The book serves as a reminder that social work is, at its core, a moral enterprise. While the text is intellectually rigorous, it remains accessible, offering not just critique but a pathway toward a more justice-oriented practice. In a society where the only constant is change, Reisch provides the steady, critical ethical grounding that the profession desperately needs.
He argues that the privatization of social services and the rise of managerialism have created a "moral distress" among practitioners. Social workers, traditionally agents of social justice, increasingly find themselves employed by bureaucracies that prioritize efficiency, cost-containment, and risk management over client well-being. Reisch’s analysis here is sharp: he suggests that the modern social worker is often torn between the "ethics of the profession" and the "ethics of the organization." michael reisch social work ethics in a changing society pdf
The book is structured to guide readers from theoretical foundations to practical application: The book serves as a reminder that social
