Abstract
The chapter introduces a broad definition to ethics and values in professional social work and sums up the main theoretical approaches to lay the foundation of the understanding and knowledge of social work ethical values. Furthermore, key documents on an international level will be introduced and their function and meaning as guidelines discussed. At the end of this part, examples from the Middle East area that are members of IFSW (2019) and Kurdistan-Iraq are given with regard to social work values and professional status. As a conclusion, the relevance of shared values and reflection for everyday work within international social work will be summed up.
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Notes
- 1.
For further discussion see the publication of Banks and Nohr 2012, that offers a broad selection of cases and commentaries of practicing social work ethics around the world.
- 2.
Example: By Bentham’s definition, everyone counts for one and no one for more than one; Mill argues that we should aim for the greatest good for the greatest number of people; these two principle conflict with each other (utility and justice as fairness) if, e.g. action 1 produces a large amount of good (happiness) for two people and none for eight; and action 2 produces slightly less total happiness, but distributed it equally between ten people (p. 51).
- 3.
The Social Work Action Network, www.socialworkfuture.org, places ‘social justice’ as a key value.
- 4.
In her work Banks offers a well-structured table to contrast principle and character-based approaches, see 2012. p. 70.
- 5.
DBSH = German Professional Association for Social Workers and Social Pedagogues.
- 6.
BASW = British Association of Social Work.
- 7.
First version in 1976 (Baum 1996, p. 18).
- 8.
- 9.
The profession itself is still in a pioneer phase since the introduction of the social work studies in 2014/15 in Slemani. The first BA Social Work studies in Iraqi-Kurdistan were established at the University of Salahadin in Erbil in 2008/09, see Ghaderi and Saleh Karim 2019, p. 177). At other universities, social work is part of sociology, e.g. at the University of Dohuk (see UoD 2019).
- 10.
https://www.socialwatch.org/node/831, accessed: October 7, 2019.
- 11.
https://www.uob.edu.bh/en/index.php/colleges/college-of-arts/social-sciences/102-ba-in-sociology, accessed: October 7, 2019.
- 12.
- 13.
ibid. Lebanon facebook page, ‘social responsibility’ is listed twice within the original source.
- 14.
- 15.
Paper prepared by Salah Sedeeq Saeed Director of Access to Justice Program, Erbil Office, 2016, unpublished pdf version.
References
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Sonnenberg, K. (2021). Ethics and Ethical Values in Social Work and Their Meaning for International Social Work. In: Ghaderi, C., Sonnenberg, K., Saleh Karim, L., Namiq Sabir, N., Abbas Qader, Z., Dünnebacke, L.M. (eds) Social Work at the Level of International Comparison. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30394-5_13
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