Social Welfare and Social Work

Social Work Values & Ethics

Social work is a values-based profession: that is, everything social workers do must be with professional values in mind. The purpose of which is the promotion of community and human welfare. It targets economic and social justice, avoiding conditions limiting human-rights, poverty alleviation, and raising the standard of life.

Values involve what you do and do not consider important and worthwhile. They also involve judgments and decisions about relative worth—that is, about "what is more valuable" and "what is less valuable".

Social work and ethics go hand-in-hand with each other. Ethics are main beliefs/ doctrines/ principles, derived from values, specifying good and bad and what should be abstained from. One must consider every action undertaken, as a social worker, from the perspective of professional ethics and obligations. Ethical responsibilities take precedence over theoretical knowledge, research findings, practice wisdom, agency policies, and of course one's own personal values, preferences, and beliefs.

In real-life decisions values and ethical principles conflict constantly. This can result in ethical dilemmas, where a choice has to be made between two or more alternatives. National Association of Social Work (NASW) has established general guidelines, to facilitate ethical decision-making.

The six core values described by NASW are:

Service: Providing benefits, help, and resources to help people attain their maximum potential.

Social Justice: Believing, that regardless of the background and association, everyone has equal and identical rights, responsibilities and benefits in a perfect world.

Dignity and worth of the person: Respecting and valuing every individual's dignity and worth.

Importance of human relationships: Valuing the dynamic relationship between clients and social workers

Integrity: Following moral ideals and maintaining trustworthiness

Competence: Having the basic skills to work successfully with clients.

American Values

America as a nation has developed and evolved over the years. It has enduring traditions and experienced social and economic changes that transformed the society in the existing form. The main values of American nation are as follows.

Individualism: The individual comes before the group.

Equality and “Fairness”.

Privacy.

Independence

Risk-taking

Opportunity for everyone.

Hard work

Timeliness

Adaptability to change

The values encourage and support Social work and welfare. The main values of the nation do include the core values; such as social justice and equality, respecting the dignity and worth of the person, integrity and equal opportunity for everyone; of social work. It embraces the welfare concept and encourages social work.

When we compare American culture with china's culture, we would find that China's culture is much hierarchical and formal. U.S. and European cultures encourage individualisms whereas Asian countries, such as China, encourage individualism. U.S. encourages risk-taking and encourages entrepreneurs.

As a whole, American culture is more conducive for business than European and Asian cultures, as it is not that rigid as they are. It supports individualism and treats every person equally provide social justice, support and equal opportunity.

Social Welfare in the U.S.

The structure of U.S. social welfare system is influenced both by ingrained traditions and by changing social and economic ...