Multiculturalism: concepts, applications, and contemporary perspectives

Social work has gone through four different phases of ethics. We are right now in the fourth and it seems as though the history of ethics has been a tight linear process.

The morality period - In the first period of the later 20th century, the "morality period," emphasis was on the morality of the client rather than of the social worker. Paternalistic efforts were under way to improve the client and his environment This period gave way to:

The Exploration of Values -- in the 1950s where attempts were made to explore and to formulate a clear framework of social work values and ethics. Already in the 20s, efforts had been underway to draft an Ethics code and several courses on ethics were taught in some schools of social work. But by the 1940s and 1950s, emphasis shifted more diametrically on the values and principles of the profession. In 1947, the Delegate Conferences of the American Association of Social Workers aggregated their first code of ethics and this was followed by several others published by individuals and associations. The social idealism and ferment of the 1960s and 1970s produced a host of publications on ethical themes in relationship to social work as well as commentary on core social work values.

3. Emergence of Ethical theory and decision making -- Applied and professional ethics made its debut in the 1970s and influence social work in the early 1980s by the attempt, aptly represented by the new and emerging field of bioethics to apply ethics to real-world concerns (for instance in the field of medicine) that was faced by professionals in the social world and medical field. Until now, ethics had involved itself with abstract and meta-theoretical problems. Ethics now turned its attention to more practical and immediate concerns such as welfare rights, prisoner's rights, patient's rights, human rights and affirmative action. Technological developments in the health field too played a part compelling many pressing problems to come to the fore and to be ethically resolved. Some of these problems and concerns are not simple and therefore ethicists involved in social work have turned to decision-making models as tools to formulate solutions.

4. Maturation of ethical standards and risk management - The most recent stage saw a leap forward in maturity and grasp of ethical standards mainly promoted by the 1996 NASW code of ethics that significantly expanded ethical practices and guidelines for the social work profession. Codex added included multiple relationships with social worker and client as well as problems of social worker impairment and far more of the generated knowledge and laws that had been aggregated in the intervening years such s; discussion relating to ethical misconduct, ethical decision-making, informed consent, boundary issues, confidentiality and the protection of third parties, privileged communication, ethical issues in social work supervision, ethical consultation; teaching of social work ethics, ethics in social work research and evaluation, bioethical issues in social work, ethical committees, professional malpractice, and social work's moral mission. These were just a few of the additives included in the new NASW code of ethics that made social work as ethical field grow far beyond what it had ever been.

One of the primary concerns was multicultural relationships -- the recognition that ethics were relative to specific cultures and that each culture had to be understood according to its own functions, has to be respected for what it is, and had to be addressed in light of its cultural history and practices so that its people could best be helped. Social work had come a long way from attempting to squeeze all citizens of America in the model of the 'perfect American' as it had done in the 1920s. Nowadays, it is well-recognized that immigrants have many problems that deter them from receiving the rights that all Americans should receive optimal beneficial medical care and healthy living accommodations. Suffering from handicapped language skills and ignorance about the ways of their new land, immigrants are often exploited by an unjust and insensitive system as well as by willful individuals. This is where social workers step in, and their job is best done by understanding the alien culture and by dealing with them on their level and in a respectful manner.

As a case in point, Chesney et al. (1982) notes that depression seems to be more rampant amongst Mexican immigrating than amongst their American-born children. . This may be due to the fact that non-literate Hispanics are more likely to receive sub-standard care and to experience poorer outcomes from anti-depressant treatment, with fewer follow-up visits and earlier discontinuation. It may also be referred to language differences, particularly incomprehension of language nuances relating to health factors, and a consequent fear of dealing with any situation that involves the language on a level that is incomprehensible to them thus causing them to avoid help when they most need it. Differences in cultural idioms used to express comfort or discomfort also play a part as well as somatic presentation. Social workers, with their focus on ethical care to all individuals with emphasis on sensitivity to aspects of multiculturalism will be better equipped to deal with these instances.