Ethics, Equity and Community Development

Description

Through a wide-range of cross-disciplinary and international perspectives, this book considers the place and meaning of ethics and ethical practice in community development work within varied political, economic and ecological contexts across the globe, examining the challenges of negotiating the tensions between ethics and politics in an unequal world. Divided into three parts, Part One focuses on austerity, ecological limits and neo-liberalism as key issues in ethical community development practice. Part Two looks at community development as an occupation, considering issues of roles and boundaries, consent, discretion and privacy. Part Three examines a range of different settings and practice approaches, reflecting upon the possibilities for sustainable and ethical future practices and offering alternative paradigms for ethical being and action. This book is essential for anyone engaged in the field of community development.

Sarah Banks is Co-Director for the Centre for Social Justice and Community Action and a Professor in the School of Applied Social Sciences at Durham University. Peter Westoby is a Senior Lecturer in Community Development at the University of Queensland and a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Development Support at the University of Free State, South Africa.

"This book gave me a lot to think about and provided important new perspectives. Community development can sometimes take its values for granted; this certainly challenges that way of thinking. I thoroughly recommend it." Marilyn Taylor, Birkbeck College, University of London