Human Rights and Social Justice: Social Action and Service for the Helping and Health Professions » (1st Edition)

Dr. Joseph Wronka is Professor of Social Work, Springfield College, Springfield, MA, and Principal Investigator of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Project, originating in the Center for Social Change at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. His Ph.D. in Social Policy is from the Heller School's Center for Social Change. His Master's is in Existential-Phenomenological Psychology with a Clinical-Community concentration from Duquesne University. He had also studied the phenomenology of the performing musician at the University of Nice, France. Select academic appointments included: West Georgia College, St. Francis College, New York University, Ramapo College, College of the Holy Cross, Simmons, Chukchi Community College, the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Boston College, and schools of social work at Berne, Switzerland, Sankt-Poelton, and Vienna, Austria. He was also a counselor at alcoholism and methadone maintenance treatment centers, clinician in private practice, and community mental health centers, director of a mental health/substance abuse center, human rights commissioner; served as vice-president of the World Citizen Foundation, and currently is board member to the Coalition for a Strong United Nations.

Published widely in popular and scholarly fora, he has presented his work in roughly fourteen countries. His interest is primarily the development of social change strategies to implement human rights standards, which mirror substantively millennia of teaching in various spiritual and ethical belief systems, so that every person, everywhere can live with human dignity and to their potential, without discrimination. Helikes to swim laps; ride his bike; and play classical music on the piano and concert and ethnic pieces on the accordion.

Human Rights and Social Justice: Social Action and Service for the Helping and Health Professions has a unique perspective that views human rights as the bedrock of social justice. It provides a clear blueprint how human rights and social justice concerns can serve as a conceptual framework for policy and practice interventions among the helping and health professions.

List of Tables, Practice Illustrations, and Figures     xi
Foreword   David G. Gil     xvii
Preface     xix
Etymological Roots of Social Justice     xx
Some Personal Experiences     xxi
Plan of the Book     xxiii
Life as the Profession     xxv
Acknowledgments     xxix
Human Rights as the Bedrock of Social Justice     1
Introduction     5
Rationale for This Work     6
Toward the Creation of a Human Rights Culture     9
The Importance of Words     10
Information as Power     11
The Vulnerability of the Human Condition     11
Reluctance of Governments and Other Powerful Entities     12
The Importance of Socialization     13
Moving From the Mind to the Heart to the Body     14
Five Core Notions of Human Rights     16
Human Dignity     16
Nondiscrimination     17
Civil and Political Rights     17
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights     18
Solidarity Rights     18
The Interdependence and Indivisibility of Rights     20
Social Justice as Struggle     24
Sisyphus asthe Prototypical Human Rights Defender     25
Some Initial Provisos for the Human Rights Defender     26
The Doctrine of Humanitarian Intervention     27
The Hypocrisy of Governments     28
The Sanitization of Oppression     28
Narrow Definitions of Human Rights     30
Demonization of the Other     31
Human Rights Documents as Human Creations     32
Cultural Relativism as Possible Pretext     34
Summary     35
Questions for Discussion     36
Activities/Actions     39
Notes     41
Before and Beyond the Universal Declaration of Human Rights     43
Toward a History of the Idea of Human Rights     44
Cultures as Reflective of Human Choice     44
A History of Human Rights From the Humanistic Tradition     46
Human Rights Documents as Historical-Philosophical Compromises     48
The Human Rights Triptych     50
Antiquity     53
The Middle Ages     56
The Renaissance     57
The Age of Enlightenment     58
The Age of Industrialization     60
Select Input Prior to the Endorsement of the Universal Declaration     62
Select Major International Human Rights Initiatives     65
Select Core Principles of Some Major Human Rights Documents     67
The UN Charter     67
Conventions With Monitoring Committees That the United States Has Ratified     68
Conventions With Monitoring Committees That the United States Has Signed     73
Two Select Timely Human Rights Documents     82
Other Human Rights Regimes     85
Implementation     87
Country and Thematic Reports     88
Reports on Compliance With Human Rights Conventions     91
World Conferences     94
Summary     96
Questions for Discussion     96
Activities/Actions     100
Notes     102
Building From the Foundation     105
An Advanced Generalist/Public Health Model and Whole Population Approaches to Human Rights and Social Justice     107
A Helping and Health Profession Model of Intervention     107
Levels of Intervention     109
Macro Level     109
Mezzo Level     110
Micro Level     110
Meta-Macro Level     111
Meta-Micro Level     113
The Struggle to Implement Levels of Intervention      114
Education Toward the Creation ofa Human Rights Culture     120
Select Examples and Resources     121
Commemorating Major International Days     125
Proclamations, Resolutions, Declarations, and Bills     128
Declarations and Bills     131
Providing NGO Input     136
The Arts, Human Rights, and Social Justice     141
The Role of the Media     143
Other Artistic Venues     143
Other Select Direct Nonviolent Strategies     146
Summary     149
Questions for Discussion     151
Activities/Actions     154
Notes     155
At-Risk and Clinical Social Action and Service Strategies Toward the Creation of a Human Rights Culture     157
The Helping and Health Professions as an At-Risk Group     160
Preventing an Abuse of Power     160
Having Ethics Codes Consistent With Human Rights Principles     162
Incorporating Client Voices in Policy and Treatment     163
Business and Human Rights     164
Humanistic Administration     167
Toward an Alternative to a Major Managerial Style     168
The Need for Nondiscrimination in the Workplace     170
Social Entrepreneurship      172
Characteristics of Social Entrepreneurs     174
Grant Writing     175
Dealing With a Limited Definition of the Problem     176
The Importance of Sincerity     177
A Basic Format for Grant Writing     178
Principles for the Protection of Persons With Mental Illness     180
Principles of Medical Ethics     183
Toward a Socially Just Human Rights-Based Approach to Clinical Practice     187
Ways of Helping That Can Obfuscate Healing     188
The Priority of Human Experience     188
Implications of the Etymology of Therapy     189
Human Rights Principles That Have Implications for the Therapeutic Relationship     190
Some Words on the Meta-Micro Level     196
Summary     197
Questions for Discussion     198
Activities/Actions     201
Notes     203
A Human Rights/Social Justice Approach to Research-Action Projects for the Helping and Health Professions     205
Human Rights Documents as a Means of Defining the Problem     206
The Challenge of the Interdependency of Rights     208
The Human Dimension Behind Knowledge     209
The Researcher as Searcher of Truth     212
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Project     212
Toward a Culture of Informed Consent     214
Generic Points in the Construction of an Ethics Consent Form     216
Quantitative Research     217
Qualitative Research     228
Toward Implementing Rights of Indigenous Peoples     229
Student Projects Integrating Human Rights Into Qualitative Studies     230
Research Leading to Social Action     231
On Writing     233
On Speaking     237
Using the Media     239
Examples of a Public Testimony and Presentation     240
Summary     246
Questions for Discussion     247
Activities/Actions     250
Notes     251
Ground Rules     253
Toward the Paradoxical Commandments     253
Some Ground Rules for Social Action and Service     257
Conclusion     266
Questions for Discussion     267
Activity/Action     273
Note     273
Annotated Media Resources     275
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights     281
Portions of Select Articles From Select Major International Documents Following the Universal Declaration of Human Rights     287
Glossary     291
References     297
Index     309
About the Author     335