Working with Dignity in Social Work
– between experience, philosophy, and practice
There are words we use often.
So often that we risk losing them.
Dignity is one of those words.
We write it into documents.
We quote it in lectures.
We highlight it in codes of ethics.
But what does it mean – when we stand in a room with another human being?
Not as a concept.
But as an experience.
An image of dignity
Let me begin where I once began myself – in a lecture.
Behind me, images from the book Dignity moved slowly across the screen. Faces from around the world. Indigenous people from different continents. Lives lived under very different conditions than our own – and yet something deeply familiar.
Something quiet.
Something unmistakable.
Desmond Tutu describes this through the concept of Ubuntu:
A person is a person through other persons.
I have returned to this idea many times.
Not as theory, but as lived experience from practice.
Because in social work, this is not an abstract idea.
It is reality.
Dignity as foundation
The International Federation of Social Workers is clear:
Social work is grounded in respect for the inherent dignity of every human being.
Our national ethical frameworks echo the same principle.
But it is one thing to say it.
Another to live it.
Because in practice, we meet people who:
– have been violated
– have been excluded
– have lost their sense of worth
And then the question becomes:
How do we meet them?
What is dignity?
We all carry an intuitive sense of dignity.
We recognize it when it is present.
And we feel it immediately when it is violated.
Yet defining it precisely remains difficult.
With Immanuel Kant we find an important distinction:
Some things have a price.
Some things have dignity.
What has a price can be replaced.
What has dignity cannot.
Dignity is an intrinsic, unconditional value.
This is a powerful starting point.
But it is also abstract.
And in social work, we do not live in abstractions.
We live in encounters.
Dignity and respect
Over the years, I have learned how important it is to distinguish between dignity and respect.
Respect is something we grant – or withdraw – based on actions.
Dignity is something that remains – regardless of actions.
I may struggle to respect what a person has done.
But I cannot take away that person’s dignity.
This is not just a philosophical distinction.
It is a practical necessity.
A small everyday moment
Let me share a small moment from early in my career.
I was working as a social worker in the early 1980s. Young. Inexperienced. Still trying to understand what this work truly demanded.
One day, a young woman from a drug-affected environment came into my office.
She was visibly nervous. Restless. She told me she had a job interview – as a cleaner at a local motel.
Then she hesitated.
"But my hair… I don’t look right. I need to get myself together before the interview. Could I get financial support for a haircut?"
I knew the answer – according to the system.
Haircuts were not covered as emergency assistance.
Still, I replied:
"Yes. You can."
She looked up.
And what I saw in that moment has stayed with me:
Relief.
Joy.
Something like dignity returning.
The next morning, I was called into my supervisor’s office.
"You do not approve haircuts as emergency aid. Not again."
He added, more gently:
"I’ll let it pass this time – you are still young."
I nodded. Left.
And I remember smiling.
Because something had been right.
Later that same day, she returned.
"Did you get the job?" I asked.
"No," she said.
Then she paused.
"But I feel so beautiful. I looked like the others. I felt like I belonged again."
She stepped closer.
"Thank you for helping me back into society."
Then she hugged me briefly – and ran out.
Dignity at work
I have reflected on that encounter many times.
She did not get the job.
But she regained something else.
Something essential.
A sense of belonging.
A sense of equality.
A sense of being a human being among other human beings.
This is dignity in practice.
Not as a concept.
But as an experience.
The challenge of science
As a researcher, I have tried to approach dignity in another way.
How do we study something we cannot clearly define?
B. F. Skinner attempted to understand dignity as tied to reward and recognition.
I believe he confuses dignity with respect.
But he raises an important question:
Science demands clarity.
Dignity resists it.
In my own review of the literature, I found something striking:
Most studies describe what dignity is not.
They describe violations.
Humiliation.
Exclusion.
This is an indirect approach.
But perhaps a necessary one.
Indignity as an entry point
In social work, we often encounter indignity before we encounter dignity.
People who have been reduced to objects.
People who no longer feel part of a shared world.
Here something becomes clear:
Dignity is relational.
It emerges – and is broken – in human encounters.
This is also reflected in the work of Evelin Gerda Lindner, who links dignity to human rights and humiliation.
Humiliation occurs when a person’s legitimate expectation of dignity is denied.
The body remembers
Recent neuroscience gives language to something we have long observed in practice.
Research by Naomi Eisenberger and Matthew Lieberman shows that social pain activates the same neural pathways as physical pain.
Being violated hurts.
Not only psychologically.
But physically.
Shame – the shadow of dignity
In the work of Thomas Scheff and Suzanne Retzinger, shame is central.
Shame arises when dignity is violated.
And unacknowledged shame can remain as an open wound.
We see this daily.
Withdrawal.
Aggression.
Distrust.
Often, shame lies beneath.
Why do we violate dignity?
This is a difficult question.
But also a necessary one.
We violate dignity:
– because we can
– because we seek to protect ourselves
– because we long for recognition
– because we cannot bear our own vulnerability
This is not an excuse.
But a form of understanding.
The dignity model
Donna Hicks has developed a model based on her work in international conflict resolution.
It emphasizes:
– identity
– inclusion
– safety
– recognition
– fairness
– autonomy
– accountability
These are not techniques.
They are ways of being.
Practical philosophy
Here we encounter what I call practical philosophy.
Not philosophy as theory.
But as lived life.
With Aristotle we find phronesis – practical wisdom.
Knowing what to do in a concrete situation.
Not by rules alone.
But through judgment.
The haircut was such a moment.
Not a violation of rules.
But an exercise of judgment.
Working with dignity
So what does this mean in practice?
It means:
– seeing the person behind the case
– tolerating vulnerability
– listening without control
– creating space without domination
It means meeting people as subjects.
Not objects.
Ubuntu – once more
I return again to Ubuntu.
I am because you are.
It is not only an idea.
It is a responsibility.
Because how I meet you shapes who you can become.
In closing
Looking back on a long life in social work, I do not first remember theories.
I remember people.
The glances.
The silences.
The small moments where something shifted.
Perhaps invisible to others.
But meaningful.
If I were to say it simply:
Dignity cannot be given.
But it can be allowed to grow.
And perhaps this is our work.
To create space.
References (
Aristotle. (2009). Nicomachean Ethics. Oxford University Press.
Eisenberger, N. I., & Lieberman, M. D. (2004). Why it hurts to be left out. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(7), 294–300.
Hicks, D. (2011). Dignity: The essential role it plays in resolving conflict. Yale University Press.
Kant, I. (1998). Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge University Press.
Lindner, E. G. (2006). Making enemies: Humiliation and international conflict. Praeger.
Scheff, T. J., & Retzinger, S. M. (1991). Emotions and violence. Lexington Books.
Skinner, B. F. (2003). Beyond freedom and dignity. Hackett Publishing.
Tutu, D., & Lyons, O. (2010). Dignity. PowerHouse Books.
International Federation of Social Workers. (2012). Global definition of social work
No comments:
Post a Comment