Social responsibility and social work practice: contexts and challenges

The paper has the following goals: to contextualize social and collective responsibility in the social work domain and current challenges to the profession, to identify social responsibility representations and practices on... [ view full abstract ]

The paper has the following goals: to contextualize social and collective responsibility in the social work domain and current challenges to the profession, to identify social responsibility representations and practices on social work professionals, and to analyze their congruence and effects on social work practice.

Social and collective responsibility have been recently included in the discussion of a new Social Work definition by the International Federation of Social Workers (ISFW) e the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) as a principle, in a wider theoretical, methodological and axiological framework. This principle seems particularly relevant when analyzing different intervention contexts and dimensions that will be explored in the paper. Undervaluing any of these dimensions will strongly impact social cohesion and social change, in a sustainability perspective.

We will identify social responsibility representations and practices on a sample of Portuguese social work professionals, analyzing their congruence and to discuss their effects on social work practice, namely in terms of authenticity.

Therefore, the paper intends to engage in the debate on social and collective responsibility and social work, contributing to the development of social work education strategies and of practice guidelines that can better meet social challenges in the current socioeconomic situation.