A Conversation between Confucian Ethics and the NASW Code of Ethics in the Chinese context

Abstract

Abstract Recent years have witnessed a growing scholarly interest in the development of professional ethics of social work in China. Confucian ethics is believed to be able to contribute to such development. This article explores Confucian ethics and its interaction with western ethics that underpins the United States’ National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics. Particularly, it compares the two cultural contexts, western versus eastern, in terms of the ethical deliberation of two elements of Confucian ethics: Chinese people are embedded in a framework of complex relationality, and practical situations take precedence over abstract moral rules (action/practice-oriented situationality). This exploration can provide insight into the Chinese moral context of social work practice and the complex issues associated with formulating Chinese ethical guidelines for such a discipline adapted from the west as social work.