Care as the sine qua non: a proposal for situating an ethic of care within the social justice agenda of career development research and practice

Abstract This article proposes an ‘integrative ethical lens’ that positions care ethics as a bridge between social justice values and goals, addressing a key ethical gap to facilitate context-responsive research and practice actions. It critiques limitations of approaches underpinned solely by justice-ethics traditions, and building on the narrative turn, offers a pragmatic, action-focused framework grounded in the foundational elements of care. Foregrounding epistemic justice, the lens clarifies how social justice can be enacted through attuned career research and practice that are reimagined as ethical projects, where responsively attending to diverse voices and local knowledges is foundational to meaningful social justice.