It Says “Social Justice”

According to the National Association of Social Worker’s Code of Ethics, social workers have ethical responsibilities to the broader society. For instance, Code 6.01 states, “Social workers should promote the general welfare of society, from local to global levels, and the development of people, their communities, and their environments. Social workers should advocate for living conditions conducive to the fulfillment of basic human needs and should promote social, economic, political, and cultural values and institutions that are compatible with the realization of social justice.” I have observed in my time in the field of social work very little educational opportunities, practical applications, or structural training that is acting in accord with this ethical standard of the Code as a guide. I suppose it is mentioned, but what I feel, what I believe is encouraged, and what I hear many colleagues express as their ethics, is the opposite. Once people reach a Masters level of education (or achieve licensure by other means), it is my belief that we are endowed with a certain privilege in society. What should have been imparted on us is the ability to use such privileges as: access to the facts, the training to make sense and interpret the facts, and the resources to communicate the facts to others. Instead, I observe the majority of my colleagues using their given privilege to concentrate primarily on advancment of their careers, on speaking in elevated language that people cannot understand, on building disciplinary walls so that nobody other than those in our field (and even our chosen focus within the field) are allowed in. We should have no time for that.
In addition to all these internal issues, from a strengths-based perspective, the field has major challenges in matters of social justice. Talk about bourgeoisie! There are very few participants on any level that have even the basic understanding of Marxism, of the legacy of world-wide struggle, the legacy of unionism, class, in the United States. There is subtle mention of identity politics; I credit the field with that. Feminism is mentioned but the radical elements of feminism are lost, in my opinion. Race is mentioned, but we are not using the language of racial equality and the population in the field is skewed heavily, cultural diversity is often last on the list of priorities when it should be the first I believe. This is all caused by a lack on part of the field to take a stand politically and define what it is we stand for, without vision we have what we have now, an apolitical bunch of social workers who have zero class consciousness and little interest in real political action i.e. social justice achieved by social change. It is fraudulent to engage clients' within a bourgeois framework. Liberal social work values dictate that the issues of class, race and gender cannot be anything more than status quo because within that framework it is necessarily impossible to be other than the status quo. A commitment to social justice requires stepping out of that framework and at least learning the theory of struggle that can possibly achieve such social change; by this I mean: Luxemburg, Kropotkin, Marx, Engels, Rocker, Lenin, Trotsky, Proudhon, De Cleyre, Bookchin, Chomsky, Meltzer, King, Albert on and on. I am not saying you have to be a Socialist or a radical or a Leftist or a Progressive or any tag/title, but at least understand the tradition and the lessons inherent in their works. I fear that the field has capitulated to external pressures and is so married to the State that the aforementioned ethical guidelines cannot be upheld. The outcome of such fence-sitting on part of social workers is inconsistent with the actions of those freedom fighters in the past, the Howard Zinns’ of the world, the soldiers for social justice, we should be honest enough to admit we are not anywhere close to that. We need more people who have the bullhorn in hand, more who take to the street to confront social injustices. The influence of such individuals would make it possible to maintain all of our ethical standards and might encourage action in the face of injustice rather than hoping problems will go away quietly.