[...]... is indicating that ethical issues cannot be divorced from the standpoint of the actors involved To the extent that this involves access to resources and decision making we are talking about social power Social workers, along with other ‘caring’ professions, exercise considerable power (Hugman 1991), and so this must be addressed in any discussion of ethical issues in social work THE ‘CLASSIC’ WRITING:... Vanstone is a Lecturer in Applied Social Studies, University College Swansea and a Senior Probation Officer, Mid-Glamorgan Probation Service Sue Wise is Senior Lecturer in Social Work, Lancaster University Chapter 1 Ethical issues in social work: an overview Richard Hugman and David Smith INTRODUCTION Ethical issues are at the heart of a discipline such as social work Social work is concerned with... Nature of Social Work, London: Macmillan CCETSW (1976) Values in Social Work (Paper 13), London: Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work —— (1991) Rules and Requirements for the Diploma in Social Work (Paper 30) (2nd edn), London: Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work Corrigan, P and Leonard, P (1978) Social Work Practice under Capitalism, London: Macmillan Donnison,... point is that the contemporary pantheon of ethical principles may be as internally contradictory as any which preceded it Contention is inbuilt We are left with the continuing need to question and explore the ethical dimensions to every aspect of social work But on what basis are we to proceed? RETHINKING SOCIAL WORK ETHICS The difficulty with attempts to list the ethical principles that ought to inform... London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Wise, S (1988) Doing Feminist Social Work, Studies in Sexual Politics No 21, Manchester, University of Manchester Chapter 2 In search of the holy grail Naina Patel INTRODUCTION In discussing the agenda for social work in the 1990s Hugman (1991) argued that the issues of sexism and racism can be seen as emergent, in that social work has yet to grasp fully their implications... Values in Social Work, Aldershot: Wildwood House Hugman, R (1991) Power in Caring Professions, London: Macmillan Jones, C (1993) ‘Distortion and resistance: the right and anti-racist social work education’ in Social Work Education 12 (3): 9–16 Jordan, B (1990) Social Work in an Unjust Society, Brighton: Harvester Wheatsheaf Langan, M and Lee, P (1989) ‘Whatever happened to radical social work? ’ in M... principles which are rooted in a particular society at a particular point of time There is no other kind of principle’ (Donnison 1994: 28) Ethical issues in social work: an overview 11 And ‘if our principles are derived from a robust, relevant and living tradition we must expect them to be constantly disputed and constantly evolving’ As this reference suggests, MacIntyre’s writing has had more influence... success managed), working throughout the UK The ‘Firm’ She works for is an organisation operating in the world of market-led services Such personnel’s task is to ‘develop and implement’ anti-racist work in social services, social work In search of the holy grail 17 departments in colleges and universities and related organisations Here begins the story The worst betrayal of intelligence is finding justification... social work fails to help practitioners precisely because it neglects the problems which confront them in the settings in which most of them work; and Macdonald and Macdonald suggest that the ethical problems of social work research have often been misunderstood as a result of failures to consider the issues from the point of view of actors in the real world For all the contributors, Ethical issues in social. .. connections between social work practice and broader social concerns; Nellis, indeed, argues that the guiding values for probation practice should be social and political, rather than individualised Browne suggests the possibility of a transformation of the sources of power and influence over social work, in which social workers might begin to listen seriously to previously discredited and marginalised groups; . ways of addressing ethical issues in social work have come to seem inadequate, as a result of developments both in philosophy and in social work theory and practice in Social Work, Lancaster University. Chapter 1 Ethical issues in social work: an overview Richard Hugman and David Smith INTRODUCTION Ethical issues