Term Paper on "Social Work What Does the 'Partisan Mind"

Term Paper 8 pages (2274 words) Sources: 8

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Social Work

What does the 'Partisan Mind' suggest about social work practice, social workers, and the Code of Ethics?

The occupation of social work evolved through the endeavors to address the person-environment relationship in the service of enhancing peoples' lives and assist in the transformation and growth through skilled interventions. The driving forces of Social work are helping needy members of society, improving the welfare of people within their social framework, and addressing the interests of the whole society. By concurrently addressing both the person and the environment, social work is very comprehensive in its approach. It is this context of inclusiveness that makes it becomes challenging to elucidate (National Association and Social Workers, 2008). Even though, social work essentially struggled for a comprehensive integrative approach from the beginning, it lacks a theory that addresses both people and their environments by incorporating the different theories drawn upon by social workers. One outcome of the absence of theoretical cohesion is the division in the profession between social workers who underscore the person and those who address issues on environmental interventions. In order to remain on the contexts of comprehensive vision and goals, social workers have made various efforts throughout the history of the profession to incorporate theories and develop incorporating models of practice. Partisan mind suggests that the profession of social work has emerged throughout history to have a comprehensive and simultaneous focus on the person and environment (Keating, 2005).

With the focus of both Individual and environmental interventions, the social work practices incline toward a more integral perspective from the beginning. Social work practices focus on addressing the relationship between clients or client systems and society, intervening to making changes on both personal and environmental capacities. The practices underscore on assisting poor people, demoralized groups, and other vulnerable populations. Social work practices have an extensive spectrum of skills, often making them invaluable contributors in efforts to ease the transformation throughout society (Bennett, 2012).

However, the social work profession endeavors with its sense of self-identity and continue to search for a clear purpose for it. This is probably because the profession's potential lies in its capacity to traverse professional boundaries, trying to incorporate theories and knowledge from various different fields in order to address both the person and the environment more efficiently. Since the theories are exclusive and partial, none is capable of presenting a coalescing theoretical foundation for a profession that attends uniformly to both the environment and the person. Partisan mind suggested that the contending moral ideals of the promotion of selfhood and the promotion of community welfare define the fundamental nature of social work practices and that the profession's purposes flow from these principles (Ramirez, 2007).

Some current endeavors at self-definition are in a special issue of Council on Social Work Education "Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. The author addresses partisan's mind working definition of social work. It underscores the exclusivity of the profession by delineation its particular content and organization of value, purpose, sanction, knowledge, and method (Ramirez, 2007).

Social workers

Partisans mind suggests that social workers are entitled to education and knowledge on the nature of social diversity and repression with regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marriage status, political conviction, religious perception, immigration conditions, and mental or physical disability. In addition, social workers ought to handle their workmates with respect and have competence and credibility in their different work positions. Further, should refrain from negatively criticizing their workmates, in communications with customers or with other professionals. Negative criticism may comprise, humiliating comments that refer to a workmate's standard of qualification or two persons' attributes for instance, race, customs, nationality, color, sex, sexual reference, gender individuality or expression, age, marital status, political status, religion, immigration factors, and mental or physical disability (Stratigakos, 2008).

Social workers should avoid, disregard, facilitate, or support any form of prejudice based on race, customs, nationality, color, and so forth. In essence, the prime objective of the social work profession is to facilitate human welfare and assist meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular focus to the needs and empowerment of persons that are susceptible, demoralized, and living in low life. Therefore, the essence of social workers is promoting social justice and social transformation on behalf of the vulnerable groups.

The main objective of the social work practices and social workers is entrenched in a set of core values. The core values are the basis of social workers unique purpose and perspective, and address the exclusivity of the social work profession. Code of ethics is at the foundation of social work, and the social work profession has a duty of articulating the basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The codes of ethics are relevant to all social workers and the social work profession; despite of their professional functions, the context in which they function, or the persons' they serve.

The code of ethics plays an imperative role of guiding in the decision-making process and circumstances when ethical issues arise. However, the codes of ethics do not define the process that social workers follow while attending to ethical situations. However, ethical responsibilities flow from all human interactions, from the individuals to families and social to professional contexts. In addition, Partisans minds underscore that in instances of solving conflicts, NASW Code of Ethics values and standardize the values, principles applied. In essence, based on the degree of the conflict, social workers might differ in the values, ethical standards apply. However, this does not devalue the essence of the code of ethics but rather assists in reaching an informed decision (Ted, 2008).

Application of code of ethics in decision-making is rather an intricate process that requires comprehensive procedures. Social workers judgments and actions should rhyme with the fortitude and letter of the NASW Code of Ethics. Furthermore, numerous other sources of information about moral thinking are useful. However, the NASW Code of Ethics remains the core source in solving ethical dilemmas. Although, the code of ethics is effective in solving moral issues, social workers must understand the effects of ethical decisions on their customers and on their individual values, cultural and religious perspectives and practices.

The decisions should not interfere with their personal and professional values. Therefore, partisans' mind suggests that, social workers should confer with the relevant literature on professional ethics and ethical decision making and seek suitable consultation when encountered with ethical dilemmas (National Association and Social Workers, 2008).

2. Are feminist perspectives relevant to social work practice? Why?

Abstract

Currently, women are gaining more access to schools of social work and educational institutions need to respond to feminist perspectives towards social work practices. This entails incorporating them into social work education. This section focuses on discussing the relevance of feminist perspective to social work practices. It also analyzes the role of social work in the lives of women and the objectives of social work education. It raises major components that social work profession should address in achievable ways. In addition, the section emphasizes the significance teaching women the essence of social work practices.

Feminist perspectives relevant to social work practice

The contexts of the social services do not function from the perception of unified and mutually dependent aspects of reality. Rather than solving the negative perception that women have on social work, the social education isolates and solves the problem in a tribal view making it more pronounced. The failures of social work professionals in solving the dilemmas of feminist on social work harms and oppresses the ways of understanding and remedial practices (Feit, 2003). Social work education purposes to socialize professionals into the standards and values of the profession, which comprises both perspectives on clients and perceptions about enviable behaviors. However, since it is integrated with dominant worldviews, most women consider it as a way of oppressing them. According to partisan's mind, there are key elements that are relevant within social work education for women. These elements include integration of feminist views and ways of assisting throughout social work programs, understanding the account of colonization, an insight into values and biases of the profession, aware of the feminist cultural context; and emphasis on decolonization (Ted., 2008).

Social work profession fails to integrate gender as a systematic category, although most of the persons that use social work services are women, most of the women play a significant role in the establishment of social work as a profession. Thus, social work profession cannot ignore an issue of gender. Nonetheless, women are absent in the collective memory of the profession. This concludes that, they are unrecognized from history because they insufficiently contributed to making the history, or perhaps not incorporated in historical memory. Social work as a profession started evolving in the early twentieth century, when the perception of feminism contributed towards public / private division. The major contributions were attributable to a woman's body and her appearance, and her expected roles in private and public. Religious institutions created her morality,… READ MORE

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