Global standards: promise and pitfalls for re‐inscribing social work into civil society1

Abstract

This article critiques the modernist logical‐positivist ideology that has underscored social work, and interrogates the promise of the development of global standards to re‐inscribe social work into civil society at the global level. The potential pitfalls and dangers of such an initiative are also examined. The development of global standards was born out of an assumption that there is a common core to social work on a global level and on an essential affirmation of humanity and human dignity of all peoples across the world. Global standards might be construed to constitute a hegemonic Western discourse and a denial of context‐specific realities. However, a judicious, sensitive, post‐modernist and critical approach may enhance sensitivity towards difference and a greater appreciation of locally specific realities, within the global sphere.