Week 5
Barusch's Chapter 1: 10/12/12
Thinking back over the past week-what would you say were three most informative and useful things you learned this week from the reading... and how do you see them informing your practice today?
The first thing that I thought was interesting was reading about the components of social justice: desert, need, rights, and equality. The hypothetical situation that was described in the book about the three children helped me understand them better. The first child, who represented desert, signified that if you work hard, you will be rewarded. The second child, who represented need, signified that some work because they have a need for the money. The third child, who represented rights, signified that some just believe that they have a right to receiving the money whether they deserve it or not because of a contract. Balancing these components to achieve a just distribution of reward for everyone is not an easy task, especially when they don’t deserve it. Of these four components, rights and equality seem to be the most important which I also agree with. Another thing that caught my eye were the philosophical perspectives. It was interesting to read about how Oligarchy is most similar to Social Darwinism. I do believe that Social workers can help those who are unable to stand up for themselves by bringing the voices of the vulnerable back into the picture. What I liked about this chapter was that they used Melissa to explain each perspective so we could understand it better which really helped. The third piece of information that I found to be useful was the section about how families teach social justice. I agree with this because children observe how their parents are acting at home and behave in similar ways. So I can believe that children develop their morals based on their family’s beliefs. Overall, this will help in social work practice because it helps me understand the components of social justice and how they apply to each client. It also helps in reminding me that as social workers, we need to keep in mind different family dynamics that involve just behaviors of the client and consider each situation individually.