Social Justice and Social Work

Rediscovering a Core Value of the Profession

The new EPAS standards mandate that CSWE accredited programs integrate social justice throughout the curriculum. While many textbooks try to add emphasis on social justice, students often have a disconnect about what it really means. Core foundational courses such as policy, practice and HBSE are required to tie themes of social justice into the curriculum. This book, edited by a leader in the field, is an attempt to present and tie social justice to the core values of social work across the curriculum. It presents the history and philosophy that supports social justice and ties it to ethical concepts which help students understand social justice as a core social work value. The second part of the book describes how an understanding of social justice can inform practice and then it outlines implications for education and practice. This book can be adopted by several courses across the curriculum as a supplement and also as a core text for courses in social justice. These courses are emerging and they are anticipated to grow.