Skip Navigation


BJSW Advance Access originally published online on July 2, 2008
British Journal of Social Work 2008 38(6):1238-1249; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn099
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
38/6/1238    most recent
bcn099v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Banks, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Critical Commentary: Social Work Ethics

Sarah Banks

Sarah Banks is Professor in the School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, UK. She writes and researches on ethical issues relating to the social professions, and has just completed a book with Ann Gallagher on Ethics in Professional Life: Virtues for Health and Social Care, to be published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Correspondence to Professor Sarah Banks, School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Elvet Riverside 2, New Elvet, Durham DH1 3JT, UK. Email: s.j.banks{at}durham.ac.uk


  Abstract

This short article explores the expanding and contested terrain of social work ethics, considering the form and content of future areas for development. It charts the broadening of the field beyond a focus on professional codes of ethics, principle-based theories, difficult cases and decision-making models towards more embedded and situated approaches to ethics in professional life. The potential for further empirical research into ethical issues in social work, including how practitioners conceptualize and handle ethical difficulties, is noted, alongside the scope for focused studies and monographs drawing on moral, political and religious philosophy to examine particular theoretical approaches (such as virtue ethics or the ethics of care) or to develop new ways of approaching ethics in social work, drawing on its radical, critical and transformatory traditions.

Keywords: Social work ethics, professional ethics, moral philosophy


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Br J Soc WorkHome page
A. Ben-Ari and R. Strier
Rethinking Cultural Competence: What Can We Learn from Levinas?
Br. J. Soc. Work, January 4, 2010; (2010) bcp153v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br J Soc WorkHome page
S. Banks
Integrity in Professional Life: Issues of Conduct, Commitment and Capacity
Br. J. Soc. Work, December 21, 2009; (2009) bcp152v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Br J Soc WorkHome page
M. Gray
Moral Sources and Emergent Ethical Theories in Social Work
Br. J. Soc. Work, September 22, 2009; (2009) bcp104v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.