Profiling Injustice

This chapter introduces readers to Nancy Fraser&s;s multidimensional, multi-theory, and normative paradigm of justice, the meaning of injustice, and the usefulness of the concept as a multifaceted tool for profiling populations unjustly at risk. I review definitions of social work that center on “justice.” I share my positionality statement. Using the concept of “moral imperative,” I review the rationales for social workers&s; prioritization of injustice profiling. These include our distinctive heritage; our educational commitments to teach novices to identify links between client system struggles and suffering and context-specific unjust structures and processes; the profession&s;s core values and ethical principles; the human dispositions to sympathy and to care for others; the obligation of citizens to accept shared responsibility; and the costs of ignorance of and indifference to injustice. I link the moral imperative to profile and challenge injustice to the affirmation of a moral identity and commitment to moral action. I conclude with an overview of the method, processes, and benefits of profiling populations unjustly at risk.