Human dignity in the helping profession of the social worker is not only a notion and an idea about the status of a person and his attitudes in social work, but it is the most important right of a person, which is very closely linked to the right to life.
Within the structure of human knowledge, ethics holds an important place as one of the oldest philosophical disciplines dealing with morality, moral values, and forms of behaviour that lead to the application of moral laws in various areas of communal life.
Today, critical-theoretical interpretation of basic moral issues has significant practical relevance in applied ethics, which formulate practical-ethical solutions to everyday problems in the relation between ethics and different areas of science and practice.
The study and adoption of methods for implementing ethics corresponds with modern trends and humanization in science, knowledge, and practice, with 21st-century challenges, as well as Slovakia’s integrative ambitions to be part of the modern European spiritual environment.
At the beginning of the third millennium, the need for experts in applied ethics (social ethics, ethics of communication) and professional ethics, to which ethics in social work indisputably belongs, is increasing intensively.
Human life is dependent on personal relationships and moral capabilities that develop through mutual exchange of experience, as this is the expression of intellectual knowledge of truth and the application of moral good. The life of all people, even with different intensity, moves toward personal maturity.
Every human life has a unique, irrepeatable and inalienable value and dignity, which derives from the very essence of “being human.” The main mission of each of us is to be a responsible person in all dimensions—to be responsible to oneself, to the surrounding world and, of course, to those who need our help, to clients. Naturally, every activity within social work, which is help, support, service, and accompaniment, touches these dimensions. Therefore, it is very difficult to imagine this activity with an absence of ethical context.
Ethics is the connection between the most general and the most private; it is the philosophy of humanity, the philosophy of life. It is a scientific discipline that deals with morality, the moral side of human life, its outward expression, behaviour and relationship to people. It also strives to lead a person toward good, studies human behaviour in terms of its moral value, and seeks a measure that would allow a person to decide what is good, what is evil, what is honesty and dishonesty (Mráz, 2001).
A key concept in ethics is value. This term cannot be defined precisely, but one can define its understanding—values related to human interests and needs, to decisions about how to act, and to ethical norms and evaluation. Values can be understood as anything that matters to us; in a concrete sense, these are things worth desiring. Ethical values are rooted in good, which they represent, are perceivable and realizable only in the space of freedom and therefore are proper only to the human being. The observance of ethical principles and behaviour is especially important in the helping profession of the social worker. The specific feature of helping professions is that the client is in a dependent position in relation to the helping professional.
And what should ethical values in social work be? It should be self-evident that “the work itself” is a value. The well-known Czech philosopher F.X. Šalda says: “The only way to know what lies in someone is to let him or her engage in work.”
Given that we are dealing with values in social work, we can divide them into several groups:
- Values of moral consciousness
- Values of a person's character traits
- Values of interpersonal relationships
- Values of human action.
Let us look more closely at what each group of values means for social work.
Generally, it is deeply rooted that morality is a matter of innate feeling and is “given from above” to the individual. Certainly, this is so, because some people are truly more sensitive to phenomena requiring moral evaluation (Mrázová, 2000). Within values of moral consciousness, we can speak of certain ethical principles and rules. For social work, the most important is the principle of humanism—the principle of humanity (from Latin homo = human, humanitas = human) which is also the principle of love and respect for the person. The principle of humanism tells us not to live in life only for oneself, but mainly for others who need us. Humanism is an attitude based on faith in human abilities and on emphasizing human dignity. The term human dignity stems from philosophy enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Every human being as a member of humanity—in our work, a social client deserves dignity, honor, and respect.
The second, no less important principle is the principle of honesty and conscientiousness in social work. In the requirement for conscientiousness, what matters most is discipline and self-discipline in the fulfillment of duty. Conscientiousness in social work means “being on the side of good and standing against evil.” Honesty and conscientiousness are values that require moral purity in all moral dimensions of the person.
In the second group of values—the group of character traits of a person—we can include qualities of the social worker contained in the Social Worker Ethical Code (1997): respect and good manners, reliability, politeness, integrity, perseverance, tact, prudence. Obviously, any roughness or vulgarity is not acceptable in social work because ethics in social work must always aim at the protection of human dignity.
Values of interpersonal relationships—a group of values that are primary to human action in general, not to mention social work, which one should not perform without such ethical values—friendship, love, altruism, empathy, and prosociality. It would be impossible to perform work in the social sphere without friendship and love for people. The dimension of action, the underlying meaning of every step in social work should be the biblical: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Altruism is a moral principle that requires a person to suppress his or her own egoism and sacrifice personal interests in favour of others’ interests. It requires selfless service to people as a principle of one’s decision and action. Empathy assumes a person’s ability to put oneself into another person’s situation; it means seeing with another person’s eyes and feeling with that person’s heart. Prosociality means the ability and willingness to cooperate, to be able to reach agreement, and to be willing to do something for others without expecting reciprocity or reward.
Values of human action. Included in these values are a good deed, charity, philanthropy. Social work cannot be carried out without sacrifice, help, and benevolence. Values of human action are a manifestation of the human relation to other people. Today, interpersonal communication is often characterized by mutual isolation. Its consequence is inattention, unwillingness to help others, indifference, and egoism. These values are contrary to the very essence of social work, which is based on values of cooperation, tolerance, humanity, and willingness to help. The key to healthy, fully fledged interpersonal relationships is “the ability to have ears for the feelings, pleas, and problems of others,” setting one’s own wishes aside. This requires time, strength, compromise, and willingness to take risks.
A social worker by personal choice wants to and works with people and for people with the aim of providing help at a professional level. This work is almost impossible without the ability for optimal social sensitivity.
Social sensitivity first and foremost means the ability to know and understand the situation in which the client has found himself or herself. Empathetic understanding of the situation in which the client has found themselves allows the social worker to choose not only the optimal form of communication with the client but also the optimal degree of help.
Social sensitivity is an emotion triggered by moral or spiritual causes, as well as immediately organic causes. We cannot equate social sensitivity with altruism as a moral principle based on selfless help—service to other people—and willingness to sacrifice personal interests for their good. A person in some way deprived or in need may be lonely and may be socially unaccepted in their environment. But they cannot have a lasting feeling of unfulfilled being. Social sensitivity concerns respect for generally accepted values of social life. Social sensitivity is, in no way, pity.
In this context, let us once again recall that social work is a specific professional activity directed toward improving mutual adjustment of individuals, families, groups, and their social environment. Today it is perceived as a multidisciplinary, even transdisciplinary, scientific field that has special working methods and is theoretically focused on social care of an individual, group, community, or society, as well as the training of experts in this area (Levická, 2004).
The implementers of social work tasks in practical form are social workers. Social workers help develop self-esteem and personal responsibility of individuals. The activities, tasks, and duties of the social worker are fairly clearly defined. We mainly encounter issues of social worker personality in our context in discussions about ethics in social work. The basis of ethics in social work is the humanistic values and attitudes of society toward the person, which have developed through the course of human coexistence. It should not contradict the ethics of society, and vice versa. Ethics, as a system of scientific knowledge of morality in the relationships between the individual and society, creates rules for the practice of professional social work, which are contained in the Social Worker Ethical Code, which was adopted already in the mid-20th century. It is important that the social worker maintains at least a certain ethical standard in carrying out the profession, and, where possible, continues to develop and raise their ethical level (Levická, 2000).
The Ethical Code explicitly lists all the qualities, skills, and competencies that a social worker should possess. It is formulated so as to serve as a guide to the everyday conduct of social workers in professional relationships with those they serve—clients, colleagues, employers, other persons, and people of other professions.
The code is built on the basic values of social work as a profession, which include the value, purpose, and uniqueness of all people.
Professional ethics in general applies to social work as a specific professional activity. Professional ethics deals with ethical dilemmas, value issues that arise in professional work, as well as specific questions such as organization and discipline in the profession.
There is no doubt about the importance and necessity of social work in modern social society, and likewise there is no doubt that this work can be performed only by a professional who has not only knowledge, experience, and skills, who acts in accordance with ethical norms and values, but who also has a “heart in the right place.”
Conclusion
Anyone who accepts the norms, principles, and values of social work, which form the core part of this profession, must act in accordance with them not only in professional life but also in private life.
The social worker encounters humanity and dignity every day in their work. On one hand, the worker must respect his or her own dignity, and on the other hand must respect the dignity of clients, therefore the whole of social work is based on mutual respect for the value and dignity of all people and on the rights that follow from this.
Why is the preservation of dignity and humanity so important in social work? A humane and human approach that respects the dignity of every person can be considered an investment in the future.
Author: Doc. PhDr. Mária Dávideková, PhD.
List of bibliographic references
[1] BEŇO, Pavol. 2004. Komunikácia s umierajúcim pacientom. Bratislava : Speculum nostrum, 2004, ročník 5, č. 4, s. 101-102.
[2] LEVICKÁ, Jana. 2000. Sociálna práca ako vedecká disciplína. In: Sociálna práca a zdravotníctvo l, 2000, 1, s. 7-16.
[3] LEVICKÁ, Jana. 2004. Základy sociálnej práce. Trnava : Spoločnosť pre podporu vedy a vzdelávania na FZaSP, 2004. 170 s. ISBN 80-968952-3-0.
[4] MRÁZ, Martin. 2001. Etika. Trnava : Trnavská univerzita, 200l. 139 s. ISBN: 80-88774-66-7.
[5] MRÁZOVÁ, Alžbeta. 2000. Etické aspekty sociálnej práce. In: Sociálna práca a zdravotníctvo 1, 2000, 1, s. 43-46.
The lecture was delivered at the international scientific conference Applied Ethics in Social Work and Other Helping Professions, held on 20. – 21. October 2010 in Piešťany, and was published in the conference proceedings: MÁTEL, A. – SCHAVEL, M. – MÜHLPACHR, P. – ROMAN, T. 2010. Aplikovaná etika v sociálnej práci a ďalších pomáhajúcich profesiách. Zborník z medzinárodnej vedeckej konferencie. Bratislava : VŠZaSP sv. Alžbety. 413 s. ISBN 978-80-89271-89-4.