Social justice, human rights, values, and community practice

This chapter provides an overview of the historical evolution of the concepts of social justice and human rights, and their relationship to humanistic values and community practice. It incorporates a global focus, because much of the contemporary literature, particularly in the United States, assumes that these concepts are primarily modern Western in origin, that they are defined the same way throughout the world, and that they always complement rather than conflict with one another. We believe, however, that in and increasingly interdependent, multicultural, and multipolar world the concepts of social justice and human rights require a more complex and nuanced understanding than the official and often ambiguous statements of professional organizations imply (Council on Social Work Education, 2008; International Federation of Social Workers, 2012; National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2008). There complexities create new, often unacknowledged challenges, which require a re-examination of practitioners’ core values and goals. A major theme of this chapter is to decenter this important discussion away from purely Western perspectives by emphasizing the importance of context, culture, and history in the development and application of these ideas.