Economic Justice and the 2003-2010 Recession: Lessons Learned for Multi-Level Social Work Practice

Abstract

The pursuit of social justice is a defining value of the social work profession, and its economic component is widely perceived to be an essential component of this quest. Consequently, social workers will practice to their fullest capacities if they understand the contemporary economic phenomena needed to promote social justice on all levels of practice, and discipline-specific knowledge in an accessible format is required to do so. In response, this paper provides a social work perspective on the world-wide recession of 2003-2010 along with implications for micro, mezzo and macro practice.