Social Work Ethics and Values in Group Dynamics
Ethics and Values of Social Work with Groups
1. Introduction
We have been able to survive thanks to our social nature. The ability of social interaction plays a key role in the development of our personality and the dynamics of the society in which we are immersed. Any consideration of the ethics of social work with groups should start from that fact, establishing our social status and the requirements that are necessary for human sociability to function as such and allow our survival. Therefore, we must ask what is ethos, the deep structure of ethical life that allows social groups? What are the basic values of entitativity as such, and how can it be restored or strengthened through the involvement of social work with groups? Research on the basic dimensions of social group, and the values that accompany them, should also address the ethical horizon of our society as such, and that which has given our historical time-being. Social work with groups is linked to what we term “welfare society” and is inseparable from social integration requirements inherent in a technologically advanced society, where labor and production activity is linked to an appropriate domain of group interaction. Finally, consider the ethical reflection that social workers have been on their activity, and the ethical commitments have been made public, and constitute its professional ethics.
2. The *Ethos* of Social Work with Groups
Ethos, in its oldest Greek sense, means the home, the place from which we can be such as we projected, and that settles our deepest identity. According to Aristotle, the habits necessary to achieve virtue, understood as the enactment, implementation, of the good life by each person. The deep structure that allows social life is altruistic cooperation (e.g. the link between a baby and her parents). Each of us exists in a set of relationships of affection and mutual bonding. Both in antiquity, as today, individual survival and reproduction are impossible in a wild context. The analysis of the biological behavior of the human species shows, from the perspective of sociobiology, that we are characterized by altruism (increase fitness of a person at the expense of our own ability). The basis of altruism is located, from this perspective, kinship. A greater degree of kinship corresponds to a greater degree of altruism (e.g. parent-family solidarity with their descendants). Technological and cultural changes have not diminished the importance of altruistic links but have varied family forms, the organization of work activity, or the urban environment. New forms of interaction on the Internet show that search links and the persistence of social and group identities in a virtual space. Altruistic cooperation as a core dimension of life, and therefore personal welfare, is an empirical confirmation when analyzing levels of satisfaction or happiness we attain. Stable primary relationships, intimate and cooperative, are a good predictor of happiness and an effective antidote to depression, anxiety, or loneliness. They also play a vital role in being appropriate tools for coping with problems and conflict resolution in daily life. Most everyday relationships occur in a context of primary group interaction. Therefore, group dynamics, and the requirements for group interaction and success possible, become an object of study that leads to the birth of our discipline. The group is necessary to live and develop, and the inability to maintain group social relations largely determines the social isolation of those who lack these skills. Today, our social skills are a crucial asset for our survival, which can be defined as access to the area of what is considered to be socially included. Basic issues such as emotional stability, the ability to differentiate between people and their views, respect for others and listening skills, assertiveness, and empathy are acquired through social interaction from early childhood and are part of human capital, resources, each of us brings into play in everyday life. But altruistic cooperation should not only be from an individual perspective as a basic tool to ensure our survival, our social inclusion. It also operates as an engine of social welfare (principle of generalized reciprocity: I do this for you without expecting anything in return immediately, but expected that later you or someone else I pay back the favor). In this sense, cooperation is based on socialization in an environment where honesty and trust are experienced both in strong personal relationships and shared in social networks, which are organized around reciprocity and mutual aid as a model of solidarity and interaction. The analysis of the various forms of social capital (understood as social networks and norms of reciprocity associated with them) allows us to reflect on core values and skills they must possess an adequate degree members of our societies to join them. Given the key role played by group interaction as a basic form of socialization, we can set the ethical objectives to be met by social work with groups to regain the ability of people to live in this structure makes possible our basic human condition. The analysis of social capital allows us to also correctly placed the target of social work groups: provide resources for coping with crisis situations, increase their interaction capabilities to improve their social inclusion and ultimately make better use of opportunities present in their life path to achieve their own goals. Putnam analyzes and classifies the various forms taken by human capital:
- Formal social capital versus informal social capital: A regulated system that provides an organization with a membership system, hierarchical structure, and scheduled meetings; face interaction networks that are not formalized, without a system of pre-established and structured membership and no duration or purpose outlined.
- Dense social capital versus thin social capital: This distinction refers to the intensity of social interaction that occurs in a network and creates a dense and very close link between its members, compared to those interactions that occur sporadically with a linking network members very thin, and weak ties. Both forms of capital are important, and, paradoxically, the weak capital may be more relevant to find employment, as it can lead to people who do not know.
- External social capital and internal social capital: This differentiation focuses on the objective of the network, the interaction between network members: the achievement of their own interest or concern for the public good. Often, both ends are present in the networks in which we live.
- Social capital that bridges versus binding capital: This distinction highlights not only the objective of the network and the interaction of its members but the type of members you can enter the network. The social capital that bridges refers to one type of interaction that unites people in important respects unequal and thus increase social cohesion in a particular historical environment. The binding social capital refers to networks that bind people are alike and seek to strengthen the homogeneity of its members. The social worker should define groups that want to establish links between members of the group and work group dynamics for each participant to experience and learn to use both types of links, which always operate in an unstable equilibrium. Anyone in need various life situations to meet the challenges that lie ahead. In their chances of success significantly influences social skills, networks in which it is inserted, and how to use social skills to communicate, integrate and reach a level of welfare. As we see, the social capital analysis highlights some key aspects of the dynamics of social interaction typical of small groups and the side, it is necessary to tell the difference and how to act in formalized and non-formal settings, to differentiate between the group’s own objectives and the public good, learning to establish relationships both with peers and with those who are different, and be aware of both the forms of interaction as the thin dense. For all these objectives, group dynamics gives us the right environment: a social interaction that leads to an objective, understanding, and internalize these requirements and through which the social worker enables group members to establish social relationships potentially inclusive. Social work promotes social change, problem-solving in human relationships, and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance their welfare. Cooperative and altruistic social interaction, which is the foundation of life, is the ethical principle of the social worker’s action. We can summarize the objectives of social work in the development of the potentialities of life, enriching experience, and the prevention of problems, conflicts, and dysfunctions. Their values are based on respect for equality, worth, and dignity of all people, seeking to strengthen social inclusion processes that have been established in a democratic society where each person as a citizen has inalienable rights.