Voices From the Field: Social Workers Define and Apply Social Justice

Abstract

Social justice is embraced as a central mission of social work, yet how the profession defines it lacks clear and common understanding. This qualitative study explored the concept of social justice as perceived and applied by social workers in diverse practice settings. Focus-group participants were asked five primary open-ended questions. Key phrases and terms were identified and grouped into four themes: variation in meaning of social justice, confronting injustices, practice reality, and professional responsibility. The findings suggest that social justice as understood and practiced in the field is compatible with theoretical conceptions in the literature, but a predominant understanding remains lacking.

Keywords:

• social justice
• social work
• social work values
• social workers