Richard Hugman

1
International Social WorkIs a Universal Ethics
Attainable?

• Richard Hugman
• School of social sciences international studies
• University of new south Wales
• Presentation to
• The Glasgow school of social work
• 19th June 2007

2
background

• In 2004 the International Federation of Social
  Workers IFSW and the International Association
  of Schools of Social Work IASSW approved the
  new Ethics in Social Work Statement of
  Principles
• see http//www.ifsw.org/en/p38000324.html
• Streamlined approach
• Refers to UN Conventions and other international
  documents as the basis for social work values
• Two main sections outlining values Human
  Rights and Social Justice
• Section on professional conduct provides
  applied statements to guide understanding of the
  principles in the practice context

3
problems 1

• criticisms of the general idea of an
  international ethical framework
• cultural relativity of values
• criticisms of the specific way in which the
  IFSW/IASSW document is constructed
• cultural differences in ethics processes
• Yip, K.-S. (2004) A Chinese cultural critique
  of the Global Qualifying Standards for social
  work education in Social Work Education, 23(5),
  597-612.
• Healey, L. (2007) Universalism and cultural
  relativism in social work ethics in
  International Social Work, 50(1), 11-26.

4
problems 2

• IFSW/IASSW statement is based on two ethical
  approaches
• deontology human rights
• teleology social justice
• these two approaches are inherently in conflict
• deontology absolute and universal
• teleology relative and contextual
• evidence that social workers favour the former in
  principle and the latter in practice
• Osmo, R. Landau, R. (2006) The role of
  ethical theories in decision making by social
  workers in Social Work Education, 25(8), 863-876.

5
possible responses

• universalism
• UN documents signed by most countries and are
  based on human rights, so a common ethical
  framework is both possible and necessary
• relativism
• each cultural context embodies particular values,
  so each must generate its own ethical framework
• ethical pluralism
• primary values relatively context independent
• secondary values relatively context dependent
• Kekes, J.(1993) The Morality of Pluralism.
  Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press.

6
pluralism some implications

• values may be
• incompatible
• incommensurable
• necessity to find a methodology for ethical
  discourse
• potential to consider other ethical approaches
• virtue ethics (and other ancient Greek
  approaches)
• eastern philosophy (esp. Confucianism)
• feminist ethics (care)
• ethics of emotion (compassion)
• indigenous ethics (First Nations, Aboriginal)
• make connections between ethics and politics
  explicit