“Just one person in the middle”: Ethics and political social work practice

Abstract

Political social workers and other policy practitioners frequently lack explicit guidance from the NASW Code of Ethics as to how to navigate difficult ethical choices. This secondary analysis of qualitative data explores ways in which social work students encounter ethical challenges when practicing in a political setting. Secondary analysis was conducted with data from interviews with social work students. Interviews took place after students concluded an immersive field placement in a Southern part-time state legislature. Transcripts were coded deductively, with the NASW (2017) Code of Ethics’ six core values as an agreed-upon coding schema, using latent thematic analysis. Data also were examined to identify teleological or deontological approaches to ethical decision-making. Themes emerged relating to each of the profession’s core values. These include four themes related to social justice and to competence, three themes related to the importance of human relationships and to integrity, and one theme each related to service and to dignity and worth of the person. Both the absolutist deontological and the morally relativistic teleological approaches were evident in transcripts, with students tending to prefer one. Social work education must better prepare students and practitioners for the ethical challenges of practice in political and policy-making spaces. Challenges that emerge in practice of a political nature should be considered during the next Code of Ethics revisions.