ABSTRACT
This chapter’s foundational understanding is that the defence of social work ethics is vital. This is especially the case during a period of neoliberalisation when ways of working and relating to others are increasingly subject to market mechanisms and ‘care’ practices become even more vulnerable to corruption (Harvey, 2005; Wardhaugh and Wilding, 1993). In this context, perhaps what many still perceive as the core social work value – ‘respect for persons’ – has the potential to become increasingly political and more subversive of dominant hegemonic orders intent on (dis)respecting particular groups and communities.
