Abstract
ABSTRACT Is love a potential threat to the status of social work as a profession? Are social workers “professionally” fighting against social exclusion while embracing social justice, at the expense of love? It is argued that social work professionals’ fear of being labelled as nonprofessional, and the identification of love with romance and sexual intercourse, may be blocking social workers from embracing love. This article attempts to answer the question of whether and how the power of love should be (re)introduced into social work. The answer given here is that it should, through social love, defined here as an act of solidarity and compassion focused on the other. Such social love is related to agape, universal love towards humanity and brotherly love. IMPLICATIONS It is argued that social work should be practised in a way that connects to its foundational perspective in social love, recognised as a part of professional social work practice. At the same time, the profession must carefully address the fears as well as misinterpretations that this proposal might raise among social work professionals.
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