Last Updated on December 30, 2022 by Team TSW

In this article we’ll discuss the social work values and ethics. Also, what difficulties do social workers face due to universal social work values and ethics. Values are beliefs about what is good, bad and desirable. Values guide behaviour and are derived from family, culture, and educational experiences. While societies, religions, communities can have different beliefs, it is often difficult to elucidate values within and across diverse groups. Social work values are no different.

Social Work is a value based profession. In contrast to helping professions such as psychiatry, psychology, marriage and family therapy, and individual counselling, social work is grounded in a value system that focuses on social justice and fairness. It’s critical that  social work students learn about the values and ethics of the social work profession. Values and beliefs often conflict for both clients and social workers. Awareness of personal values is a necessary first step before social workers learn about and embrace professional values. Ethical decision-making calls for acting on professional over personal values.   

Evolution of Social Work Values and Ethics

During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in the U.S., particularly in urban areas, growing attention was paid to the problems of poverty, child maltreatment, and delinquency, along with the poor working conditions of immigrants. The inhumane conditions in poor houses, mental hospitals or asylums, and jails and prisons also came to the public’s attention. Social movements to improve the lives of oppressed groups gained momentum after the turn of the century during what came to be known as the Progressive Era. 

Charitable organizations and settlement houses formed in order to address human needs. People that worked for these organizations were not trained social workers and acted according to their own beliefs when dealing with people who needed help. Anecdotes about charity workers judging and acting insensitively toward clients began to trouble agency administrators who turned to the educational system for help with teaching workers “scientific principles.”   

From the beginning, charity organization training and then social work curricula covered the purpose and objectives of social work that were based on the values of respect, uniqueness and worth of individuals, self determination, autonomy, equality, and social justice. Social work curriculum policies dictates the teaching of core professional values and in 1947 a formal code of ethics was adopted by the Delegate Conference of the American Association of Social Workers. This latest version of the social work profession’s code of ethics was revised in 2021 by the NASW Delegate Assembly. Many authors have written about value and ethical dilemmas in social work. Cultural diversity, the complexity of problems, risk and liability issues, and the growing use of technology have all contributed to making professional ethics an important contemporary topic.  

Social Work Values

Let’s discuss the social work core values in detail :-

Service

Helping individuals, families, and communities is a prime objective of all social workers. Service is the key value from which all other social work values have originated. Services are provided to whole community to enable them to develop optimally and help them to function effectively and to lead life of decency, dignity, and liberty. These services directly benefit all the members of society, irrespective of their religion, caste, race, language, region, culture etc.

Social workers keep the needs of their clients above their own personal interests and use their skills and knowledge (from education, training and experience) to improve the living condition of individual, groups and communities. In addition, social workers often provide their personal time or expertise beyond their professional commitments.

Social Justice

Justice is of immense social significance. It gives rise to a sense of duty and concern for others. Social justice creates and sustains trust and confidence among people. It preserves law and order. Social Justice fosters understanding and thereby promotes harmony and integration.

Social justice strengthens unity and solidarity. It generates an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. It underscores the principle of live and let others live or peaceful coexistence. Social justice accelerates socio-economic development, and ultimately optimizes the personal and social functioning.

Social workers raise voice on behalf of the oppressed, the marginalized, and anyone who needs their voice heard. They often focus on issues such as poverty, homelessness, discrimination, harassment, and other forms of injustice. Social workers provide information, guide, help, and other resources to people seeking equality, and they educate people who may not directly experience discrimination about the struggles of others who may not have the same level of privileges in our society.

Social workers’ efforts to address injustices includes examining their own biases and encouraging others to do the same. They work to create more equitable support systems and identify structural conditions that contribute to disparities in the health and well-being of individuals and communities.

NASW Code of Ethics

The NASW Code of Ethics is a set of standards that guide the professional conduct of social workers. The 2021 update includes language that addresses the importance of professional self-care. Moreover, revisions to the Cultural Competence standard provide more explicit guidance to social workers. All social workers should affirm their commitment to abide by the Code of Ethics. Code of Ethics has four sections as:  

1. The first Section, “Preamble,” summarizes the social work profession’s mission and core values.
2. The second section, Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics, provides an overview of the Code’s main functions and a brief guide for dealing with ethical issues or dilemmas in social work practice.
3. The third section, Ethical Principles, presents broad ethical principles, based on social work’s core values, that inform social work practice.
4. The final section, Ethical Standards, includes specific ethical standards to guide social workers’ conduct and to provide a basis for adjudication.

Please read NASW Code of Ethics in its entirety at: https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English 

Preamble

The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is profession’s dual focus on individual well-being and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living.

The mission of the social work profession has set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers throughout the profession’s history, are the foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective:

• Service
• Social justice
• Dignity and worth of the person
• Importance of human relationships
• Integrity
• Competence.

Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics

Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct. The Code is relevant to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their professional functions, the settings in which they work, or the populations they serve.

The NASW Code of Ethics serves six purposes:–

1. The Code identifies core values on which social work’s mission is based.
2. The Code summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession’s core values and establishes a set of specific ethical standards.
3. The Code is to help social workers identify relevant considerations when professional obligations conflict or ethical uncertainties arise.
4. The Code provides ethical standards to which the general public can hold the social work profession accountable.
5. The Code socializes practitioners new to the field to social work’s mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards, and encourages all social workers to engage in self-care, ongoing education, and other activities to ensure their commitment to those same core features of the profession.
6. The Code articulates standards that the social work profession itself can use to assess whether social workers have engaged in unethical conduct. NASW has formal procedures to adjudicate ethics complaints filed against its members.* In subscribing to this Code, social workers are required to cooperate in its implementation, participate in NASW adjudication proceedings, and abide by any NASW disciplinary rulings or sanctions based on it.

Ethical Principles

The following broad ethical principles are based on social work’s core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These principles set forth ideals to which all social workers should aspire.

Value 1: Service

Ethical Principle: Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems

Value 2: Social Justice

Ethical Principle: Social workers challenge social injustice.

Value 3: Dignity and Worth of the Person

Ethical Principle: Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.

Value 4: Importance of Human Relationships

Ethical Principle: Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships.

Value 5: Integrity

Ethical Principle: Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner.

Value 6: Competence

Ethical Principle: Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise.

Ethical Standards

The following ethical standards are relevant to the professional activities of all social workers. These standards concern:

1. Social workers’ ethical responsibilities to clients, 
2. Social workers’ ethical responsibilities to colleagues,
3. Social workers’ ethical responsibilities in practice settings,
4. Social workers’ ethical responsibilities as professionals,
5. Social workers’ ethical responsibilities to the social work profession, and 
6. Social workers’ ethical responsibilities to the broader society. 

Some of the standards that follow are enforceable guidelines for professional conduct, and some are aspirational.

Difficulties Due to Social Work Values in Decision Making

There is long standing tension between universal social work values versus culturable adapted social work values. There are frequent sources of value clashes between individual rights and cultural traditions. 

Consider, for instance, the challenges faced by a social worker consulting with a Vietnamese woman who has recently learned that her husband, like many men in her community, is unfaithful to her and regularly engages with commercial sex workers. In addition, the husband uses injection drugs, and has recently tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the condition associated with the onset of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Fearing for her own health, the woman has taken her children and fled her home, seeking shelter with her parents. There, her mother scolds her severely, and tells her it is her duty as a wife to return to her husband and resume relations with him, regardless of his behaviour or the risk to her life if she acquires the virus from him.  

According to the IFSW/IASSW Statement of Principles, this wife would have the right to self-determination, and the social worker would be obligated to stand up for this as well as protecting the woman from negative discrimination. On the other hand, these “universal” principles might be in direct contradiction of cultural values determining the woman’s rightful place in both her immediate and extended families. This ethical dilemma illustrates a serious conflict between the notion that one set of values applies to all, and the importance of cultural integrity in the lives of communities and their members. Professional social workers must refer to the guidance available to them, and decide which actions best respect their values and ethics, and honor the needs of both client and community.