as study guide For university students
"Humanitarian Publishing Center VLADOS"
Moscow State
social university"
BBC 65.272+87.75
The publication is carried out within the framework of the State program of scientific and methodological support of the specialty "Social work" - scientific adviser doctor of historical sciences, professor IN AND. Zhukov
Reviewers:
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Yu. M. Pavlov;
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor S. S. Novikov
Medvedeva G.P.
M42 Ethics social work: Proc. allowance for students. higher education, institutions. - M.: Humanit. ed. center VLADOS, 1999.-208s.
ISBN 5-691-00380-1.
This book is the first domestic manual, dedicated to research Problems ethical foundations social work as a specific type of professional activity. It deals with the main questions of the origin, formation, essence and content of the ethics of social work, its institutionalization in the form of a professional code of ethics; disclosed both theoretical and practical aspects of the activities of a social worker in terms of professional ethics and morality, the essence and content of his professional duty.
The textbook is addressed to students studying in the specialties "Social work » and Social Pedagogy, social work practitioners as well as educators.
BBC 65.272+87.75
© Medvedeva G.P., 1999
© MGSU, 1999
© Humanitarian Publishing Center VLADOS, 1999
ISBN 5-691-00380-1
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INTRODUCTION |
Among the many diverse features that determine the state and development trends of modern society, there are two characteristic features, the importance of which can hardly be overestimated.
The first of them is expressed in the fact that the activities of the state in official documents are becoming more and more socially oriented, i.e., when determining development priorities, the needs of a person as the highest value of society are increasingly taken into account, in accordance with which the state social policy is built. An integral area of activity of any civilized society is the creation and improvement of an extensive and efficient system social protection, the main purpose of which is to provide comprehensive one-time and / or permanent assistance to an individual (group) who finds himself in a difficult life situation, in order to ensure his most complete self-realization.
The second feature is that there is a growing desire in society to introduce the criterion of ethical evaluation in a wide variety of industries. professional activity. Not only professional associations and communities discuss this issue and adopt various kinds of professional ethical codes or standards, but also public opinion in both the United States and European countries turns to the problem of ethical regulation of the reality of specialists in all spheres of human life.
The crisis experienced by Russian society is characterized by the exacerbation of many social problems generated not only by the reform of the economy, but also by the collapse of the value system, the decline of morality. Among the issues that require urgent solutions, the most important is the issue of improving the relationship of people associated with professional activities - the desire to build business and interpersonal relationships on a constructive basis, the ability to regulate professional behavior in various situations. In this regard, the question of correlating the activities of a professional social worker with the norms of ethics is very acute.
The task of ethical evaluation of the activities of a social worker was not so urgent when social work was charity, an act of mercy on the part of individuals or their associations. During this period - before the October Revolution - charitable activities in our country were regulated mainly by the ideology of Orthodoxy, which was actually the official state ideology, customs and traditions preserved from ancient times, the aspirations of the benefactors themselves. Commandments such as "Love your neighbor as yourself" were sufficient for everyday use; various kinds of family, class and professional codes of ethical norms were only a continuation and development of religious norms, customs and traditions. At the same time, they did not directly address issues of ethical regulation of charity.
However, at present, when social work has become an integral part of the life of the state and society, when social workers have been included in the political, economic and social structures of society and public relations, there is a need for ethical standards of activity in the field of social protection of the population to be formalized. , since, like all social institutions, the institution of social protection and social work ultimately performs the most important task for the state and society - the task of stabilizing and preserving society, maintaining and harmonizing existing public relations and providing conditions for its further comprehensive development - that is, in fact, is one of the essential factors in ensuring the stability and security of the state.
The question is natural, is it really necessary, in addition to legislative registration and consolidation of the status and functions of social work, the formalization of ethical norms in social work, whether it be the adoption of a moral code of a social worker, ethical norms and rules, or any similar set of rules? Social work, as such, is ethical in its initial moments and in its essence is a manifestation of high humanism and public morality; it does not contain such restrictions, prescriptions and norms that would ignore the spiritual values and moral principles approved by society. So, should we talk about the definition and establishment of specific moral standards in one of the most humane and moral spheres of professional activity?
This issue can be approached in two ways.
The classical approach considers ethical issues in professional activity as something external to the content of the activity itself and subjects the results of the activity, i.e., its product and its value to society, rather than the activity itself, to ethical evaluation. In this case, we are guided not by the ethics of a specific area of professional activity, but by universal norms and standards and, most importantly, by the values that the modern society as base.
The second - innovative - approach proposes to evaluate not so much the results of activities as the activity itself, its essence and content - its goals and objectives, motives, means and actions used by specialists and institutions to achieve the goal - something that under normal conditions are not the subject of control by society and the state or various formal and informal organizations.
Experience shows that the need for such ethical regulation of professional behavior and activities usually arises in cases where, in accordance with the specifics of the activity, increased moral responsibility is required from representatives of the profession, regulated by additional, more stringent standards of behavior, and when they do not (or act weakly) internal ethical imperatives, determined not only by the essence and content of the profession, but also by the value orientations and high moral principles of its representatives.
The need for ethical regulation of professional behavior is observed in social work (and not only in it) in modern Russian society. The main reasons for this phenomenon can be considered the following:
1. The general decline of spirituality and morality in our country, the loss of positive value orientations cannot but affect the moral character of specific social workers as members of society. In the modern conditions of the development of Russian society, when for some people the desire to achieve personal success, to get rich, using all the means assigned for this, is in the first place, and for others - physical survival at any cost, a decline in morality is inevitable. The voluntaristic destruction of higher, transpersonal humanistic values that determine the strategic goals of development, the ideals and meaning of both personal and social life, naturally leads to a sharp decrease in the value of human life, the individual as such, the neglect of his honor and dignity. The moral self-destruction of society is going faster than the formation of "new" humanistic values. As historical practice shows, in such a period, high ethical standards, learned in the process of education and socialization of the individual, naturally and objectively fade into the background.
2. Social work does not yet have in our country the high status and prestige that it has, for example, in Europe and America. This cannot be explained only by the "youth" of this profession in our country, the imperfection of the legislative framework, the insufficient number of certain types of social services and social workers in them. The point is also in personnel, which is far from always competently and fully fulfilling their duties: social workers most often they are allowed to work without any theoretical and practical training, gaining professional skills already in the process of work and then studying at advanced training courses, at universities or secondary specialized educational institutions.
But it's not just a matter of professional training, that is, the qualification level of specialists. In conditions of stagnation of production, unemployment, low wages for employees of budgetary organizations (which include social services), in conditions of non-payment or delays wages and pensions, sometimes random people come into social work, not morally ready for this type of activity, setting themselves the goal only to survive difficult times for them, striving to have at least some kind of job and a stable source of livelihood. Such social workers, not having the appropriate motivation to work, perform their professional duties only to the extent of external necessity, without being guided by considerations of the humanity of their mission, an internal need to help people who find themselves in a difficult life situation.
3. Social work as a specific type of professional activity is an innovation in our country that received an impetus for development three quarters of a century after its formation in Europe and America. It is natural for our country to study the experience of states that have a well-functioning, reliable, time-tested and effective system social protection. But each state went to the current state of social protection in its own way, taking into account local conditions, the needs of the population and the possibility of satisfying them. In this regard, the study of foreign experience of social work, in addition to the positive opportunity to learn from someone else's experience, carries a certain negative point - the model you like, which works flawlessly on "native" soil and has specific features, values and moral orientation, taking into account the mentality of the people, its expectations and specific social circumstances (together determining the choice of one or another model of social protection), may be completely or partially inapplicable in conditions modern Russia.
At the same time, foreign models of social protection have their supporters in our country, which gives rise to ambiguous understanding by representatives of various scientific schools of the very essence of social protection, its goals and objectives, value orientations, etc. and causes different interpretations of approaches to activities and interaction - as with the client, and within the system of social protection, including in the field of moral relations between the subjects and objects of social work.
4. Social work as an institution is not autonomous; it is connected with various state and non-state structures by numerous, unequal in significance, content and orientation threads. State and local authorities authorities have a powerful influence on social work, determining to a large extent not only where social workers should work, but also what and how they should do, which social groups should be the object of their influence, what kind of influence should be, on under what conditions, in what time frame and to what extent assistance should be provided.
Having become largely dependent on external institutions, primarily on state structures, local authorities and the state of the economy, which determines the procedure, volumes and conditions of financing, social work cannot fully share with them the system of values that they actually profess. So, for example, the market economy is subject to the law of extracting the highest profit, which has as a consequence such negative phenomena as unemployment, impoverishment of a significant part of the population that “does not fit” into the market, etc. Social work is designed to help everyone who is in it. needs, and gives preference to individuals who are not in demand by the economy and do not have the opportunity, mainly because of this circumstance, to independently solve their problems.
5. Any sphere of human activity can function effectively only with appropriate ethical regulation. Therefore, the appearance in various spheres of professional activity at certain stages of its development of professional ethical codes, which have already developed in their main features on the basis of universal human values and ethical norms adopted by the community, is not accidental. Social work is a specific type of activity, social in its historical genesis, essence, conditions of flow and consequences, a special type of human relationships. Social work is carried out in the interests of the whole society, regardless of whether it is aimed at an individual, group or society. In this respect, therefore, social work can be judged in terms of general moral standards. However, being a manifestation of the morality and humanity of society in relation to its least protected members, dealing with certain circumstances and aspects of human life, and being directed directly at a person, social work should have its own, more stringent ethical principles and rules governing its activities. structures and representatives.
6. It should be borne in mind that there is a close ethical connection between the activity itself in the field of social protection and its final result, which determines the choice by the social worker not only of the goal, but also of the means to achieve it. In order to build a humane society, rationality and pragmatism are not enough. The well-known saying “the end justifies the means” is not appropriate in social work. In order for a society to be humane, it is necessary to be guided by the principles of humanism and ethics in all spheres of human life. However, the presence of a morally positive goal and the choice of adequate means do not always guarantee success. Since it is sometimes difficult to foresee in advance how the result of the social worker's activity will be used by the client, it is impossible to place all absolute responsibility for this on him. All the more important is the ethical orientation of the work of a social worker: he must be impeccable in the eyes of his colleagues and society, and the result of his activity could not be used against people so that social work as a professional activity would not be discredited.
7. Social work, like almost all types of activity, is aimed at people, that is, it is one of the ways to solve problems facing an individual, group or society. However, unlike most other activities, it is carried out not just with people, but with special people who have serious problems associated with difficulties in the implementation of life. For successful work in this area, a specialist does not need a formal approach, but the ability to understand his client and empathize with him, to be sensitive and delicate. Therefore, the work of a specialist in the field of social work presupposes an organic unity of his qualifications and special spiritual qualities, a sense of high moral responsibility, and a readiness to irreproachably fulfill his professional duty to protect human rights.
8. Social work refers to the types of professional activities with a high degree of individualization of labor. Despite the fact that the social worker is a member of the labor collective, together with colleagues participates in the work to achieve common goals for the team, represents the interests of the social protection institution and the interests of the state to the client, he is largely autonomous in his daily activities. This does not mean that the social worker is completely left to himself, uncontrolled and unaccountable, but his activity can most often be controlled only indirectly, since it is carried out one on one with the client. This circumstance requires the social worker to have special skills and strictly observe the ethical norms and rules of communication with the client and his social environment, more stringent self-control than outside professional activities.
9. The activity of a social worker is predominantly creative, and there is always room for creativity and initiative within the rigid framework of a formal technological scheme, making work with each client unique and original. The effectiveness of the work largely depends on the understanding and perception of the essence of the profession by the specialist and his creative abilities, and in turn determines the social, spiritual and financial situation of the client. Therefore, since we are dealing with creative process, all the nuances of which cannot be formalized, and since it is not possible to exclude the appearance of “random” people in the profession (at least at the present stage), there must be an internal ethical regulation of activity that contributes to the formation of a unity of approaches to solving problems and causes normative behavior and actions specialists.
These reasons seem to be worthy of updating the issue of developing and adopting ethical norms and rules governing the professional activities of each specific social worker, the activities and interaction of various social services and bodies of social protection of the population, their relationship with other institutions and taking into account the specifics of their activities, taking into account the mentality of the Russian people and the expectations of society.
Reforming the economy in our country, transferring it to a market economy has exacerbated the importance of moral relations in society. The desire of a person to be guided in his actions by ethical standards is natural, however, due to various external circumstances, it can be completely or partially suppressed. Therefore, the willingness of social workers to act from high ethical positions, a moral attitude towards clients of social services is their significant contribution to the cause of the moral improvement of our society.
Russian society is constantly and in dire need of fundamental, fundamental values that determine the path of its possible development. Social work is one of the types of professional activity where concern for the welfare of everyone is the subject of everyday practical activity, as a result of which it can and should influence the processes of humanization of social relations. The culture of behavior, actions and communication of specialists should be based on their knowledge and understanding of both professional and general ethical norms and rules.
Ethical problems arise in all areas of the social worker's activity: in his research, in the field of practical activities to provide direct social services to clients or groups of clients, in relationships with colleagues and with representatives of institutions and organizations "external" in relation to the social protection system, with sponsors, in the development and formation of social policy, in teaching. Ethical difficulties in decision-making and activities here are mainly due to the fact that the specialist is constantly faced with the problems of social, economic and political inequality, violations of the principle of social justice. The duty of a social worker is to contribute in every possible way to the restoration of justice, to help the client realize basic human rights, which is in the interests of both the client himself and the whole society.
One of the most important indicators of progress is the morale of society. Population Russian Federation objectively needs an institution of social work that is ready to protect its interests if necessary, however, no less does it need social work as the bearer of that high morality, without which the existence and development of a modern civilized society is impossible. Considered from this position, social work as a social phenomenon is not only a social, but also the most important ethical factor in social development.
Currently, in the Russian Federation, in higher and secondary specialized educational institutions, in courses and faculties of advanced training, specialists of various profiles and levels are being trained to work in the field of social protection of the population. The assimilation by them in the process of professional training of ethical norms and rules, which must be followed in theoretical and practical activities at any level, in any of the links in the system of social protection of the population, makes it possible to improve the quality of theoretical and practical training of specialists, and, consequently, the effectiveness of social work itself, its social significance, prestige and status.
Almost any human activity can be both highly moral and immoral, depending on what goals it pursues, what means and methods are used to achieve the goal, what motives determine the activity and how its achievements are used in social practice. Social work affects the whole variety of aspects of human life, seeking to improve the quality of his life, his social activity, self-respect and dignity. However, the efforts of social workers will be beneficial only if they serve the true interests of the population and are deeply moral at all levels of theory and practice.
An important role in bridging the gap between the conceptual foundations of professional ethics and their actual implementation in practice can be played by the system vocational training social workers of all levels - from a social worker directly involved in the provision of social, medical, psychological, pedagogical and domestic services to the population, to a specialist engaged in the development of the foundations of social policy or the theoretical and technological foundations of professional activity, training and education of personnel. In this regard, the ethics of social work, as an educational and scientific discipline and one of the most important components of professional activity, is fundamental both in the preparation of a specialist in the field of social protection and in his practical activities in this area.
Russian society is going through difficult times. In this regard, I would like to cite the words of A. I. Herzen: “... But there is also a third kind of era, very rare and most mournful - eras in which social forms, having outlived themselves, perish; exceptional civilization reaches not only the highest limit, but even goes beyond the circle of possibilities given by historical life, so that, apparently, it belongs to the future, but in essence it is early estranged from the past, which it despises, and from the future, which develops according to other laws. This is where the face meets society. The past appears like a mad rebuff. Violence, lies, ferocity, selfish servility, narrow-mindedness, the loss of any sense of human dignity becomes general rule the majority. All the valor of the past has already disappeared, the decrepit world does not believe in itself and desperately defends itself, because it is afraid, forgets its gods out of self-preservation, tramples on the rights on which it rested, renounces education and honor, becomes a beast, persecutes, executes, and between the power remains in his hands; they obey him not out of cowardice alone, but because on the other hand everything is shaky, nothing has been decided, nothing is ready - and most importantly, people are not ready. On the other hand, an unfamiliar future rises on a horizon covered with clouds - a future that confuses all human logic.
Only activity permeated with humanism and morality, aimed at achieving the benefit of each person and the whole society, protecting their interests, can create conditions that will allow people to live in harmony with nature and with each other, and provide an opportunity for the development of society and each individual.
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HISTORY OF THE FORMATION OF ETHICAL TRADITIONS IN Rus' |
In any of the periods of social development, the main functions of morality are the regulation and evaluation of individual behavior of people, bringing it into line with those norms and principles that are accepted by this society as basic and reflect public interests. Moral norms not only contain prescriptions for proper behavior, they also fix such moral aspects of a person that are necessary for normatively approved behavior, since from the point of view of morality not only actions and deeds, but also motives of activity, goals, means and even intentions can be considered and evaluated. .
Morality is one of the earliest forms of social consciousness and regulators of human behavior.
Regarding the origin of morality, there are two main points of view. One of them connects the origin of morality with the first forms of joint labor activity, pointing out the fact that joint production activity gives rise to the need for moral regulation of this activity as a prerequisite for its successful implementation and maintaining the stability of society The second point of view is that morality as a form of regulation of the behavior of an individual in a community of his own kind existed even at a time when there was no social division of labor and when a person, strictly speaking, was not yet a person, but as a semi-animal led a herd life . The second point of view is considered more preferable, since “human society precedes any theory; it has its own nature, its own needs, the instinct of self-preservation, its own unwritten laws and its own conditions of existence, from which it cannot refuse without destroying itself, even if it is not actually society in the modern sense, but its prototype .
Man initially, while still being homo erectus, lived in a society of his own kind, since the individual cannot satisfy his needs without entering into certain relationships with other people. The primitive horde, then the tribe - the first forms of the human collective, community, known to us from the materials of archaeological, ethnological and paleontological studies. The life of these distant ancestors can only be judged by the few testimonies that have come down to us that time has spared. However, even these few facts available for analysis make it possible to draw certain conclusions that interest us in connection with the issue under consideration.
First of all, we know that the original ancestor modern man was a herd creature and that the primitive horde led a nomadic lifestyle, constantly moving from place to place in search of food; moreover, the main ways of obtaining it were gathering and collective hunting. Being physically relatively defenseless, man objectively needed to co-operate his efforts with other people for successful hunting or protection from predators. In those days, the ancestor of man was cruel, and the society of primitive people was a society where the strongest survived. Numerous works devoted to the prehistory of mankind indicate that the killing of children (apparently used as food during famine periods) and the refusal to help the elderly, sick and wounded members of the horde were then in the order of things, everyday practice, since for a constantly moving hordes slow moving force different reasons members are not just a burden, but a security threat to everyone, and therefore to everyone. A delay on the way, moving at the speed of the weakest and slowest could cause the death of the entire horde from starvation or as a result of an attack by the same wild people or animals. Therefore, L. Krzhivinsky calls the primitive society-horde - “a society without old people” and “a society of strong people”, meaning that weak people died quite quickly, without receiving help and support from their fellow tribesmen. There was a natural selection operating in the animal world and extending to the wild man during this period of history, as a result of which the youngest, most dexterous and strongest survived.
At the same time, based on the fact that the human ancestor did not live alone, we can conclude that in this initial period of human history there must have been certain regulators of the behavior of an individual in a community of his own kind. Of course, the semi-animal state of a person made the predominance of the biological principle over the social one inevitable, and it was precisely this circumstance that determined the need to coordinate actions within the tribe and strictly regulate the behavior of its members: “... people interact with each other with a sense of morality, such actions correspond to our biological interests” . So, for a semi-savage horde, only strong, strong and dexterous hunters were valuable, providing the horde with food and performing protective functions if necessary, young women - as the continuers of the family, and for women mothers - their children by virtue of the biological law of conservation of the species. Thus, the values of primitive society were determined empirically, felt instinctively, and had a clear biological coloring in full accordance with the collective needs for the survival of homo erectus as a specific biological species.
Strictly speaking, these were not values in our modern understanding - the human brain in this period was not able to comprehend such complex philosophical concepts as “values”, “good”, “good”, but at the level of primitive semi-animal sensations and instincts, a person , of course, could differentiate between useful and harmful for himself and for the community.
Only one thing can be said about the moral relations of this historical period - they were collectivist, focused on joint physical survival, since the human ancestor alone could not survive, and contained only one law - the power of force in order to ensure joint survival. Morality (more precisely, pra-moral, instinctive morality, since, only very conditionally, we can talk about the normative regulation of human behavior from the point of view of good and evil and focus on the preservation of society, its stabilization) had a pronounced collectivist character and implied the unconditional subordination of the weaker to the strongest. , and this strongest (who, as a rule, became the leader) had unlimited rights, unquestioned authority and absolute power, which gave him the opportunity to use his position primarily in his own purposes and solve by force all the issues that arise in the horde. The same power, based on the need to ensure joint action, organized the life of the horde, preserving and increasing its viability and strengthening the collectivism conditioned by the needs of survival. Thus, the primitive horde was dominated by relations of social inequality based on physical and intellectual inequality, and the complete subordination of the interests of the individual to the interests of the collective.
Life in a team and the desire to survive required mutual assistance from primitive people in defense and attack, that is, in extreme situations, and it is obvious that such types of assistance were provided to each other collectively - otherwise a person would be destroyed by forces inanimate nature and the animal world. Relatively peaceful relations were to be observed in the horde itself, at least outwardly, and the leader took care of this, first of all protecting the human ancestors - his fellow tribesmen - from senseless self-destruction, suppressing various feuds, unmotivated murders by fellow tribesmen of each other. Consequently, even in the most primitive society, which was the primitive horde, there should have been a system of the most general and universal norms and prohibitions, which, first of all, would guarantee the safety of existence in the community, the impossibility of its destruction "from within", and the corresponding system of sanctions for violators of the norms. .
According to V. Vichev, “the first social norms that arose as a reflection of the production need to curb animal individualism, as expedient forms of activity fixed by practice, are not so much positive as negative. They are dominated not so much by prescriptions for the individual as by the requirements to refrain from certain actions, the dangerous nature of which has already been confirmed by practice ”. From this it follows that members of the community were forbidden to perform actions that would damage the community as a whole, which was followed by the leader of the horde, punishing the recalcitrant. Thus, already from the very beginning, the norms of behavior that develop naturally or are established in the community with the help of taboos were aimed at counteracting what could prevent the community from providing livelihoods, satisfying needs, and what would pose a threat to its security.
The very concepts of “good”, “good” and “evil” in this period for a person practically did not differ from the sensations of an animal: warm, satisfying, safe - good, good; danger, hunger, cold - evil, because the sounds made by man during this period, and most importantly, the concepts they denoted and expressed, were not much more diverse and richer than those of animals. The primitive collective is a social organism, a closed community that opposes the rest of the world in a fierce struggle for existence. Primitive man is a collectivist, but not because of his high morality, but because of the need to fight for existence.
Thus, we can conclude that the morality of help and mutual assistance is rooted in the nature of man and human society: in the primitive horde, the behavior of each of its members corresponded to the requirements of survival in the natural environment and was aimed primarily at satisfying collective needs - ensuring survival, security, procreation. However, this was by no means caused by considerations of duty and conscience, as Yu. G. Semenov believes , but, firstly, by the instinct for the preservation of the species, which required sacrificing little (individual survival) in the name of more (preservation of the species), and, in secondly, by the fact that it was not possible to satisfy the above needs of survival alone - the world was hostile to a person who did not have such physical data as most predators leading a paired or solitary lifestyle. At the same time, man followed the same herd instinct or collectivism that animals follow, the basis of whose behavior is not an attack, but self-defense, i.e. predator animals. In fact, a person did not have the opportunity to choose behavior, there were no positive alternatives to collectivism. In the absence of free will, it is difficult to talk about the morality or immorality of behavior, although some types of mutual assistance and support on an instinctive level in the horde took place as a prototype of future moral relations.
According to historians, the relative "humanization" and moralization of relations in primitive society occurred after the greatest event in the history of mankind - the development of fire . The use of fire given by nature and then its arbitrary extraction, storage and use for one's own needs became, according to many scientists, a turning point in the history of mankind. The discovery gave people a real opportunity to become more humane and appreciate human life as such.
The fact that human life, the person himself in this period is already becoming the highest value, albeit not fully realized objectively, is indirectly indicated by the following fact: the greatest and most valuable sacrifice to spirits (ancestors or natural objects and phenomena), whose cults during this period already existed, it was considered a human sacrifice, brought in especially responsible, important and significant cases, while in everyday life it was possible to confine ourselves to sacrificing cereals, food, animals, various products. Moreover, in the most diverse human communities living in different parts of the globe, the youngest, strongest and most beautiful members of the tribe were chosen for the role of the victim - the most valuable and best that the tribe had.
The constant use of fire made the transition to a settled way of life possible - fire not only made housing more comfortable and warm and eliminated the need to migrate "following the summer" and herd animals moving south, but also protected from predatory animals, and made it possible to stock food in case of famine, and hunting with the use of fire became more productive. Apparently, with the use of fire, the incidence and mortality from colds and some other diseases decreased to some extent, which made the tribe more viable.
With the use of fire, the ability to create more advanced tools of labor and hunting appeared, which made human existence more stable and secure. As the tools of labor improved, the first primitive division of labor arose between the members of the tribe and between the sexes and age groups, and in these new conditions, the weak members of the tribe - children and the elderly - also turned out to be useful. The latter could play and, as history and ethnography say, in fact, along with women, they played the role of keepers of the fire, its “breadwinners”, since this did not require great physical effort, but made it possible to free able-bodied women and men to perform more labor-intensive and urgent work. Their presence and maintenance for the tribe was no longer such a heavy burden as before; it gradually became necessary, although in famine periods or under other extreme circumstances, death (including at the hands of fellow tribesmen) still awaited primarily the weak .
To a lesser extent, this concerned children: they are the future of the tribe, its potential, and therefore received needed help and care in order to take the place of the elders in due time. However, the fact that, from a biological point of view, the old people, who had already fulfilled their function and become useless, still had the opportunity to live in a tribe and not die of hunger and cold, suggests that a person becomes a truly human, social being, and is not only one of the many biological species that exist on earth. Such primitive collective altruism was an objective necessity, since “... a tribe that includes a large number of members who are endowed with a highly developed sense of patriotism, loyalty, obedience, courage and participation towards others; members, who are always ready to help each other and sacrifice themselves for the common good, should prevail over most of the other tribes, and this is natural selection ", since this corresponds to the laws of nature, since she is "not interested" in separate individuals and individuals.
This change in attitude towards children and the elderly, in turn, led to even greater changes. The gradual complication of labor entailed the need to teach the younger generation the methods of professional activity, the transfer of labor skills and the tricks of hunting, and this became the “point of contact” between the old members of the tribe and children. The old people living in the tribe, in the past hunters and craftsmen, got the opportunity to pass on their life and professional experience, knowledge and skills, and children to adopt them, which ensured not only the continuity of knowledge and skills, but also tribal customs and traditions associated with the rules behavior, and relations between members of the community - and this, in turn, increased the importance for the tribe of both children and the elderly.
As G. Spencer pointed out, “any society seeks to form its members in such a way that the implementation of social functions is desirable for them”, as a result of which it becomes necessary to instill in everyone the most appropriate for society norms of human communication and interaction. In this case, the most rational is the transfer of knowledge and skills from seniors to juniors. Such circumstances contribute to the formation of ideas about the importance of not only mutual assistance among the strongest members of the tribe, but also care for the weak, their maintenance and support. According to A.F. Anisimov , during this period of his history, “man did rationalistically everything that was in his power at that time, in order not to break before the power of the nature around him”, and caring for the weak - children and the elderly , inextricably linked due to the need to transfer experience, both professional and life, was rational: if you need to learn, then you need teachers and mentors from among the most experienced members of the tribe, and not connected by the need to conduct daily labor activity for the livelihood of the tribe and having the opportunity to devote themselves entirely to the education and upbringing of children and youth. During this period, the possibility of variability in the behavior of an individual also increases, although in general the objective regulation of behavior and activity is very strict.
With the formation of the maternal race, a person received “the first lesson of personality, teaching it how much it wins in the struggle for existence, entering into an association to which personality sacrifices exceptional egoism, but from which it receives an enormous increase in strength, the results of common experience, the common work of thought of all members of the association and the tradition of a long line of generations ”. If earlier, when a person had not yet completely separated from the animal world, his altruism and collectivism were due only to biological nature and instincts, then at a later time, a person is already beginning to realize the social value of altruism. And later, with the complication of social relations and the formation of more complex and perfect forms of social life, this "first lesson about the benefits of someone else's life for the convenience of one's own could not be in vain ", since the strength and viability of the entire community depended on this, and consequently, the security of his existence.
It is during this period that the gradual formation of moral relations proper begins, regulating the interaction of people and the forms of their existence on the basis of certain moral laws. These laws are no longer motivated by purely utilitarian considerations, but by references to tradition, custom, and norm. Accordingly, they are more or less permanent in nature and are acquired by all members of the community in childhood in the process of education and upbringing. Laws change only under the influence of extraordinary circumstances associated with various natural and social factors, with changes in the way of life of people, but in their foundations they are passed down from generation to generation in the form of oral traditions, legends, commandments, prohibitions.
The emergence of the first forms of mutual assistance of people, the prototypes of future charity, can be attributed to this period. The more or less stable existence of the tribe, the way and style of its life not only required, but also made it possible to provide assistance not only to the weak, unable to feed themselves and solve other pressing problems (for example, after the death of the head of the family, breadwinner) to fellow tribesmen, members of the clan, but also to people "from outside" who got into the tribe in peacetime. Apparently, the first types of social assistance that originated precisely in this period of human history was the provision of shelter and feeding not one's own, travelers, "foreigners" who came in peace. Such forms of assistance to foreigners could appear only in the presence of already established traditions of caring for their needy fellow tribesmen and the increased economic potential of the tribe, its relative material prosperity. Studies by Russian and foreign ethnographers lead to the inevitable conclusion that for a primitive man, caring for a needy stranger was the norm.
However, to a much greater extent, the moral regulation of relations between people was required and, accordingly, developed with the advent of the family and property. A. G. Kharchev believes that morality arises and functions during this period “as a way to overcome the contradiction between the individual and society ”, between the interests of the owners and the community as a whole. The first moral principles inherited from homo erectus pursued the same goal of preserving the unity and cohesion of the genus and, in connection with this, its security and viability, and therefore were prohibitions on actions and deeds that caused enmity and discord between members of the community. The bans on the murder of a tribesman unmotivated by public interests, the rejection and theft of his property, which most often included a wife, as well as the widespread veneration of the elderly had a specific meaning and content - the preservation of the integrity and unity of the community, its vitality and defense capability, the continuity of traditions and way of life. Such a ban did not always extend to foreigners.
L. N. Gumilyov’s conclusions about biologically and socially determined collectivism and altruism, although they refer to a later formation - ethos, can be applied with a high degree of probability to earlier forms of communities, up to the primitive horde: “In order to win or In order to defend oneself at least, it is necessary that an altruistic ethic arise within the ethos, in which the interests of the collective become higher than the personal ones. Such ethics is also observed among herd animals, but only in humans it takes on the significance of the only species-protective factor” , meaning that altruism and collectivism imply obligatory mutual assistance of community members.
The tribes of the Slavs and Russ who inhabited the territory of present-day Russia were no exception in this respect.
Thus, the Byzantine historian of the 6th century, Procopius of Caesarea, wrote: “These tribes, Slavs and Antes ... have been living in the government of the people since ancient times, and therefore they consider happiness and unhappiness in life to be a common cause.” “Honesty and camaraderie among them are such that, completely unaware of theft or deceit, they do not lock their chests and drawers,” says the “Biography of Otto of Bamberg”. Mauritius Strategist, Adam of Bremen, Ibn Ruste, Ibn Fadlan and other travelers who left notes about their visit to the Slavic lands are unanimous in their opinion that it is difficult to find people more hospitable, hospitable, benevolent, merciful and fair than the Slavic peoples. Numerous folklore sources - epics and fairy tales can serve as confirmation of the mercy, caring of our distant ancestors, where the following plot was typical: the hero, having got into an unfamiliar place with potential enemies, declares the need to observe the laws of hospitality and requires attention and care, which he immediately and granted by shamed enemies.
The harsh natural and climatic conditions that determine the way of managing made the Slavs natural collectivists and determined cohabitation and activity as the necessary and only possible forms of existence. In this period Russian history community assistance developed widely. Not only fellow tribesmen could always count on the help and support of their neighbors in case of need, but also strangers. With strangers who came to the Slavs for peaceful purposes, they treated with exceptional care, providing them with help and protection, and even captives from the Slavs, after a certain time, received freedom. And the very treatment of prisoners was softer than that of other peoples, which follows from the works of travelers and merchants who visited the Slavic lands at that time.
Thus, we can conclude that the Slavic tribes already in this early period history, the division into “us” and “them” was less clear, and the ethics of relations, in particular, the ethics of mutual assistance, applied to both more or less equally, of course, provided that the “aliens” are peaceful and do not pose a threat to well-being Slavic family or tribe. Even the Gentiles received equal rights with the Slavs, if they, remaining among them, “did not flaunt their Christian faith” (according to Adam of Bremen), that is, they did not offend the worldview of the Slavs, based on the ancient pagan religion.
The first, the most general and objective from the point of view of the needs of cohabitation and activities of people, the moral principles noted by historians and ethnographers among all the peoples of the earth, were further enshrined in religious norms and commandments, and later in secular laws. The introduction of Orthodoxy in Rus' as the official state religion and ideology made its dogmas the basis of the ethical views of the believing population.
The most widely known set of religious norms and rules that extend to the ethical foundations of human coexistence is the Bible. The Old Testament, the holy book of the Jews, contains norms and rules that regulate not only purely cult, religious aspects of life, but also behavior in worldly, everyday life. Contained in the Old Testament and ethical requirements prescribing to provide assistance to a person-a fellow tribesman and a stranger.
So, in the Old Testament, people are repeatedly ordered from the mouth of God to do good, since it is pleasing to God, and, on the contrary, a person will be punished by Him for their sins and crimes. The story of the first murder in the history of mankind contains not so much a legal as an ethical assessment of the deed:
“And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you upset? and why did your face droop?
If you do good, do you not raise your face? and if you do not do good, then sin lies at the door; he draws you to him, but you rule over him ”(Gen. 4; 6, 7).
Cain who committed the crime is punished by God. He is doomed to eternal wandering:
“And the Lord said to him: For this, everyone who kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold” (Gen. 4; 15).
These lines from the Old Testament require a person to do good: a kind, merciful person can openly look into people's eyes without hiding his face; he enjoys the respect of his fellow tribesmen - this corresponds to the notion of the norm. It can be concluded that, in the understanding of the ancient Jews and Israelis, not to do good to people, to be callous, cruel, selfish, is shameful, immoral; as a result, an unmerciful, cruel person was condemned by the community. The same text contains a ban on unauthorized killing: even if a person is guilty and deserves the death penalty, justice should not turn into lynching, settling personal scores, blood feuds, tribal feuds that sow discord among fellow tribesmen and weaken the entire community. Since neighbors and friends of the warring parties, voluntarily or involuntarily, are drawn into the strife, it can take on an uncontrollable mass character, leading to the weakening and even destruction of the clan.
However, the most complete moral commandments, which must be followed in conditions of compact living and in practice joint activities, are contained in the second book of the Torah - Exodus. The prophet Moses, as it says in this book, received the commandments on Mount Sinai from the mouth of God himself and then from His hands - carved on tablets (stone boards):
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
Dont kill.
Don't commit adultery.
Don't steal.
Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, or anything that is with your neighbor' (Ex. 20; 12-17).
These moral requirements for the behavior and actions of a person living in a community form the basis for the coexistence of people. They are repeated in the Torah books Leviticus (Lev. 19; 11-18, 29, 32-36) and Deuteronomy (Deut. 5; 16-21). It is characteristic that these requirements govern the relations mainly of fellow tribesmen - members of the community - both old-timers and "newcomers" who remained in the community for residence, who accepted the faith and therefore were classed as "friends". The Old Testament also requires assistance to the poor, the needy, and we are talking about both moral support and material assistance:
“If you have any of your brothers who are poor in one of your dwellings, in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you, harden not your heart, and close your hand before your poor brother.
But open your hand to him and lend him according to his need, whatever he needs.
For the poor will always be among your land; therefore I command you: open your hand to your brother, your poor man, and your needy in your land” (Deut. 15; 7, 8, 11).
In these lines of the Old Testament, one can see a clear and distinct division into friends and foes: with one's own, i.e. fellow believers and fellow tribesmen living "in your land", it was necessary to act fairly, mercifully, taking into account moral norms and principles that require comprehensive help to the needy. It was considered quite acceptable to allow immoral and illegal actions against a non-believer, a stranger: foreigners and non-believers can be given money at interest, they can be exacted in full, kill, rob and enslave ; A "own" beggar enjoys greater privileges than a "stranger", a non-believer. Such a division into "us" and "them" was a common rule in ancient history, when there were constant and cruel wars between neighboring states, peoples, tribes. The Greeks despised the barbarians, the Slavs despised the filthy, the orthodox Jews despised the infidels. Moral norms have long been national in nature.
F. Engels noted that "... ideas about good and evil changed so much from people to people, from century to century, that they often directly contradicted one another ", and this, in his opinion, is due to the fact that their views a person draws from direct practical activity, which is subjected over time significant changes.
Christianity, based mainly on the New Testament, unlike Judaism, does not so strictly regulate the daily life of a person, his behavior and actions in various life situations (the Old Testament contains 613 prohibitions and prescriptions that a believing Jew must comply with), but rather establishes ethical and social criteria and norms, guided by which, the believer must independently determine his behavior.
Orthodoxy, gradually spreading among the population of Russian cities and villages, did not contradict the ethical ideas of the Russians on the need to help the needy and follow the age-old traditions of mercy. The own ethical principles that had developed by this time in Christianity, and especially in Orthodoxy, in relation to helping and supporting the suffering, the poor, the poor and orphans, partially repeating the commandments of the Old Testament, formalized and streamlined, and in some respects contributed to their further mitigation. Orthodoxy, as a branch of Christianity, is a supranational religion and does not separate people by nationality, race, skin color, level of material wealth, or other characteristics; the only criterion for division is faith, as a result of which all people who profess Christianity are "brothers in Christ." In accordance with this, relations between people should also be fraternal, kind-hearted, imbued with concern for each other, which, as an ethical principle, was also inherent in the ancient Slavs, who always treated peace-loving foreigners with a cordial, caring and hospitable attitude. This dogma, which took shape in a period when Christianity was only the belief of a handful of sectarians - followers of the new teaching, and not a world religion, was preserved in the later stages of the development of Christianity.
Thus, for example, the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus Christ consistently develops the basic ethical principles set forth in the Torah: “Do not think that I came to violate the law or the prophets; I came not to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt. 5; 17). great attention in the Sermon on the Mount, alms are given, and it is especially emphasized that alms should be an act of mercy; and performed secretly, without counting on public recognition and reward from a person or society for this act of mercy; only in this case, the giver of alms can receive a reward from God. The most important ethical principle set forth in the Sermon on the Mount can be considered the following:
“So in everything you want people to do to you, do the same to them; for in this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7; 12).
This greatest moral law that regulates human relationships in all areas of joint activity and coexistence, the "golden rule of ethics", cannot be considered a discovery of Christianity: it is logical in its basis and applicable in all spheres of human life and joint practice, and therefore is found in almost all peoples. in one wording or another, reflected in folklore, later works of philosophers, entering into religious texts. There is this law, for example, in a conversation with Confucius recorded by the students:
The teachers were asked: "Is there one such statement that you can follow it all your life?"
The teacher answered: “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others”, which speaks of the generality and universality of the moral law. The coincidence of moral norms and rules of different peoples is not a borrowing. This coincidence proves only the unity of human consciousness, the similarity of the conditions of life and the historically established forms of human communities.
The above “golden rule of ethics” was formulated by the Russian people in the form of proverbs that still exist today: “As it comes around, it will respond”, “Do not dig a hole for another - you will fall into it yourself”, “Do not spit in the well, it will come in handy to drink water” and others.
In Ancient Rus', the ethics of helping a person, of course, was not formalized into a separate branch of knowledge and was not fixed in works devoted to this issue. Ethical views on the problems of assistance and mutual assistance existed only in the most general form, in the context of the norms of human society, which proves the commonness of the very fact of providing assistance. Their origin and essence can be traced to some extent in the most ancient monuments of Russian literature, in folklore works.
For the Slavs, who traditionally lived in an atmosphere of collectivism and mutual assistance, the meaning and essence of the precepts of the new Christian religion for them regarding assistance to those in need were, despite the negative perception of religion itself, not something new, introduced from outside, but rather a logical continuation of age-old folk traditions, due to why this particular part of the Christian doctrine was taken by the people for granted, for granted. It was not unnatural for the Slavs and the requirement not to flaunt their charitable activities, to do good deeds at the call of the heart, and not out of selfish hope for a subsequent lifetime reward. Mutual assistance, assistance to those in need due to a lifestyle determined by natural-geographical and economic conditions, for the pagan Slavs were as natural as life itself.
Introducing Orthodoxy in Rus' at the end of the 10th century, the great Kiev prince Vladimir made sure that not only the letter, but also - most importantly - the spirit of Orthodoxy triumphed in the Russian lands, so that Orthodoxy would become in as soon as possible state religion, winning popular recognition. Not only worship according to the Eastern rite, but also the ethics of Christianity, its teachings about mercy, the brotherhood of people, love for one's neighbor and mutual assistance were to become the ideological basis of the state. To this end, Prince Vladimir in 996 entrusted the Orthodox Church with the care of the needy and identified funds for their maintenance and support. For these purposes, a tenth share of the profits from trade, legal proceedings, and agricultural income (“church tithe”) was deducted.
However, unlike primitive Slavic altruism, the Orthodox doctrine of helping one's neighbor is based on other values. If during the period of pagan Rus', the Slavs provided assistance to those in need in order to preserve the integrity and viability of the family, then Orthodoxy requires assistance to those who suffer because for those who give alms or provide other assistance, this is the most reliable way to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, it can be noted that, despite the outward similarity of ethical norms in relation to actions, their purpose and essence differed significantly.
Since ancient times, the Russian people have created works that are predominantly moral teachings, testaments and determine the behavior of a person in society, in the family, in his relationships with other people, that is, in everyday activities and communication. Among the outstanding monuments of ancient Russian culture, Vladimir Monomakh's "Instruction" is the most complete system of ethical views, which, among others, touches upon the problem of helping those in need.
Prince Vladimir Monomakh in his “Instruction” to his descendants (1099) wrote about the need to take tireless care of the poor, the poor, orphans, widows, support them financially and restore social justice, protecting the weak from the oppression of the strong: “Especially do not forget the poor ... honor the old like a father, and the young like brothers ... visit the sick.” But not only to provide material assistance to the poor and disabled, to protect the disadvantaged and restore the rights of the offended, the prince bequeathed to his descendants, but also to be polite, friendly, affectionate, cordial with all people: “Do not pass by a person without greeting him, but tell everyone when you meet good word ". Vladimir understood that a kind word, a word of consolation from the lips of the prince - the supreme ruler of Rus' - for a poor person, an orphan, offended, means, perhaps, no less than a good deed and, in addition, creates a certain glory for the ruler. Vladimir Monomakh especially emphasized the need for respectful treatment of foreigners, since "...wandering all over the lands, guests spread good or bad glory about us." Partially repeating in his “Instruction” the basic ethical norms of Christian virtue set forth in the “Sermon on the Mount”, Vladimir Monomakh, nevertheless, pays more attention to concrete help to people: “First of all, for the sake of God and your soul, have in your soul the fear of God and do unfailing alms; for this is the beginning of all good." "The creation of alms" Monomakh considers as a way to improve his own soul, to save it, as an indispensable condition for gaining the Kingdom of Heaven, and this requires complete disinterestedness from the person doing alms (from the point of view of Orthodoxy, selflessness consists in the independence of actions from the expectations of the lifetime material success of the enterprise, but in the hope for a reward in the form of the Kingdom of Heaven), self-giving, fulfillment of the mission, the duty of the ruler as a protector of the people and, first of all, the destitute. Thus, Monomakh considered it important to observe general moral rules, among which the ethical rules of charity can be distinguished: respect for people, the ability to be useful, be true to a given word, take care of the poor and protect them, do good to people and avoid evil, do alms.
Traditions of private charity were widespread in Rus', carried out by people as far as possible, regardless of their social and economic status. The poor, including princes, and representatives of the clergy, and merchants, and ordinary peasants, fed the poor, gave alms with money, food and clothing, and gave temporary shelter. In fact, until the 20th century, in some Russian villages and localities, the ancient custom was preserved to let wanderers into their homes to stay, to provide individual and collective assistance to poor neighbors, to take home and adopt orphaned children, etc., without expecting profit or good deeds, but simply because it is impossible otherwise - it is impossible not to help people who find themselves in trouble and need. The richest Russian folklore convincingly testifies to the high morality of Russian people, including in relation to those in need of help.
The best representatives of the clergy also supported the traditions of the Christian ethics of charity. Reverend Sergius of Radonezh, having founded the monastery, became "the commandment of the poor and strange to put to rest and give to those who demand ". In a farewell conversation with his students, he leaves them covenants. Among the covenants that have a purely religious meaning, there is a covenant of mercy - “do not forget the hospitable ”, - that is, not just help the needy, give them alms and look after them, but also love them with Christian love, like your brothers, and, therefore, to help brotherly, disinterestedly (in the Christian understanding of disinterestedness) and willingly, fulfilling one's duty out of love for one's neighbor, which is a Christian virtue.
The Monk Joseph of Volotsky not only himself helps those in need, opening the granaries during the famine and giving out food a day to seven hundred suffering, but also calls for mercy from princes and boyars. He convinces them to help people subject to them, at least in their own interests - an impoverished plowman will not be able to pay tribute and feed his family; the ascetic threatens the merciless rulers with the Last Judgment. True, here, as G. Fedotov notes, "the thought of the soul of a miserly rich man or his own brethren comes out more prominently than compassion for the poor."
Elder Seraphim of Sarov called for doing good, considering it the most important means of achieving the goal of a true Christian - gaining the Kingdom of Heaven: “The true goal of our Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit of God ... every good deed done for the sake of Christ is a means for acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. .. only for the sake of Christ, a good deed done brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit... A good deed cannot otherwise be called as gathering, for, although it is not done for the sake of Christ, it is nevertheless good ». This last phrase expresses the deepest essence of human mercy and kindness, regardless of religiosity: this is the acquisition of the person himself (collection), his spiritual wealth, values, since by doing good to another person disinterestedly, he achieves good for his soul. The main doctrine of Christian ethics is to achieve peace in oneself and around oneself, that is, the spiritual perfection of oneself and the world around oneself, which can be achieved not only by prayers and scrupulous performance of rituals, but first of all by kindness, mercy, honesty , conscientious work.
Theophan the Recluse, considering the essence of spiritual life, says that in its active part “from the action of the spirit is the desire and production of selfless deeds or virtues, or even higher - the desire to become virtuous”, and the soul of a virtuous person does good deeds not because they useful, but because they are "good, kind, and just." “Look at the sky and measure every step of your life so that it is a step there,” these words repeat the basic idea of Orthodox ethics, expressed earlier in the writings of other ascetics and theologians. We are talking about the need to take care, first of all, about your soul, about peace and harmony in it, and also about helping your neighbor precisely in connection with caring for your own soul: “The goal is a blissful life beyond the grave; means - deeds according to the commandments, the fulfillment of which is required by all occasions of life ".
Considering the ethics of Orthodox love for one's neighbor as a whole, it can be noted that its basis is concern, first of all, for one's own soul, its improvement. The goal of Orthodox religious morality was to educate a virtuous, merciful, conscientious, modest person who respects people and believes in the possibility of perfecting his soul, the world and people. It is concern for one's own soul that requires an Orthodox Christian to help his neighbor, show concern for him, and do good deeds. In connection with this circumstance, the beggar is useful to the rich - he gives him the opportunity to do good, charitable deeds, without which it is impossible to find paradise.
The “Domostroy”, which spread in the 16th century, touches on issues of personal morality and contains certain requirements, including the requirement to participate in charity. A person must not only observe the basic commandments of the Christian religion, i.e. not steal, not slander, not lie, but also be "... to the poor, welcome and merciful ...". The moral norms and prescriptions of Domostroy, therefore, are largely borrowed from earlier sources - the New Testament, the Teachings of Vladimir Monomakh, the collections "Bee" and "Chrysostom" and others and are a continuation and development of the Slavic ethical customs that developed in antiquity and traditions of helping and helping each other. The ethic of helping one's neighbor in Rus' testifies to respect for people, self-respect and the dignity of Russians.
During the years of the reforms of Peter I and later, a large number of secular codes of conduct were published, which contain norms of both ethics and etiquette that are not shared in content. Most of the rules set forth in them do not apply to any particular category of persons (for example, to friends, relatives, etc.), but to all people, regardless of their class, and are of a universal nature. It is considered very important in relations with people “to show respect to every person in general, no matter what tribe, faith and law he is, he is your neighbor ”.
So, for example, “An honest mirror of youth ” requires young man modesty, courtesy, politeness, indicating respect for another person. And noble maidens should “try to find more good qualities and deeds in people than bad ones, be tolerant and indulgent”, consider it their duty “to protect innocence and even forgive the guilty a little, and not increase their weaknesses, and disinterestedly intercede for the absent, reviled and slandered ".
Secular codes of ethics emphasize the need to show sympathy for a person in trouble: “he who takes part in the sorrows of his neighbors forces himself to be loved, and whoever is ruthless cannot enjoy the name of a friend of mankind ...”. To “charity, courtesy, compassion and love of one’s neighbor”, which adorn a person, also calls for “The Way to good manners ”, published in Moscow at the end of the 18th century.
Following the traditions of the ethical teachings of the most revered saints in Russia, the secular code of ethics, which was Domostroy, and the later codes of the 18th and 19th centuries, Russian people saw their moral duty in helping their neighbors. Many secular persons, including those canonized after death, were famous during their lifetime for their mercy and compassion for the poor. These were Julianiya Lazarevskaya (Muromskaya), U. U. Osoryina, F. P. Gaaz, F. M. Rtishchev, V. F. Sollogub, V. F. Odoevsky and many others; they not only provided private assistance to those in need, but also encouraged others to do good by their example.
The ethics of helping the needy finds its further development in the works of Russian philosophers.
So, for example, I. Brianchaninov, condemning the scattered way of life, refers to the holy fathers, who recognize it as the beginning of all evils. In his opinion, distraction is not such a harmless quality. It is intolerable for many reasons, including because “an absent-minded person is alien to the love of his neighbor: he looks indifferently at the misfortune of people and easily lays on them burdens that are unbearable ”, which gives the right to call him no longer scattered, but merciless , while mindfulness is incompatible with frivolity and cruelty.
Most well-known Russian philosophers, themselves being believers, linked their ethical concepts, including those related to helping the poor, with Orthodoxy as the basis of the worldview of most of their fellow citizens. P. Ya. Chaadaev in his letters speaks of the need “to find such a spiritual mood, soft and simple, which would be able to effortlessly combine with all the actions of the mind, with all the emotions of the heart the idea of truth and goodness ”, and the easiest way for this is to rely entirely on the religious feeling of the believer, since Orthodoxy carries a huge potential for humanism and mercy. Through charity, the thinker notes, hope is gained for the moral improvement of the benefactor himself, because “... no matter how ardent our desire to act for the common good, this abstract good imagined by us is only what we desire for ourselves, and eliminating ourselves we never quite succeed: in what we wish for others, we always consider our own good. And therefore, the higher mind, expressing its law in the language of man, condescending to our weak nature, prescribed only one thing for us: to do with others the way we want them to do with us. Being a person who deeply feels injustice, P. Ya. Chaadaev speaks of altruistic consciousness and behavior as the basis of human happiness: “Away with selfishness, away with selfishness. They kill happiness. Living for others means living for yourself. Benevolence, endless love for one's own kind - that, believe me, is true bliss; there is no other... do you want to be happy? So think as little as possible about your own well-being, take care of someone else's ... ”A person who cares only about his own well-being, who does not provide help and support to his neighbor, according to P. Ya. Chaadaev, is dead - his soul is dead.
N. G. Chernyshevsky connected the desire of a person to do good, to be useful with his natural desire for pleasure: this “... is simply prescribed by reason, common sense, the need for pleasure; this goal is good. Only good deeds are calculated; only he who is kind and just as good as good is reasonable. ... If he is useful to people by the qualities of his own organism, by his spiritual qualities ... then he cannot cease to benefit people ... ". N. G. Chernyshevsky considers a person’s desire for moral perfection, the use of his spiritual qualities for the benefit of people, to be natural and the most durable, durable and reliable in relation to the good and good brought to others and to himself. Even wealth used for the benefit of others cannot bring such good as the spiritual qualities of a person, which are enduring: a good person cannot but be kind, and this is the basis of his behavior and activities, his relationships with others. Doing good to others, helping people is rational, it is consistent with common sense and meets the natural needs of a person, and therefore it is natural for him, as a quality determined by human nature and fixed by the historical and social experience of generations of millions of people.
P.L. Lavrov speaks about the naturalness of doing good deeds, the need for mutual assistance: “... study your real benefit; reduce suffering around and within yourself: this is most beneficial to you. At the same time, he notes that only a few follow the principles of morality and justice - some due to a lack of understanding of the benefits of goodness, and some people due to the fact that they do not have the opportunity, due to poverty, to take part in the fate of their neighbors. This, according to P. L. Lavrov, immeasurably increases the price of social progress, which contributes to the development of spirituality and mercy, sacrificed to the struggle for existence.
N. K. Mikhailovsky in “Notes of a layman” critically comprehends Haeckel’s thesis that society is the more perfect, the more homogeneous, simpler and more dependent on each other its members, and this dependence is based not only on the social division of labor. Dependence also has social roots: a person in society is dependent already because it exists in it and, therefore, must obey the rules that society establishes. However, according to Mikhailovsky, which is fair for the animal world, the connection between the perfection of the whole and the imperfection of its parts (i.e., individuals included in the community), becomes not so clear in relation to the human world - the more perfect the individuals that make up society, the more perfect society itself. From here, N.K. Mikhailovsky concludes that it is necessary for each person to constantly improve himself and to help his neighbor in his improvement. However, this improvement is impossible without the struggle of the individual with such a society, which seeks to level personal qualities, destroy individuality, since the purpose of society is to serve the interests of the individual.
In the views of N. K. Mikhailovsky, a person is recognized as the highest value of society - that is why society should serve a person. However, a person is also called to serve society: serving society, he serves people, humanity. Not the "simplicity" and "sameness" of the members of society, but, on the contrary, their perfection and perfection are the makings of a better future.
VS Solovyov continued the tradition of many Russian philosophers, substantiating the point of view, according to which immortality is impossible without the moral perfection of the individual. The process of separating a person from the animal world, overcoming the animal essence occurs in connection with his desire not only to live “by nature”, that is, guided by animal instincts, but to live as he should, in accordance with conscience, which plays the role of law for a person. The difficulty of the moral question, according to V.S. Solovyov, lies in the fact that, firstly, only prohibitions are established on what should not be done, but it does not say what should be done: “... even if you give him positive form, for example: help everyone, then here there is no positive indication of what should be done in order to truly and really help everyone. Secondly, the fulfillment of the moral law requires a person to constantly struggle with himself, with his essence, since the consciousness of duty in itself does not guarantee its fulfillment. The framework of the law does not determine the activities of a person striving for perfection. It is not enough for a person and morality, perceived formally. One's actions should be verified by the gospel commandments, since only the ethical law of Christianity has a truly moral essence.
Unlike N. G. Chernyshevsky, V. S. Solovyov considers a person to be sinful from the very beginning (due to his biological, animal nature), but he is convinced that, turning to God's help, a person can overcome his nature. The world is mired in evil, and only by renouncing his own will and relying on the will of God, a person can become kinder and more perfect. This is a feat that a person must accomplish consciously. Faith in God, according to Solovyov, is faith in goodness, in justice, which neither nature nor reason gives.
Thus, the ethical traditions of the Russian people's charity are rooted in the views of the ancient Slavs, the works of Orthodox theologians and secular philosophers, and in their essential basis, the approaches of both do not contradict each other. The traditions of Christian ethics, developed over the centuries and disseminated by Orthodox educators, resonated with the most diverse segments of the population and subsequently had a huge impact on the ethical and philosophical works of secular scientists, and on the work of writers.
For spiritual authors, the main thing in the ethics of charity is the strict observance of the commandments, and first of all the commandment "love your neighbor." Such Christian love is the basis of charitable activity, on the one hand, and the guarantee of posthumous retribution for good deeds, on the other. Merciful deeds are performed primarily for oneself, for one's soul, for the sake of moral and spiritual perfection, and not for an external effect.
Secular authors, with all the difference in approaches, mainly support and continue to develop the same idea: good must be done first of all for one's own soul, for its improvement. To live for others means to live for oneself, to live in peace with one's soul and conscience, and therefore doing good deeds, helping people is useful and rational. However, in the views of secular philosophers, the idea of the value of a person is more clearly traced. If for Orthodoxy a person is a servant of God, created from dust and therefore, first of all, fulfilling his duty to God, then for secular philosophers, despite the fact that most of them were believers, a person is valuable as an independent person who has the right to personal happiness, perfection and freedom of actions and fulfilling a duty, first of all, to yourself.
During the Soviet period, society's views on social work (more precisely, on social security) underwent changes.
Firstly, it was believed that in a state with the most humane social system, in a planned economy, all citizens are sufficiently socially protected, as a result of which additional measures, such as, for example, a charity system, were not required.
Secondly, it was necessary to resolve the issue of providing for certain categories of citizens who were unable to support themselves on their own. Moreover, the state considered it its first duty to take care of such citizens completely, in connection with which the charitable activities of individuals from the point of view of official authorities were unnecessary and degrading to the dignity of the individual - every person in the Soviet state had the right to attention to himself and care from side of the state.
At the same time, it cannot be considered that charity has disappeared completely. Patronage assistance was widely spread, mainly provided to small organizations and institutions - kindergartens, schools, medical institutions, etc. Private charity also existed during these years - for example, it was considered normal to help elderly neighbors, the disabled, sick people. Almsgiving also took place in the Soviet state, although it was not widespread and was not welcomed.
In a post-industrial society, in the course of integration processes that gradually cover the entire world community, an understanding of a person as a complex, integrated, integral personality is affirmed, in one way or another, more or less engaged in social, economic, cultural, political, military, religious and other areas of activity. Man and his good, helping him in self-realization attract more and more attention of social thought. The personality becomes the center of philosophical research of many thinkers - sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, philosophers, and its welfare, happiness and life, the conditions most favorable for its existence and comprehensive development - the most significant subject of study and research.
Inevitably, there is a gradual, slow, fundamental reassessment of the goals of modern civilization, a rethinking of traditional values. The highest value of society is officially proclaimed a person - a person, regardless of his material wealth, ability to work, state of health, education, intellectual abilities, marital status, gender and age, race and nationality, views and beliefs, etc. The norms of the joint existence and activity of people in society require the provision of adequate assistance and support to every person who needs it, assistance based on love for a person, respect for his rights, principles of humanism and social justice.
The requirements for the moral character of a person and citizen, based on traditional universal humanistic ideas, include the ability to love people and selflessly do good, as this meets both social and personal needs, the principle of social justice and humanism.
At present, professional social work is an integral part of the life of the state and society of a market economy in the Russian Federation is undergoing a period of formation. The main value of Russian society in the Constitution is proclaimed a person. The state, being the main subject of social work, assumes the main responsibility for the well-being of each citizen, granting him certain rights and declaring their implementation, but it also encourages the charitable activities of citizens and organizations aimed at providing comprehensive assistance to those in need, since the good of each person is care of the state, and the person himself, and his environment. Concern for the welfare of everyone and the public good can become the basis on which a new society can be built, a society where each individual will have the opportunity for full self-realization.
Professional social work in Russia goes back to the benevolence, compassion, mercy of the ancient Slavs, to Christian charity, to the traditions of helping the poor by secular philanthropists. Based on the moral laws of helping a person, which are the essence of the Russian people, it is designed to develop and continue all the best that is characteristic of Russians in caring for the welfare of a person.
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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS OF SOCIAL WORKER |
Ethics(Greek ethika, from ethos - custom) - philosophical science, the object of study of which is morality, its development, norms and role in society. Ethics is one of the most ancient theoretical disciplines that emerged as part of philosophy. To refer to the philosophical doctrine of morality and morality, Aristotle proposed the term "ethics ".
As a branch of philosophy, ethics is called upon at the theoretical level to solve the issues of morality and morality that arise before a person in his daily activities. Since theoretical knowledge is most directly related to practice, it justifies the practical activity of a person in a certain way.
Human labor activity is the most typical and comprehensive example of practical activity, in connection with which we can talk about the phenomenon professional ethics - one of the fundamental theoretical foundations of any professional activity, which is the science of professional morality as a set of ideals and values, ideas about what is due, ethical principles and norms of behavior that reflect the essence of the profession and ensure relationships between people that develop in the process of work and stem from the content of their professional activities. At the same time, professional ethics is moral self-awareness. professional group, its psychology and ideology .
Professional ethics as a set of stable norms and rules that an employee should be guided by in their activities arose in ancient times, when it could not be a separate, isolated branch of knowledge. The first ethical requirements for the actions of a specialist can be found in the ancient Egyptian manuscript "Instructions of the head of the city and the vizier Ptahhettep", dating back to the III millennium BC. Among other requirements for the employee, the need for conscientious and high-quality performance of one's duties is indicated, since such an attitude to work is a guarantee of a future high position and wealth . However, experts attribute the emergence of the first integral professional ethical complexes to the period of the handicraft division of labor, i.e., to the period of the emergence of handicraft workshops in the 11th-12th centuries . It was during this period that historians state that ethical requirements appeared in the shop charters, regulating the attitude towards the profession, work, workmates, etc.
However, representatives of a number of professions that were of vital importance for all members of society, earlier than others, realized the need for ethical regulation of their activities, and therefore such professional ethical codes as the Hippocratic Oath and some others developed somewhat earlier. Basically, these are professions directly related to a person or to the conditions of his life, professions with a high degree of individualization of labor, for example, teaching, medical activities.
As F. Engels noted , each profession has its own morality. The profession forms in its bearers not only professional skills, but also certain personality traits and attitudes towards the content of their activities. Professional ethics underlies all other aspects of professional activity, since the morality of a professional group (professional morality) is an integral part of the morality of society, and morality itself is one of the most ancient regulators of behavior and actions, human interaction, including in the professional sphere.
The appearance of professional ethics precedes the creation of scientific theories about it, since professional ethics, which initially arises as a phenomenon of everyday consciousness, later develops on the basis of comprehension and generalization of the practice of representatives of the professional group. These generalizations are systematized in the form of codes (written and unwritten), containing not only ethical requirements for the content and results of activities, but also for relations that arise in the course of activities, as well as conclusions drawn from generalizations. Thus, professional ethics is not only the science of professional morality, but also the moral self-awareness of the total professional group, its ideology and psychology.
Professional ethics, like ethics in general, is not developed, but is developed gradually in the process of everyday joint activities of people. Professional ethics systematizes the experience accumulated in the process of historical practice that is characteristic of a given type of activity, generalizes it and improves it as this type of activity improves. Therefore, professional ethics can be considered as a kind of general morality, which carries specific features determined by the type and type of activity - that is, it is an applied scientific discipline that studies professional morality. At the same time, it can be considered as an applied theory of morality that exists in a professional environment.
In the practice of everyday activities, professional ethics is a set of norms of behavior of specialists. The norms of professional ethics are subject to change under the influence of both external and internal factors in relation to the profession. They directly, at every moment of time, influence the behavior of specialists, prompting them to act in a certain way. The main objectives of professional ethics are to influence the mind of a specialist in order to improve him as a person and as a professional and to promote the most complete and effective solution of professional problems. In general, professional ethics is the application of general, theoretical ethics to certain types professional activity.
Social work, as a special kind of professional activity, has a specific, unique set of ideals and values that have developed in the process of establishing the principles and norms of behavior of specialists. Being a specialized activity, social work contains unique situations, contradictions that need to be resolved in the very process of activity and which are often the subject of this activity. This circumstance makes it necessary to adhere to special, more stringent moral principles and norms in the activities.
In their practical activities, specialists need not only moral guidelines that determine the general, main direction of their activities, but also the rules of daily activities, without which it is impossible to implement moral norms and principles. Therefore, the ethical norms of social work reflect the basic requirements and criteria for the behavior and actions of a social worker, which, for all their diversity, are dictated by the specific conditions and content of his work.
Ethics in social work is not the end product, but one of the integral components of everyday activities, along with the theoretical justification for the need for action, the legislatively provided opportunity to act, determining the most effective way to solve the problem, its economic support and organization of the implementation of the decision. A deep knowledge of the norms and principles of professional ethics, their rigorous, creative application in everyday activities helps the social worker to cooperate with clients, their relatives, colleagues, representatives of public, state and non-state organizations and institutions.
The ethics of social work is based on moral standards(lat. norma - a rule, a sample; one of the simplest forms of moral requirement, acting as an element of moral relations and a form of moral consciousness ), accepted by society as one of the most important regulators of joint activity and existence, and on those professional values that constitute essence of social work. An ethical approach to the professional activities of a social worker allows us to return to ethical standards the imperative meaning that is inherent in them, but which has been ignored for a long time, and to increase the individual and collective responsibility of specialists for their actions, to raise the significance and authority of the professional activities of each social worker, the entire system social protection of the population.
The professional ethics of social work is not an exclusive, contradictory to other mechanisms, regulator of the behavior of specialists. Its norms and principles serve the same purposes as the requirements of the legal framework or technological process in social work. On the contrary, the ethics of social work requires professionals and their teams to serve the interests of society and the profession, clients and their groups. The professional ethics of a social worker prescribes the search for reserves, the use of all possible types of resources - from social to personal resources of both the social worker himself and his client; however, this is permissible only for socially and professionally approved purposes, and in no case for narrow corporate or personal selfish interests.
Today, for social work, the question of the need to determine the ethical criteria for the responsibility of each social worker for their professional activities is becoming increasingly important, which requires the creation of a unified approach to establishing moral principles and norms, their unambiguous understanding, and the development of a unified system of values and ideals.
Equally important is the problem of the collective responsibility of social workers. Any professional group, especially if it creates its own professional association, whether it realizes it or not, seeks to maintain and preserve its own narrow professional interests - for example, increasing the prestige and status of the profession, obtaining subsidies for the development of professional activities, etc. However, the implementation of these interests will be justified only if it proceeds in line with the solution of general professional meaningful and social problems. Therefore, one of the main tasks of the professional ethics of social work should be considered the desire to prevent contradictions between corporate interests and the goals and objectives of professional activity, as well as the interests of society and each of its members.
Thus, object study of the ethics of social work is the professional morality of specialists, and subject - Ethical relations arising in the process of work, ethical consciousness and ethical actions of social workers.
aim the ethics of social work is to ensure and maintain the socially approved content and essence of professional activity, and task - normative regulation of relations, behavior and actions of individual representatives of a professional group and their associations, the formation of an appropriate ethical consciousness of social specialists.
Main ethical relationship in social work, arising in the process of professional ethical activity as a set of dependencies and connections, are to achieve social and personal benefits by transforming the "man - environment" system. These relationships arise between social workers as members of a team, between social workers and their clients, between social workers and the social environment of clients, between social workers and various institutions, organizations, individuals with whom social workers contact regarding assistance to clients. Finally, these are the relations that arise between the institution of social work as one of the state structures and other state organizations, the state as a whole and society.
Ethical relations in social work exist in the form requirements presented by the subjects of relations to each other in terms of the performance of professional duties and duty; moral principles, underlying social work and subordinating all activities; moral character, which the subjects of social activity must possess and update in their work; permanent self-control professionals in their work.
ethical consciousness social worker is a reflection of his social life and activities arising in the process of professional relations. This consciousness is a subjective reflection of morality, since objective social necessity and social needs are reflected in the mind of a specialist as ideas about proper behavior and actions. This special form of social necessity awareness by a specialist receives a specific moral justification: behavior and activity are no longer considered from the point of view of their necessity, but from the point of view of their moral value. The highest measure of the value of an act is the good of society and the clients of social work, and therefore, from the point of view of morality, the social worker himself. Because of this, the professional activity of a particular social worker, from the point of view of morality, is a blessing not only because it is necessary for society or clients, but also because it is necessary for the social worker himself, as it provides him with the opportunity to benefit and thereby realize his own moral attitudes.
ethical action. Social work, like any activity, is characterized by certain structural elements that can be assessed from the standpoint of morality and ethics. A social worker operates in a value-oriented world, where every action, goal, motive, means of achieving the goal, or even intention can be evaluated in terms of compliance with his moral standards, i.e., society's or microsociety's ideas of good and evil.
Goals. The highest goal and measure of morality and activity can only be the benefit of the client and society. The purpose of the activity is always an ideal image of the future real result. The goal that a social worker sets for himself when starting to act can be generally expressed by the formula: "to contribute to solving problems and improving the living conditions of the client." The client, as a rule, formulates his goal more specifically. However, the goal set by the client is not always achievable - this can be influenced by such factors as the capabilities of the social protection system and a particular social service, the objective value of the final result for the client, the ethical nature of the goal, and other factors. At the same time, the social worker, assessing the ethical acceptability of the goal, planning specific actions to solve the client's problems, takes personal responsibility. In the event that a social worker assesses the possible value of the results of work for the client, his social environment, for society as a whole as negative, considers it possible not to take actions to achieve this goal or change the goal, he must carefully argue his opinion and prove its correctness to the client .
Motivation. Any person correlates reality, whether it be objects, phenomena or deeds and actions, with his own spiritual world. A social worker always perceives his activity from the point of view not only of universal or professional values, but also on the basis of his own system of values, his own concepts of morality and ethics. The actions of a social worker include specific moral motives of his professional activity: the desire to do good, to help those in need, subordination to a sense of duty - human and professional, the need to achieve certain ideals, the implementation of value orientations. For a social worker, due to his professional duties, the main content of his profession and a significant end result is the achievement of the good of the client, the solution of his problems.
However, it should be noted that social work currently attracts not only people whose life's work has become helping those in need. Due to various external reasons, people come to social work seeking to realize their own interests, and not to help people. Such activity is also possible, but it is usually less effective, since external motivation, for example, a convenient work schedule, wages, as well as any other external benefits, is much weaker than internal motivation.
This is especially true in social work, where intrinsic motivation, i.e., internal motivations for activity. As motives, as a rule, the content of the work performed, the process of labor activity and its final result are most often considered. If a social worker as a person feels the need to be needed by people, if he is ready to protect the weak, if he rejoices in the well-being of his client and is proud of his success, then we can say that positive motivation takes place. Therefore, a sense of community with the client, responsibility for his fate, the need to be useful and do good are the desired motives for the behavior and activities of a social worker, which should be developed in the course of his training and practical activities.
Legitimization . Legitimization is understood as the legal justification on which a social worker (a group of specialists) or a social service officially relies in the foundations of their activities. First of all, as a rule, these are the laws of the Russian Federation relating to social work, the job description for an individual employee and the Regulations on the social protection unit or on the social service - the entire legal framework governing the activities of the institution, social protection bodies and their employees.
A document legitimizing the activities of social services can be a federal or local social program, an order or a letter of instruction from a higher social security agency or federal and local authorities, their decision, etc. In any case, this is a document, the content of which must meet the criteria morality and in no case can contradict the general goals and objectives common to all social services and the system of social protection as a whole, the current legislation. The justification of the activity, both in form and in content, may differ from the goals due to various objective reasons.
In addition to official documents regulating the activities of social services and specific social workers, there should be a clear and precise agreement between a specialist and his client about the nature and goals of their interaction, the procedure for joint actions. This may be an agreement concluded by the client or on behalf of the client with the social service, an application or other document sent by the client (or a person entitled to represent his interests) to the social service.
Facilities. The question of the relationship between the goal and the means to achieve it is one of the key issues of ethics. To achieve the set goals, the social worker uses all legal means available to him - from material to spiritual. When choosing means, it is necessary to be guided by ethical principles, the main of which is “do no harm”. The social worker must foresee what consequences not only the achievement of the goal set by him, but also the use of the means he has chosen to achieve the goal can lead to - “the use of destructive means leads to the transformation of the goal itself” . Despite the fact that the goal set by a social worker may be highly moral, the inconsistency of the means with it, their immorality can cross out all the results of the activity.
So, for example, it is known that social work is constrained in funds due to insufficient funding. However, this does not mean that a social worker can help his low-income clients by expropriating funds from their more affluent fellow citizens and thus playing the role of a “noble robber” or allowing fraud, committing dishonest acts. Even if, in accordance with the current criminal legislation, such a social worker cannot be held accountable, his activities will receive a negative assessment in the public mind, which will then be transferred to the entire institution of social work. Therefore, for a social worker, actions based on the principle of permissiveness, even in the name of a great noble goal, are unacceptable. To achieve the set goals, it is necessary to choose only legalized, approved by society, having a high moral value of the means.
Actions. The social worker's decision to take action should be based on an understanding and knowledge of how the action will benefit the client and society. Actions must be carried out on the basis of respect for the client and persons from his social environment, concern for their dignity and genuine well-being. The responsibility for developing a plan or program of ethical action to achieve the goal always rests entirely with the social worker. Despite the fact that the client is a full-fledged participant in the discussion of options for solving the problem and even has the right to “veto” (i.e., may not agree to the solution proposed by the social worker), it is the social worker, as a specialist with the necessary knowledge and authority, who makes the decision. determines the order of actions and, therefore, is responsible for them. Ethics requires that a specialist always inform his client about all stages of the actions he takes and explain their essence, talk about all the significant points that may affect the achievement of the goal, as well as the desire of the client to achieve this particular goal.
Final result. The result is the natural expected product of the activity. Getting to work, the social worker, already at the stage of goal-setting, imagines what exactly he wants and can receive upon completion of work. However, as a rule, the actual final result differs from the planned result, i.e. from the set goal, since the goal is an ideal variant of the expected result. How different the real from the ideal depends on both objective and subjective reasons. In any case, the social worker must take measures to neutralize the negative effect of the subjective factor as much as possible, i.e. to mobilize himself and the client, to involve all necessary resources society to accomplish the task. He should also be well aware of possible objective obstacles to achieving the goal and in a timely manner, in the course of developing an action plan, provide options for action if they arise.
However, success must also "fit" within the boundaries of ethical standards, and the social worker must constantly monitor the compliance of what is planned with what is really expected. He should not start work if its results are likely to offend his moral sense, and the negative consequences will call into question his efforts. This applies not only to his own actions, but also to the actions of his colleagues, which affect him as a representative of this structure or the entire system.
In general, the ethics of social work includes the following levels:
The application of internal ethical standards to all types of interactions within the system: a social worker - a client, a social worker - a social worker, a social worker - a team of a social institution, a social service - a social service, etc. At this level, the formation of the very actions and relationships that arise in the system and their evaluation from the point of view of representatives of the professional group;
Evaluation of the behavior and actions of specific social workers and social services in terms of universal ethical standards accepted by society as moral norms. At this level, social workers and their actions are viewed and evaluated as if from the outside, by clients and their social environment. At the same time, at this level, the behavior and actions of social workers are also influenced in terms of the expectations of clients and their environment;
Evaluation of social work as a whole as a social institution, within which social workers are included in a wide range of external relationships with any structures, from the point of view of its (social institution) social expediency and morality. This level includes an assessment of social usefulness, the need for social work for society and its objective recognition by society, a comparison of the ethical content and external manifestations of professional activity in terms of society's expectations.
Ethical assessment at any level is objective-subjective. The subjectivity of the assessment is due to the fact that the assessment is carried out by people and it is not always possible to exclude the personal factor. So, for example, in the case of assessing social work by a client, his opinion largely depends on how completely the social worker managed to solve his personal problem, and the client does not always take into account truly objective possibilities for such a solution.
An assessment by society may also not be entirely objective, since society is socially heterogeneous; far from all citizens have comprehensive information about the institution of social work, its capabilities and needs. The assessment of social work as a social institution by society and the state, as a rule, may differ. The state, creating the institution of social work, proceeds from the potential of this institution, which can be realized in the future under certain circumstances; for society, the greatest interest is not the potential, but the end result, and society, of course, is not always aware of the conditions under which the activity of the institution of social work becomes optimal.
The moral norms that regulate professional behavior and relationships that arise in the course of professional activity perform certain functions in social work. The functions of the ethics of professional work are determined by many factors, the main of which are the essence, content and orientation of the profession. /
The main functions of the ethics of social work can be considered the following:
estimated- makes it possible to evaluate, from the point of view of compliance with moral norms and principles, the behavior and actions, goals and objectives of the participants in the process, their aspirations and intentions, their chosen means of achieving the goal and final results;
regulatory- arises from the need to regulate the behavior and actions of a social worker in various formal and informal situations so that they harmoniously fit into the activities of the entire professional group and correspond to the essence of the profession;
organizational- serves to improve the organization of social work, requiring from the participants in the process of activity the creative fulfillment of their duties and professional duty;
manager- serves as a means of social management of the behavior and actions of a social worker during the process in the interests of the case;
motivational- serves as a means of forming socially and professionally approved motives for activity;
coordinating- ensures the cooperation of all participants in the process of providing social assistance to the client, based on trust and mutual assistance;
regulating- directs and determines the choice by a social worker or social service of goals, methods and means of providing assistance to a client;
reproductive- allows you to reproduce the actions of social workers and the relationship of social workers among themselves and with clients on the basis of morality and ethics;
educational- serves as a means of educating and improving the personality of both a social worker and his client and the client's social environment;
communicative- serves as a means of communication between specialists and their clients;
optimizing- contributes to increasing the efficiency and quality of social work, raising the status of the profession in society, the level of its morality;
stabilizing- contributes to the stabilization of relations among social workers, between social workers and clients and their relatives, between social workers and representatives of various institutions;
rationalizing- makes it easier for the social worker to choose the goals, methods and means of influence, the choice of the most effective and acceptable solution from the point of view of professional morality;
preventive- protects, warns the social worker from acts and actions that are harmful to the client and society;
predictive- allows you to predict the actions and behavior of individual social workers and their teams, their ethical development;
conflict resolution- contributes to the elimination, resolution and smoothing of contradictions that arise in the process of social work between its subjects and objects;
informational- introduces social workers to the value system of professional social work and professional morality;
social- contributes to the creation of conditions favorable for the implementation of social work in society;
socializing- serves the cause of introducing the social worker to the prevailing system of values and morality in society.
The variety of functions of professional morality of a social worker is due to its high social significance.
Ethically oriented social work connects the existent with the proper on the basis of morality and ethics. It does not limit itself to abstract norms and values, but is considered in practical situations, it teaches to see the context of behavior and actions of a specialist that goes beyond purely practical, direct production interests, i.e., it helps to compare the objective and the subjective, the absolute and the situationally determined. The ethics of social work studies the behavior of a specialist in relation to value orientations, evaluates his motives and the results of his actions from the point of view of good and evil. It is subject to one of the most important ethical postulates: every social worker is responsible for the evil and misfortune that he knows about and which he can prevent.
Issues of social responsibility are most directly faced by social workers when practical work with clients. To the extent that changes occur with the client or in the social environment, the situation itself changes, and hence its ethical assessment. In this case, the implementation of an ethical assessment is possible on various levels- from the level of an individual client to the level of the whole society. In connection with the evaluation of activities, it is legitimate to raise the question of moral standards, according to which this assessment is made.
Under criterion of morality(morality) is understood as a set of ideas about good and evil, justice as the content of moral requirements for professional behavior and actions. The criteria of morality in social work are twofold - on the one hand, they contain general requirements for the actions of a social worker that are of general social significance, on the other hand, they contain requirements for the effectiveness and quality of social work itself. Such an approach to the definition of moral criteria does not allow them to be reduced to narrow professional interests and at the same time does not make it possible to ignore the general humanistic values of the profession. On this basis, a number of criteria can be distinguished.
Promoting social progress. This criterion is typical for all types of professional activity, and each profession contributes to social progress. A social worker, as a professional, is obliged to contribute to the self-realization of his client, to increase his personal potential. Accordingly, an increase in the potential of the individual will lead to an increase in the potential of the whole society, which will contribute to social progress.
Formation of a highly moral personality. In the process of social work, the personality of not only the social worker is formed, but also, with the help of his influence, the personality of the client. In this regard, only those actions of a social worker that lead to the formation of a highly moral personality can be considered moral - both himself as a specialist and his client.
social expediency. Social work in general and the activity of each individual social worker or service is guided by the criterion of social expediency based on the needs and capabilities of society. It is society that determines which categories of citizens and under what conditions become clients of social services, what kind of services they can be offered.
Cooperation of participants in the process. Only such activity of a social worker can be considered moral, which leads to active cooperation of the participants in the process (colleagues, client, his relatives), which, in turn, positively affects the results of interaction, increases the authority of both the social worker and social work in general, and client.
Ensuring a comprehensive positive impact on the participants in the process. The social worker exerts a multifaceted influence in the course of his professional activity. Solving (or contributing to the solution) of the client's problems, he simultaneously affects the material conditions of his life, his psyche, and regardless of what kind of help the client needs and is provided. There is also an influence on the colleagues of the social worker - he can serve as an example for them. Thus, a positive impact is also exerted on the whole society, which is interested in the maximum efficiency of social work.
Criteria for the morality of social work can serve not only to assess the activities of specialists in the field of social work and social work itself as a specific type of professional activity, but also to assess the very moral requirements for social work. They make it possible to distinguish between narrowly professional norms that express the interests of social workers as representatives of the profession, and moral norms that are of value and interest to the whole society. Actually, the second group of professional ethical norms of social work is the moral basis that led to the emergence of the profession of a social worker in our society.
Social work is an activity carried out in complex formal and informal situations. At the same time, the social worker must take into account that he has an ethical responsibility to the client, his social environment and society from the moment the decision is made until the final result is obtained in its entirety. In his work, o "should be guided by the principles of professional ethics - the most general requirements expressing the main direction of behavior of a specialist in relation to a particular subject of relations arising in the process of social work.
| Author | Book | Description | Year | Price | book type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medvedeva Galina Pavlovna | This book is the first domestic manual devoted to the study of the problem of the ethical foundations of social work as a specific type of professional activity. It deals with ... - Vlados, Textbook for universities | 2002 | 129 | paper book | |
| Medvedeva Galina Pavlovna | Ethics of social work. Textbook for university students | This book is the first domestic manual devoted to the study of the problem of the ethical foundations of social work as a specific type of professional activity. It discusses… - VLADOS, (format: 60x90/16, 190 pages) Textbook for universities | 2002 | 110 | paper book |
| Kholostova Evdokia Ivanovna | The textbook presents the theoretical and methodological foundations of the technology of social work as an academic discipline and practice of specialists social institutions and services. Definitely... - Yurayt, Bachelor. Basic course | 2015 | 1338 | paper book | |
| Edited by E. I. Kholostova, L. I. Kononova | Technology of social work. Textbook for bachelors. Vulture MO | The textbook presents the theoretical and methodological foundations of the technology of social work as an academic discipline and the practice of the activities of specialists in social institutions and services. Determined… - URAIT, (format: 60x90/16, 190 pages) Bachelor | 2011 | 1731 | paper book |
| Political and economic ethics. Tutorial | This publication presents the works of well-known German specialists in modern social ethics- B. Sutor and K. Homan. Both books are united by one goal: the authors explore the possibilities ... - FAIR-PRESS, (format: 60x90/16, 368 pages) | 2001 | 41 | paper book | |
| K. Kautsky | Readers are invited to the book of the outstanding German economist, historian and publicist, theorist of classical Marxism, Karl Kautsky, which includes his works on problems ... - Librok, (format: 60x90 / 16, 190 pages) Thinking about Marxism | 2012 | 395 | paper book | |
| Kautsky K. | Three Crises of Marxism. class interests. Class struggle. Ethics | Readers are invited to the book of the outstanding German economist, historian and publicist, theorist of classical Marxism, Karl Kautsky, which includes his works on problems ... - URSS, (format: 60x90 / 16, 190 pages) Thinking about Marxism | 2012 | 275 | paper book |
| K. Kautsky | Three Crises of Marxism. class interests. Class struggle. Ethics | Readers are invited to the book of the outstanding German economist, historian and publicist, theorist of classical Marxism, Karl Kautsky, which includes his works on problems ... - Librok, (format: 60x90 / 16, 184 pages) famous armored vehicles | 2012 | 234 | paper book |
| Herbert Spencer | Political writings. In 5 volumes. Volume 5. Ethics of public life | Volume V contains the three most important parts of the final work of G. Spencer `Foundations of Ethics`: `Justice`, `Negative Charity` and `Positive Charity`, in the aggregate ... - Socium, (format: 60x90 / 16, 496 pages) | 2015 | 686 | paper book |
See also other dictionaries:
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MEDICAL ETHICS- MEDICAL ETHICS, a type of professional ethics relating to the activities and behavior of representatives of the medical profession. Prof. ethics app general concepts about morality to one or another branch of prof. activities. Views on the essence and ... ... Big Medical Encyclopedia
Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church is an official document of the Russian Orthodox Church, approved at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000. Contents 1 Tasks and subject of the document 2 Contents of the document ... Wikipedia
of the Russian Orthodox Church is an official document of the Russian Orthodox Church, approved at the jubilee Bishops' Council in 2000. Contents 1 Tasks and subject of the document 2 Contents of the document ... Wikipedia
Fundamentals of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church is an official document of the Russian Orthodox Church, approved at the jubilee Bishops' Council in 2000. Contents 1 Tasks and subject of the document 2 Contents of the document ... Wikipedia
An official document of the Russian Orthodox Church, approved at the anniversary Bishops' Council in 2000. Contents 1 Tasks and subject of the document 2 Contents of the document ... Wikipedia
analytical ethics- ANALYTICAL ETHICS is the general name of a number of modern ethical theories and trends that use the methods and approaches of analytical philosophy. The only unifying feature of these theories is the analytical style of thinking, i.e. ... ... Encyclopedia of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science
Work ethic- In relation to work, the level of societies and development is reflected to some extent. Hesiod sang of labor as a highly venerated and god-sent occupation, as a source of human well-being. In the course of human development individual (liberation from... Dictionary of antiquity
FORMAL ETHICS- a section (aspect) of ethics, which examines moral and legal (or simply moral) forms of behavior (abstracted from its moral and legal content) in order to find formal criteria for the correctness of behavior. (The term right ... ... Modern Philosophical Dictionary
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Textbook for universities
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"Humanitarian Publishing Center VLADOS"
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The publication is carried out within the framework of the State program of scientific and methodological support for the specialty "Social work" - scientific supervisor Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor V.I. Zhukov
Reviewers:
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Medvedeva G.P.
M42 Ethics of social work: Proc. allowance for students. higher education, institutions. - M.: Humanit. ed. center VLADOS,
ISBN 5-691-00380-1.
This book is the first domestic manual devoted to the study of the problem of the ethical foundations of social work as a specific type of professional activity. It deals with the main questions of the origin, formation, essence and content of the ethics of social work, its institutionalization in the form of a professional code of ethics; both theoretical and practical aspects of the social worker's activity from the point of view of professional ethics and morality, the essence and content of his professional duty are disclosed.
The textbook is addressed to students studying in the specialties "Social work" and "Social Pedagogy", practical social workers, as well as teachers.
BBC 65.272+87.75
© Medvedeva G.P., 1999
© MGSU, 1999
© Humanitarian Publishing Center VLADOS, 1999
ISBN 5-691-00380-1
Educational edition
Medvedeva Galina Pavlovna
ETHICS OF SOCIAL WORK
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(Document)
n1.doc
MOSCOW STATE SOCIAL UNIVERSITYACADEMY OF SOCIAL WORK
G.P. MEDVEDEV
PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL BASIS
SOCIAL WORK
LECTURE COURSE
MOSCOW
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………..4
SECTION 1. Professionally significant values of social work,
their essence, typology. The place and role of values in the social
work……………………………………………………………………………...8
Topic 1. Place and role of values in social work…………………8
Lecture 1. The place and role of values in the life of a person and society ... .8Lecture 2. Axiological foundations of social work……………………….26
Topic 2 Professionally significant values of social work,
Their essence, typology…………………………………………………….39
Lecture 1. The system and hierarchy of values of professional social work…………………………………………………………………………………………………39
Lecture 2
SECTION 2. The main stages in the formation and development of value
foundations of social work in Russia and abroad…………………..77Topic 3. The main stages of formation and development of value bases
social work…………………………………….………………………….77Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Topic 4. The essence and content of the modern professional and ethical system of social work…………………………………..….107
Lecture 1. Essence, functions and constituent elements of a professional ethical system…………………………………………………………………………………………..107
Lecture 2
SECTION 3. Deontological issues of social work……………137
Topic 5. Deontological issues of social work………………137
Lecture 1. The concept and essence of professional duty in social work ... 137Lecture 2. Place and role of duty in social work………………………………...150
Lecture 3. Deontological conflicts in social work…………………… 162
SECTION 4. Professional and ethical requirements for the professiogram
social worker………………………………………………………170
Topic 6. Professional and ethical requirements for the professiogram
social worker…………………………………………………..170Lecture 1
Lecture 2
SECTION 5. Ethical and value regulation of activities and relations
in the social work system. Features of the code of ethics
social work………………………………………………………….206
Topic 7. Features of the ethical code of social work………..206
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Topic 8. Professional and ethical regulation of the activities of a social worker under the influence of professional and ethical systems various kinds professional activity…………………237
Lecture 1. Ethical regulation of professional activity…………….237
Lecture 2
CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………....257
LITERATURE………………………………………………………………..258
List of basic literature………………………………………………258
List of additional literature……………………………………259
APPENDICES………………………………………………………………261
Code of Professional Ethics of the International Federation of Social Workers…………………………………………………………
Code of Professional Ethics of the Association of Social Workers………………………………………………………………
INTRODUCTION
The course of lectures "Professional and ethical foundations of social work" reveals the main content of the training course "Professional and ethical foundations of social work", which is one of the basic state standard training of specialists, bachelors and masters in the direction of "Social work". Unlike the previously given course of lectures "Ethics of Social Work", this academic discipline presents a fundamentally different approach to the place and role of the professional and ethical component of social work.
Social work is considered in the course of lectures as a kind of social activity of society, aimed at promoting the socialization of the individual and creating favorable conditions for this in society. The course content reflects modern scientific ideas about social work as an expedient multi-aspect activity of society for the socialization of the individual, including those in a difficult life situation, as well as the relationship and interdependence of the effectiveness and quality of social work, its forms and content with the conditions and level of development of society and the individual .
The recognition of a person as the highest value of modern civilization and the peculiarities of social work as a professional activity determine the essence and specifics of the value-ethical regulation of the activities of specialists, determine the requirements for its personal qualities, and thereby determine the content of this course. At the same time, the recognition of a person as the highest value of modern civilization makes social work both in a general sense and in particular, with people in a difficult life situation necessary. From this point of view, the value of a person and society and the need to realize these values is a meaningful component of social work.
The training course "Professional and ethical foundations of social work" includes the main components of professional ethical and axiological knowledge necessary for a social worker in his practical and scientific activities. The course is designed taking into account that students have systemic knowledge obtained in the process of studying general humanitarian and socio-economic disciplines and takes into account both general and specific features of modern social work.
The aim of the course is to form a holistic, systematic understanding of the value-ethical foundations of activity and professional morality in social work among students, to reveal the essence and justify the need for an ethical-axiological approach in understanding and organizing professional scientific and practical activities, to form the foundations of the value-ethical thinking of a specialist, Bachelor and Master of Social Work.
The objectives of the course are:
Studying the place and role, essence and typology of professionally significant values in social work;
Analysis of the main stages of formation and development of the value bases of social work in Russia and abroad;
Studying the features of ethical and value regulation of activities and relations in the system of social work, the ethical code of social work;
The study of deontological issues of social work;
Analysis and justification of professional and ethical requirements for the professional profile of a social worker, assistance in the formation of professionally significant features of his personality.
Professional social work refers to the types of activities in which the professional and ethical competence of a specialist is a significant component of professionalism and contributes to the formation of a holistic professional thinking of a practical and scientific worker in the field of social work. The professional ethical system has a humanizing effect on the personality of a specialist, his client, their social environment, and thus on society as a whole. As a result, the training course “Professional and ethical foundations of social work” is an integral component of the professional training of a future specialist, bachelor and master of social work, the basis for his subsequent personal and professional development and improvement. This determines the place and role of the course in socio-humanitarian education. It is advisable to include the training course in the plan of the third year, when students have already basically studied theoretical basis social work and formed an idea of its meaning and essence. The content of the training course "Professional and ethical foundations of social work" can be supplemented taking into account the specifics of the university and the region.
As a result of studying the course “Professional and ethical foundations of social work”, the knowledge and skills of the student must meet the requirements of the minimum knowledge and skills of the state educational standard.
The student must:
To have knowledge in the field of ethical and axiological foundations of social work, to know their main elements and the relationship between them;
Be able to apply a systematic ethical and axiological approach to the analysis of the essence and content, forms and methods of social work in general and its individual types, as well as actual social reality;
Know the main stages in the development and formation of the professional and ethical foundations of social work, their features, be able to identify, justify and analyze trends in the development of the value and ethical foundations of social work;
Possess the skills of ethical and axiological analysis of processes, phenomena, situations, relationships, actions, documents, etc.;
Know the main components of the hierarchy of professional values of social work, its determinants;
Know the main elements of the professional ethical system, the limits of their applicability, be able to analyze and apply them in professional practice;
Know the meaning and content of the professional duty of a social worker, be able to identify the deontological component in a particular situation;
Know the main provisions of the professional and ethical code, be able to interpret them in a particular situation;
To be able to identify areas of value-ethical contradictions and conflicts in social work, to have the skills to resolve them;
To know the features and contradictions of the formation of value orientations in modern Russia, the value-axiological consciousness of the individual in general and the professional social worker in particular;
Possess the skills of value-ethical self-assessment and self-control, self-education and self-improvement.
Section 1. Professionally significant values of social work, their essence, typology
Place and role of values in social work
Topic 1. Place and role of values in social work
The first topic studied in the training course reveals the concept of values and their role in regulating the behavior and activities of a person, his professional activities. The values and ideals recognized and implemented by a person serve as the most important motivators of his activity, as a result of which their study is necessary for the analysis and evaluation of his activity. Professional social work, which is in its infancy in our country, includes a specific professional and ethical component, the study of which is important for understanding its meaning.
Lecture 1. The place and role of values in the life of a person and society.
Lecture plan:
The concept of values. Values as foundations, conditions and means of human and social life. Needs, values, value orientations, attitudes. Axiology as a doctrine of values.
The concept of a system and hierarchy of values. The structure of the value system. Value transversions and fluctuations. Ideal, its essence and content. Values and value orientations in professional activity. Values and goals, values and motivation of activity and professional activity. ideals and goals. Features of value regulation of behavior and activity.
Professional and ethical component of social work, its place and role in the system of social work. The essence of the ethical and axiological approach to the analysis and evaluation of activities and professional activities. The place and role of the ethical-axiological approach in professional social work, its functions, goals and objectives.
Social work is a specific type of social activity, directly or indirectly covering almost all aspects of social life. It has a special, complex and multidimensional impact on the individual and society, which does not always coincide in direction with other determinants of social development. Therefore, social work is one of the most important conditions and at the same time a means of developing and improving a person and society, achieving their well-being and striving for the good, since it requires readiness from a person and society and determines their optimal preparedness for activities aimed at transforming, improving social and individual being.
Activity, as a rule, cannot be undertaken by a person intuitively, chaotically, instinctively, without a predetermined guideline, without a goal. Wanting to achieve some new, different from the previously existing, state, quality, a person proceeds from considerations of the preference for this new one, therefore, it is more significant for him, is a value.
Values are specifically social definitions of the objects of the surrounding world, revealing their positive or negative value for a person and society 1 . Outwardly, values act as properties of an object or phenomenon, but value is not an essential characteristic of this object or phenomenon. A person, his various needs, on the one hand, and the properties of an object or phenomenon that make it possible to satisfy these needs, on the other hand, give rise to a value attitude, the result of which is the assignment of a value status to the object or phenomenon under consideration. Thus, values are objects that are significant for a person; through the category of value, a person demonstrates his attitude towards them. Value is something that is not indifferent to a person. In other words, value is inherent in an object or phenomenon not by nature, but because of their involvement in the sphere of human existence, and through the concept of value, a person determines his position in relation to this object or phenomenon.
Values arise in the process of social practice, which determines both the value object and the subject. A person learns the properties of objects of the external world in the process of satisfying his needs and interests, achieving his goals. Hence, the dual, objective-subjective nature of value is obvious: the properties of an object or phenomenon, thanks to which human needs can be satisfied, exist by nature, are inherent in these objects and phenomena, and therefore are objective. They are independent of being in demand by a person and of understanding them as necessary, useful. Therefore, the objective component of value does not depend on the perception of a person. By comparing his needs with the objective ability of external objects to satisfy these needs, a person realizes objects as a value or not a value. The reflection of the objective properties of the object is carried out by a person, therefore, valuable information reflects not only the phenomena themselves, but also their meaning, significance for the reflecting subject. The fact that a person evaluates an object or phenomenon from the point of view of his needs determines the presence of a subjective component of value. Human needs are changeable, they can be distorted, be updated only situationally, etc., as a result of which value can have different meanings for different individuals, societies, and even for the same individual in different time. The presence of the subjective factor also determines the presence of systems of social, group, personal values that are formed in the conditions of a particular mode of production, the organization of the life of society, a group and an individual, and their sociocultural experience. At the same time, it is important to note that the concepts of good and evil, valuable and invaluable, are developed in the public consciousness, first of all, in relation to society, and only secondarily, to the individual.
In his judgments, decision-making, behavior, even individual actions, a person proceeds from certain values. Any activity in general is undertaken by a person and society within the framework of their orientation towards certain values recognized by them, and in accordance with this orientation, activity can receive one direction or another, be constructive or destructive, more or less successful. Ultimately, it is the value systems and value orientations of a person and society, which are formed to a large extent under the influence of specific historical conditions of life, that determine the need for human activity aimed at transforming and improving the conditions and ways of being. Therefore, among the numerous determinants of social work, the most important place is occupied by the value system of both society and social work itself as a vital and necessary sphere of social life.
The activities of a person and society are undertaken mainly in the name of achieving some goal, which exists already before the start of the activity as an ideal image of the desired end result. The goal of activity is not chosen by a person arbitrarily, it is a consequence of the conditions of human existence and his nature: the current state of things (no matter what it is) does not satisfy a person and gives rise to a desire to make changes in him. Existing loses its positive value in the eyes of a person, while the intended end result of the activity - the goal - is a value that needs to be realized. Purposeful activity, as a rule, is undertaken by a person when there is an opportunity for its implementation. This presupposes the existence of certain conditions and means of activity. Creating the possibility of achieving a goal, a person attaches importance to the conditions and means of activity of values, but they have a lower rank compared to the goal, because they do not have independent significance: if a person does not strive for a specific goal, then the conditions and means of achieving this goal do not interest him. At the same time, activity as a whole can be presented as a value (axiatic or axiological) in essence, since values are an integral part of each of its elements and, therefore, values are an integral characteristic of the process that constitutes the essence of activity. Thus, any activity can be represented as an activity for the realization of socially and/or individually significant values. This means that values are the universal basis of human activity and its universal regulator, and it is all the more important that the value bases of both an individual and a group (including a professional one) and society as a whole correspond to ideas about the good of a person and society. This allows us to consider values as the foundations, conditions and means of life of a person and society.
A person feels the need to realize values and organize activities in connection with this through a need. A need can be represented as a state of an individual, created by the need he feels for something (an object of need), necessary for his existence and development, and acting as a source of his activity. From this point of view, human needs are, along with others, the regulators of his behavior, thinking, feelings and will. Numerous fundamental and applied research human needs make it possible to isolate in their diversity the needs of anthropomorphic (associated with the biological nature of man) and sociocultural (due to the processes of ontogenesis and sociogenesis) origin; both are important for understanding the nature of man and his activities. Both of them are inseparable from a person. The diverse needs of a person and society largely determine their attitude to the world, being, themselves, and therefore are an essential factor in determining, systematizing and hierarchizing values.
The most important values for a person can be represented as his value orientations, which are the most important constituent element of the internal structure of the personality. Being formed and fixed by the social and professional experience of the individual in the process of his formation and development, they delimit the significant, essential for the individual from the insignificant, insignificant. By setting meaningful life goals, they ensure the integrity and stability of the individual, give a general orientation to his interests and aspirations, behavior and actions not only in a particular situation, but also in the future. Consistency, integrity and stability of value orientations is an important indicator characterizing a mature, independent and autonomous personality, a stable, close-knit team.
One more important characteristic of an individual (group) is the presence of an attitude - a predisposition fixed in the social and professional experience of the individual to perceive and evaluate significant objects, as well as the readiness of the individual to act in a certain way, focusing on significant objects. In the attitudes, to a large extent, the value-normative attitude to the object of analysis and activity is fixed. Of course, the presence of the installation, i.e. readiness to evaluate an object and act in a certain way in relation to it does not yet mean unconditional unambiguity of the assessment and actions of the individual - there can always be an unaccounted factor that in a particular situation will play a decisive role. But the totality of attitudes determines the general orientation of the personality.
Thus, we can assume that values are explicitly or indirectly represented in the most important personality structures. They determine preferences as value orientations, set the most important life goals. Being mediated in attitudes, values determine the willingness of the individual to act in the name of achieving the set goals, and therefore, in the name of realizing the most significant values. The role of values in the structure of the personality, its life activity and the life of society as a whole necessitates their careful study.
Axiology (Greek axia - value, logos - teaching) is engaged in the study of values - a philosophical doctrine of values. This is a scientific discipline that studies values as the meaning-forming foundations of being, setting the direction and motivation of human actions, actions, relationships and all of his life. The beginning of axiology as a science is associated with the name of the German philosopher R.G. Lotze (1817-1881), who first introduced the concept of "significance" (value) into the scientific lexicon. Currently, axiological studies are devoted to the issues of the origin and typology of values, their various changes due to changes in the conditions of human life, factors affecting the content, hierarchy of values, the influence of values on the life of a person and society, etc. However, different groups of values, due to the ambiguity and wide representation of values in human life, are studied not only by axiology. For example, ethical values are studied by ethics, aesthetic values - by aesthetics, cultural - by cultural studies, economic (material) - by economics, etc. Of great importance are studies in the field of praxeology - the values of human practical activity or, more narrowly, the values of professional activity, since professional value systems play a significant role in shaping and maintaining the meaning of professional activity.
Values in the mind of an individual, group or society, as a rule, are not a chaotic set, but are organized into a certain system that functions and develops in accordance with the laws of the existence of any systems. Therefore, the elements of such a system (i.e., the values themselves) are essentially interconnected, united in accordance with a certain fundamental principle, hierarchized by the idea, each value occupies a certain place in the system and performs certain functions. Therefore, the value system is an integral multiplicity of interrelated elements, i.e. an essentially, structurally and functionally related set of values that allow an individual or a group to consciously and purposefully organize their activities, solve tasks, achieve their goals. It is obvious that the values that form the system are unequal, since the values have unequal significance. The value system is characterized by a hierarchical structure, so we can talk about a hierarchy of values – their ordering in accordance with significance and about ranks - the levels of the position of values in the hierarchy. The rank of value in the hierarchy can be objective and subjective, ideal and real - it depends on many factors. For example, food can be a value of the highest rank for a hungry person, while being full, the same person can name, for example, art, or freedom, or something else as the highest value.
Values, for all their diversity, can be typologized. In accordance with any of their generally accepted typologies, 2 different groups of values can be identified and analyzed:
absolute - unconditional and irrelevant, which means that they are unchangeable and do not depend on anything, and relative, changeable and dependent on some factors;
true, representing in reality a value, and imaginary (false), not being such;
positive ones that meet the true needs and interests of a person and negative ones, the implementation of which will bring harm to a person;
conditional, receiving the status of value under certain conditions and unconditional, recognized as values regardless of the conditions;
recognized - being values and realized and recognized by a person as values (institutionalized) and unrecognized - actually being values, but not recognized as such;
“enduring” (“eternal”) and situational, becoming values in a particular situation;
subjective - representing (seemingly) values due to some circumstances and objective - objectively being values;
real - taking place in reality and ideal - taking place in theory;
everyday - recognized and implemented in everyday life and professional (praxeological) - recognized and implemented in professional activities;
individual, group, ethno-national and universal - recognized and implemented, respectively, by an individual, a group, an ethno-national community or humanity;
real - which are values here and now and potential - that can become such;
terminal (final) - values - goals and instrumental, representing values - means and conditions for achieving the goal;
practical - the values of survival and spiritual - the values of development and improvement of the individual;
egoistic - aimed at oneself, for one's own good, and altruistic - aimed at others;
higher (sublime) - testifying to high level the spiritual development of the individual and the base, corresponding to the base needs and instincts of man;
simple (meeting the physiological needs of a person), interactionist (values of activity), socialization (values of the development and formation of the personality) and life-meaning, determining life path personality, the meaning of her life and work;
material-material (objective), spiritual-intellectual (values of consciousness), ethical (defined by values in terms of good, good and evil), aesthetic (defined by values in terms of beauty), religious (defined by values in terms of religion), etc. .P.
The value system of both a person and society includes the values various types(groups). It presents both ethical, and aesthetic, and spiritual-intellectual, and material-material values. It contains terminal and instrumental values, true and false, etc. This is natural: the life of both a person and society is extremely multidimensional, and the rejection of values of any type or their non-recognition, underestimation and overestimation could lead to a violation of harmony in individual and social life, the illusory nature of goals, utopianism and stagnation in social life. Therefore, all types (groups) of values must be represented in social life and consciousness and take their proper place. Accordingly, they must be represented in the structure of the value system.
The subjective nature of values largely determines not so much their totality, which changes little over time, as a hierarchy that changes depending on the specific historical conditions of human life. Changing living conditions contribute to the transformation of human needs; this, in turn, entails a change in ideas about the valuable and the non-valuable. This is due to the fact that a person draws his value views from direct practical activity, which undergoes significant changes over time. Therefore, changes in the hierarchy of values reflect, to a greater or lesser extent, the evolution of concrete historical human needs.
This also suggests that values may not be equal to themselves, i.e. value transversions may take place. ( changes in the meaning and content of value) and fluctuations (changes in the rank of value in the hierarchy) . Value transversions can occur in connection with the development of social relations and human consciousness, a change in the level and quality of his knowledge, when recognizing or studying an existing, seemingly already familiar and relatively ordinary phenomenon, allows you to reveal its new, deeper meaning, in a new way. determine its essence. In this case, in accordance with the change in the meaning of the phenomenon, the object of evaluation also changes. For example, from the point of view of a representative of a slave society, freedom is independence from the slave owner, a state opposite to slavery. From the point of view of a modern person, freedom is the freedom to be oneself, the ability to realize and choose oneself, activity and life in the absence of external pressure (coercion), if there is an alternative and information sufficient for responsible decision making. Similarly, one can analyze the value of human life, considering it (life) as a state opposite to death, biological functioning, or as the totality of all human manifestations. These examples show that, depending on what exactly is understood as the essence and meaning of a phenomenon, a different value attitude towards it, a different assessment is possible. Value transversion thus leads to a change in the rank of value in the hierarchy. However, the transversion, which consists in lowering the rank, can be accompanied by a change in the type of the value itself. For example, if we consider a person’s life not as the totality of all his manifestations, but take into account only physiology, then, when deciding on the conditions of human life, we will focus only on his survival, without taking into account that a person is not only a clot of protein matter, but also a social and spiritual being. If freedom is the absence of formal slavery, chains, stocks, overseers and similar attributes, then cash spiritual, political, professional, religious and other lack of freedom can be considered non-existent and insignificant.
Value fluctuations are of a slightly different nature: they depend mainly on the situation, circumstances, and in connection with this, they can be of a short-term nature. At the same time, an extreme situation and the value fluctuation corresponding to it can lead to the fact that high-ranking values can lose their significance. For example, the famous exclamation of Richard III "A crown for a horse!" from the play by W. Shakespeare demonstrates an example of such a value fluctuation: in a situation that threatens the life and freedom of the king, the horse appears as the highest value, since it will give a chance to save both life and freedom, and therefore, possibly, title and power. In another situation, the crown, as a symbol of title and power, will be valued by the king much more than a horse. In this example, there was a change in the ranks of values: the terminal (title and power) received a lower rank than the instrumental (horse).
One of the highest values is the ideal (from the Greek idea) - a model, a norm, an idea of the highest final perfection, the highest goal of aspirations. The creation, construction of an ideal is a universal form of specifically human life activity. The ideal has a dual nature: on the one hand, it contains the present in the form of a contradiction that requires its resolution, on the other hand, it embodies the desired future, being in this regard a universal value. It reflects the specific historical type of human consciousness and at the same time is itself a reflection of its value orientations. In connection with the constant development of social relations, the resolution of one contradiction, i.e. the realization of the goal and the resolution of the contradiction becomes a prerequisite and condition for the emergence of a new need and a new goal, the promotion of a new ideal. In ideals, reality is reflected in a specific way: they are directed to the future, to the creation of a new reality that excludes the contradictions that exist in the present, and at the same time contain the potential of contradictions perceived in the future. In this regard, the ideal is not eternal, unchanging and absolute.
The dual nature of the ideal is also expressed in the fact that it requires its own justification and evaluation, since the desired and planned future does not have to be (and, as historical practice shows, it does not always happen) better than the already existing one. Any ideal as an image of the desired future state of the system must undergo a theoretical justification, firstly, for compliance with the concept of “ideal” in general, i.e. on its ability to perform the functions inherent in the ideal and to have the corresponding properties that characterize it as the highest good and, secondly, on compliance with objective ideas about the desired future. On the other hand, the ideal itself contains evaluative criteria in relation to the present, denying its self-sufficiency and perfection, revealing its contradictions and exposing the potential for improvement.
An important feature of the ideal is the fact that the social subject, the physical and spiritual forces of the person himself as an active member of society, acts as the most important means and condition for its implementation. In contrast to an animal, before starting an activity, a person mentally imagines the desired outcome of the activity – an ideal image of the final result. At the same time, the presence of a mental image - an ideal that corresponds to a person's ideas of perfection - makes it possible to compare the actual reality with the desired one and give it an unsatisfactory assessment. The preparation for activity and the actual activity of a person, aimed at obtaining this result, are organized in an appropriate way - it becomes expedient, and the content of the goal is determined in accordance with the ideal. We can name the main functions of the ideal: evaluative-comparative, program-oriented, active-practical. Thanks to these functions, the ideal realizes its essence, and the construction of the ideal becomes the most important factor in the development of the individual and society, improving the conditions for their life.
From the point of view of axiology, professional activity, being an integral part of human activity in general, also contains values at its core and, therefore, can be represented as an activity aimed at realizing values. At the same time, of course, due to its characteristics, professional activity basically differs from everyday activity, representing something special. Therefore, the doctrine of the values of professional activity - praxeology - is special in relation to axiology. At the same time, of course, various types of professional activity can differ significantly among themselves in all basic characteristics; each of them is specific in relation to professional activity as an abstraction. This leads to the fact that the main values, systems and hierarchies of values of various types of professional activity may differ. Therefore, we can say that activity, professional activity and a specific type of professional activity are correlated as general, special and specific. Similarly, the system of values of society, professional activity and specific types of professional activity will be correlated as general, special and specific. At the same time, axiology as a philosophical doctrine of values includes praxeology, and that, in turn, may include as sections of the doctrine of the values of specific types of professional activity.
The basis of any type of professional activity is the need to realize certain values. This circumstance does not depend on how specialists engaged in a particular job imagine the basic values of the profession. However, how deeply they understand the value meaning of the profession largely depends on their attitude to the work directly performed, and to the profession in general. The assimilation and appropriation of the value meaning and content of the profession helps to understand the place and role of the profession in society, human life, social and scientific and technological progress and to some extent determines them.
At the same time, of course, any profession, being a specialized activity, imposes certain requirements on a person, which cannot always be satisfied in the process of professional training. To perform professionally necessary operations, procedures, techniques, etc. a person must be sufficiently physically and intellectually developed, must have the appropriate qualities: to work as a loader, you need good physical fitness; to become a scientist, you need a highly developed intellect. But the requirements for physical and intellectual data are not always sufficient. Some of the professions (mainly these are professions that have a decisive influence on the fate and well-being of a person and society, including the so-called “helping” professions) special requirements to the personality traits of a specialist, first of all, to his value orientations. For example, hardly anyone would like to become a patient of a sadistic doctor or a social worker whose highest values are money and power over clients. Such "specialists" will harm both their clients, and the profession, and society as a whole. Even without resorting to such extreme examples, it can be shown that a specialist who has incorrectly placed value accents in his activity may perceive the process of activity itself as the highest value, and to a lesser extent, its final result, may therefore not understand the meaning of activity. For example, a social worker in this case may think that the meaning and purpose of social work is to help a person and find it difficult to answer the question why this is done. Therefore, the value orientations of specialists play an important role not only in their personal professional activities, but also in the activities of the total professional group.
The example shows a distorted understanding of the goal (the process of activity turned out to be its most important goal) due to the insufficient axiological competence of the specialist. Such a situation can conditionally be considered acceptable in isolated cases: each person is individual and there are certainly people whose inclinations most fully correspond to one or another content of activity. Their need for self-realization can be satisfied by joining certain profession. However, such an approach cannot be general, it should be the exception rather than the rule, since the profession must exist and exists mainly not because there are people who want to do it, but because its end result is in demand by a person and society. Indeed, medical professions exist not because some citizens want to be treated, but because people need to be treated, to improve their health; Doctors are needed because there are patients, and not vice versa. Similarly, social work and social workers are there because there are people who need their help. This means that the process of activity, which has a high emotional significance for a specialist, cannot be the meaning and essence of professional activity in general, cannot be its goal: it only reflects its content.
This example shows how important research activities are in the field of professional values: it is on the basis of the system of the most important professional values and their hierarchy that it is possible to determine its meaning, place and role in society and human life, etc. A clear understanding of the values of professional activity makes it possible to correctly formulate its goals in general, on the scale of the total professional group, as well as by each specialist individually. The motivation of the total professional group, as well as of each specialist, should be formed on the basis of the most important values of the profession.
The most important role in setting meaningful professional goal plays the ideal. Being an image of the desired future state of the object of activity, the ideal is objectified in its ultimate goals, and then its individual fragments and features receive a more detailed study for private and intermediate purposes. Thus, the presence of an ideal determines goal-setting activity and potentiates the corresponding goal-oriented practical activity. However, this does not exhaust the role of the ideal in goal setting. Being at first, as a rule, only an idea of the perfect state of the object of activity, in the future, the ideal requires the construction of ideal images of the activity itself and the subject of activity, since it is not always possible to achieve the ideal state of the object without corresponding changes in the activity itself and its performers. Therefore, goal-setting activity and the corresponding Practical activities aimed at improving the profession or its individual components, professional and personal growth of specialists. Thus, the ideal-constructing activity in professional activity helps to increase its efficiency, improve the quality of the final result and, ultimately, to better satisfy the needs of society and the individual.
Any human activity is ultimately aimed at a person. Possessing the ability to realize their basic properties and needs, a person is included in the process of activity as an active subject, participating in the transformation of society and the improvement of society and himself. The direction of human activity is determined by the goals set, and those, in turn, by the values that are of paramount importance for a person in general or in a specific period of his life, in a specific situation. Of course, for the organization of the activity of the goal is not enough, the means and conditions for its implementation are necessary. Values-goals require a person to be active, aimed at finding means and creating conditions for purposeful activity, and the content of the goal largely determines the choice of means. Setting a significant goal, a person re-evaluates his individual values, comparing them in importance with the actual one, evaluating the possibility of simultaneously achieving several goals, considering values for using them as means, etc. Depending on the ratio of value-goal and other values obtained as a result of such a value analysis, and based on this result, a person organizes his activities. It is important that the results of a value analysis carried out by a person will not necessarily correspond to scientific ideas about the individual and public good, about goodness, beauty and truth. From the point of view of the subject of analysis, they correspond to its value-goal, and therefore can be used. This means that in order to achieve a good goal, a person can subjectively choose illegitimate means (“the goal justifies the means”), get an unexpectedly negative result as a result of activity, cause significant harm to others, providing benefits for himself personally. Therefore, the development of a person and society can be progressive or regressive, contribute to the achievement of the good of the majority of members of society or a narrow group of people, only one person. At the same time, a person and society can motivate their activity with various, sometimes contradictory and inadequate, considerations, but the values that are present in the motive in an explicit or implicit form determine the need for activity and set its direction, meaning and content, determine the means and methods. Obviously, the value orientations of the individual contribute to the choice of not only goals, but also socially approved or, on the contrary, socially condemned means of achieving the goal.
The textbook reflects modern scientific ideas about social work as an expedient multi-aspect activity of society aimed at achieving an optimal level of sociality by a person in a difficult life situation. The focus of the publication is on the ethical provision of the practice of professional social work. The publication contains a workshop and a workbook, including control and situational tasks, as well as questions for self-examination. Methodical complex will help to consolidate the acquired theoretical knowledge, develop the skills of ethical thinking and solving ethical problems that arise in professional practice, develop the ability to resolve ethical conflicts.
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