vivienne Bozalek, Michalinos Zembylas and Siddique Motala. Richard Hugman, PhD, is Honorary Professor of Social Work in the School of Social Sciences (SoSS) at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at University of New South Wales, Australia. Richard is a qualified social worker who spent a decade in practice. His current research includes developing new approaches in ethics for the caring professions, virtue ethics in social work (ARC Discovery, with colleagues at Charles Sturt University) and an analysis of the meaning of human rights for refugees settled in Australia (ARC Linkage, with the Centre for Refugee Research). He is also working on a critical analysis of international social work, with particular reference to culture, difference and shared values, and on social development as social work practice. Since 2004 Richard has worked with UNICEF Vietnam to advise the Vietnam Government on the development of professional social work. Between 2008 and 2014 he was the ethics commissioner of the International Federation of Social Workers and he was a member of the 'expert panel' which drafted the current international statement on ethics for social work. Previously he has undertaken various research projects concerning late life, community and social welfare, mental health, and the organization of social services. Richard is a member of the Asia-Pacific regional editorial board of Ethics & Social Welfare, and member of the editorial board of Australian Journal of Human Rights. He is a Foundation Fellow of the Australian College of Social Work and a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology. Donna McAuliffe, PhD, is Professor and Head of the School of Human Services and Social Work at Griffith University in Australia. Donna's area of teaching and research expertise is professional ethics and she has a commitment to ensuring high-quality education for social work and human services graduates. Donna is co-author of the lead Australian text The Road to Social Work and Human Services, now in its 6th edition (Cengage), and sole author of the text Inter-professional Ethics: Collabortion in the Social, Health and Human Services moving into its 2nd edition (Cambridge). Donna is a long-standing member of the AASW; a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA); and a member of the Register of Experts for TEQSA. She is the Australasia-Pacific Associate Board member for the journal Ethics & Social Welfare, and an Editorial Board member for International Social Work.

The volume as a whole comprises 26 chapters, divided into four main parts, with parts 1 and 6 being separate introduction and conclusion chapters respectively, written by the editors. The main parts and the topics of each chapter within them (noting chapter authors in parentheses) are:



Part I: Introduction





Introduction






Part II: Theory for practice - the broad social science theory that provides the intellectual groundwork for the discipline





Psychological theory (Daniel Wong, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR)
Systems theory (Heiko Kleve & Jan Wirth, University of Witten/Herdeke, Germany)
Critical theory (Edgar Marthinsen, Trondheim University, Norway)
Post-modern and post-structural theory (Catrina Brown, Dalhousie University, Canada)
Post-human and post-anthropocentric theory (Satu Ranta-Tyrkkoe, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland)
Postcolonial and decolonising theory (Sue Green, Charles Sturt University, Australia)


















Part III: Social work practice theory - theories that are drawn systematically from considerations of practice





Person-centred approaches (Adrian van Breda, University of Johannesburg, South Africa)
Problem-centred approaches (Blanca Ramos, State University of New York at Albany, USA)
Anti-oppressive practice (Donna Baines and colleagues, University of British Columbia, Canada)
Feminist social work (Sandra Turner and Tina Maschi, Fordham University, USA)
Environmental practice and 'green' social work' (Margaret Alston, University of Newcastle, Australia)
Developmental social work (Janestic Twikirize, Makerere University, Uganda)
Indigenous social work practices (Lulu Shokane, University of Zululand, South Africa)




















Part IV: Social work values and principles - ethical theory derived from moral philosophy that forms the foundations of professional ethics





Human rights (Sharelen Niperress, RMIT University, Australia)
Social justice (Neil Thompson & Paul Stepney, Avenue Consulting, Wales)
Virtue ethics (Eleni Papouli, University of West Attica, Greece)
Ethics of care (Donna McAuliffe, Griffith University, Australia)
Ethical pluralism (Richard Hugman, UNSW, Australia)
Post-human ethics (Vivienne Bozalek, University of the Western Cape, South Africa & Dorothee Hoelscher, Griffith University, Australia)



Part V: Ethical issues in social work - applied inquiry in new ethical challenges to social work





Social work and technology (Melanie Sage, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA, Lauren McInroy, Ohio State University, USA & Oluwagbemiga Oyinlola, Ibadan University Hospital, Nigeria)
Extreme circumstances, such as civil disorder (Vasilios Iaokimidis, University of Essex, England & Nicos Trimikliniotis, Greece)
Excluded and displaced people, including refugees (Jay Marlowe, University of Auckland, New Zealand)
Emerging voices and the Global South: the example of Asian values (Ming-sum Tsui, Caritas Institute of Higher Education, Hong Kong, Chien-ju Pai, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan, Hay Cheong Chu, Caritas Institute of Higher Education, Hong Kong & Peace Wong, National University of Singapore, Singapore)
Resurgent forms of nationalism, populism, etc. (Gurnam Singh, University of Coventry, England)





Part VI: Conclusion






Conclusion


A common approach will be taken by the authors of each chapter. First, each chapter should provide an account of the treatment of the topic in social work research and scholarship. Second, the topic should be applied specifically to the nature and purpose of social work. Third, each chapter should provide the author's analysis of key elements, presenting their own argument about what is significant in this topic.