Ethics& the analysis, justification, or critique of morals& plays an important role in social work, since the decisions that social workers take may involve serious interventions in their clients= way of life. Social workers regard their work as representing assistance, but also as a form of supervision. However, whether these goals can in any way be justified and the extent to which they are capable of being achieved through social work are topics that require ethical clarification. In what ways can the demands of professional ethics be practically implemented at the various levels of individual action and institutional collaboration? How does one learn morals, and what is the relationship between morality and violence? What do we mean by ideas of human dignity and a successful life? The book thus addresses core issues for an ethics of social work.

Dr. Gunzelin Schmid Noerr was formerly Professor of Social Philosophy and Social Ethics with Anthropology in the Department of Sociology at the Lower Rhine University of Applied Sciences in Mönchengladbach.