Ethics, Knowledge and Ambivalence in Social Workers’ Professional Self-Understanding

Abstract

Ethics and knowledge are seen as being the two core aspects of professional self-understanding. Nonetheless, many researchers in social work argue that the difficulties found in social workers’ professional identities may be linked to the conventional Western knowledge paradigm and its focus on the technical–rational application of scientific theory and knowledge in professional practice. This qualitative interview study examines professional self-understanding among eighteen Norwegian social workers employed at the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). The study found an ambivalent self-understanding with regard to ethics and knowledge. Professional ethical problems are kept private, even though the social workers view ethics as being a fundamental aspect of their professional self-understanding. They keep their ethical dilemmas to themselves, and they also keep quiet about work that is successful. This paper suggests that the privatising of professional ethical dilemmas reflects the ambiguous position of ethics in the dominant understanding of knowledge, and the reduction of ethics that underlies this view. The paper also suggests that the ambivalent professional self-understanding among social workers will endure for as long as social work is dominated by the prevailing view on knowledge and professionalism.