Key Social Work Frameworks for Sociologists ● 37● (^) a right to life;
● (^) a right to have basic needs met;
● (^) a right to well-being, including receiving health and education services;
● (^) a right to autonomy and self-determination;
● (^) a right to be nurtured, valued, and respected;
● (^) a right to freedom, including freedom from interference;
● (^) a right to be treated as fully human.
Human rights are related to, but not the same as, moral rights and ethical
principles (Banks 2006; Ife 2012). Moral rights include the right to be
heard, to participate, and to choose care options; these moral rights are
important but may not be fundamental to survival in the way that human
rights can be (Connolly 2013). Ife (2012) described social work as a moral
activity seeking social justice and good for all people, incorporating values
and conceptions of right and wrong. Ethical principles and codes implement
moral standards and are a significant focus for social work; they will be con-
sidered in more detail in chapter 3. A generalized rights-based framework—
incorporating human rights, moral rights, a range of values, and ethical
principles—implies power sharing and cooperation, with vulnerable groups
being viewed as experts in their own right, with the capacity to work col-
lectively with others to find solutions to their own problems. A rights-based
framework is underpinned by concepts of collectivist citizenship, “allowing
for a collective expression and realisation of human rights” (Ife 2012, 63). It
relies on participatory social democracy, which enables state-based agencies
and their workers to work toward equality, participation, and social justice
in society for all groups. A rights-based framework is overtly political and
attempts to maximize citizens’ participation, including overcoming barriers
that prevent participation.
Service-user-led movements of the 1980s and 1990s have succeeded in
ensuring that a users’ rights perspective is used in social work (Beresford
2013). This perspective posits that service users should be empowered to exer-
cise power and control over their lives, exert influence in all social domains,
participate equally in society, and have their own initiatives validated and
utilized (Beresford 2013; Dalrymple and Burke 1995; Healy 2005).
When human service professionals draw on a rights-based framework
in their actions with people and communities, they are choosing to value
diversity and to facilitate independence and inclusion for all people (Healy
2005). Human service professionals adopting this framework will ensure that
they advocate for service users and other vulnerable groups, especially where
structural inequalities have impacted such groups. A rights-based framework
encourages practitioners to acknowledge that institutions of helping—like