If survival depends on democracy the imperative of non-exclusion has to reign. There is no democracy if people are excluded. Social work is the banner of this imperative.
Social work has
triple articulation – it is a science, a profession and an art. As a science it
is a science of doing, as a profession it is a profession of solidarity and it
is an art remaining human in inhumane conditions.
A science of doing
Social work is not an
explanatory science, it is science of doing (Flaker, 2006). It is not a logos – it is the praxis. What is does it
changes life and world into a better one. This cannot be done with exclusion
and must be done with inclusion. And inclusion is an act. An act that sets off
the change. A change that must be social, i.e. performed with the others.
A profession of solidarity
Social work is not
profession of charity or philanthropy. It is a profession of solidarity (Flaker,
2006). It is not about doing good on to the other (not even of merely doing
right) but of doing it right in common good. With anyone excluded we all suffer
inequality, lack of fraternity and freedom.
An art of remaining human in inhumane conditions
It is easy to be
human in abundance, very hard in dearth – yet the most precious (Flaker, 2016).
It is ethic and aesthetic to overturn the odds of inhumanity – but do we want
to be included in misery?
Triangle of Today’s Social Work Action
Social work today
is very much affected by present global crisis – most visibly by austerity of
neo-liberalism, which on one hand produces poverty and powerlessness of the
people and simultaneously decimates the means of social welfare and social work
to respond to people’s distress. Equally, the other crises have an immense
impact of social work reality (Yates, 2012; Mali & Leskošek, 2015).
Political conflict, breaching of the social contract by the elites in power,
economic collapses and insecurity, climate changes and migration, demographic
changes and growing atomisation, and other crises define our experience and
call for social action.
As much as the crisis affects social work,
its ethics and finalities of action, it is necessary to repeat, it is also a
challenge and an opportunity (Hester, 2012). We need to seek the answers to how
social work ethics can resist the crisis or even ameliorate it. We need to find
a new mandate for social work in times of crisis that is embedded in movements
and can be used for various social innovations. Precisely because new social
movements (indignados, occupy) are active in challenging the crisis and in
exploiting opportunities arising. And in the time of crisis it is important,
no, crucially indispensable to retain a moral, ethical compass – to adhere to
solidarity, free will and remain human. Simultaneously, we need explore how the
new mandate of social work can provide an ethical stronghold for social work in
crises.
References:
Flaker, V.
(2006) 'Social work as a science of doing: in the praise of a minor profession'
in Von der Idee zur Forschungsarbeit: Forschen in Sozialarbeit und
Sozialwissenschaft, V. Flaker & T. Schmid, T. eds Böhlau Verlag, Wien.
Flaker, V. (2016) ' Social work is
the art of remaining human in the inhuman conditions’, Dialogue in Praxis (Ethics of Inclusion – special issue), vol. 5,
no. 1. (forthcoming).
Hester,
R. (2012) ‘The perfect storm - a moment for
decarceration’, Dialogue in Praxis, vol.
1, no. 1, pp. 27–39. [Online] Available at: http://dialogueinpraxis.fsd.uni-lj.si/index.php?id=5&a=article&aid=11
Mali, J. &
Leskošek, V. (2015) 'The impact of austerity measures and disintegrating
welfare state on social work with older people in Slovenia', Dialogue in Praxis, vol. 4, no. 1–2.
{Online] Available at:
http://dialogueinpraxis.fsd.uni-lj.si/index.php?id=5&a=article&aid=46
Yates, J. (2012) 'What prospects
Youth Justice? Children in Trouble in the Age of Austerity' Social Policy & Administration, vol.
46, no. 4.
Ni komentarjev:
Objavite komentar