Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work

Social work practice can be characterized by a dedication to action that promotes social and economic justice. Social justice has become a popular concept broadly, as social inequities become topics of public discourse through movements such as #metoo, Black Lives Matter, and Strike for Climate. However, while all of these important issues have crucial economic components, the focus has primarily been on social justice aspects.

Economic Justice has not often been emphasized in the New Zealand context. This has led to a setting where social workers tend to focus on social indicators often at the expense of true Economic Justice. It could be argued that it has actually been the denial of Economic Justice that has led to poor social indicators.

While economic justice and financial inclusion are considered vital organizing principles in large-scale social work/ social development efforts (see Social Work Grand Challenges and Sustainable Development Goals), these concepts have opportunities to be further coordinated in their application to the Aotearoa New Zealand context. As such we are seeking articles for a special section on the implication for, and the application of economic justice and social work.

To explore the existing research and practice in areas of Economic Justice, we held an interdisciplinary Economic Justice Forum in October of 2020, with researchers and practitioners in the areas of: economics, social work, management, commerce, social enterprise, and microfinance.  The following themes emerged from the discussion of the application of economic justice to Aotearoa New Zealand at the forum:

• Role of Hope in Economic Justice
• Need for correct information on issues of Economic Justice
• ANZ specific considerations: Diverse economies
• Both/And – Social work needs to address dire needs of population and at the same time set a path for a more economically just future
• The need to foster connections between: researchers, communities, policy makers, Do’ers, economic institutions, private business

This special section of the journal invites contribution that include any of the following:

• Research regarding Economic Justice that has implication for social work
• The application of Economic Justice in Aotearoa
• Social and Economic theory
• The role of Economic Justice in social work practise, theory and research
• Wealth, income, or resource inequalities
• Topical issues, including but not limited to: Interventions to promote economic equality such as universal basic income, living wage, and child development accounts; financial literacy and capability; Policy discussions such as implications of capital gains; Role of housing crisis on poverty and wealth inequality; Innovative income generating activities; social enterprise; community economic development.
• Minimum wage, living wage and industrial relations
• Experiences of fighting for Economic Justice
• Other relevant topics. In some ways the editors are limited by their own experience and imagination, please expand it.

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of economic justice, we encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration with practitioners and colleagues outside of social work.

We will consider submissions in three formats (as per the author guidelines): full articles of 7000 words, research briefs, 3000 words, and shorter viewpoints or practice reflections of 2000 words. All articles are peer reviewed.

Submission of full articles 7 June 2021 – see journal guidelines for more info  about requirements and for how to register a please submit on line at https://anzswjournal.nz/anzsw/information/authors

Please contact special section editors Dr. Anaru Eketone and Dr. Marissa Kaloga for more info or to offer an abstract for feedback.

anaru.eketone@otago.ac.nz

marissa.kaloga@otago.ac.nz

Bibliography:

Ablett P., Morley C., Newcomb M. (2019) Social Work, Human Services and Basic Income. In: Klein E., Mays J., Dunlop T. (eds) Implementing a Basic Income in Australia. Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14378-7_12

Cameron, M. P., & Wood, P. (2016). The policy context for financial education in New Zealand. In International Handbook of Financial Literacy (pp. 179-192). Springer, Singapore.

Engelbrecht, L. K., & Ornellas, A. (2019). Financial capabilities development: essential discourse in social work. International Journal of Social Economics.

Grant, S. (2017). Social enterprise in New Zealand: an overview. Social Enterprise Journal.

Islam, M. R., & McGillivray, M. (2020). Wealth inequality, governance and economic growth. Economic Modelling, 88, 1-13.

Joseph, R. (2019). Poverty, welfare, and self-sufficiency: Implications for the social work profession. Journal of poverty, 23(6), 505-520.

Kennedy, M. (2017). Maori economic inequality: reading outside our comfort zone. Interventions, 19(7), 1011-1025.

Maples, A., & Yong, S. (2019). The Tax Working Group and Capital Gains Tax in New Zealand-A Missed Opportunity. J. Austl. Tax'n, 21, 66.

Morley, C., & Ablett, P. (2017). Rising wealth and income inequality: A radical social work critique and response. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 29(2), 6.

Norris, A. N., & Nandedkar, G. (2020). Ethnicity, racism and housing: discourse analysis of New Zealand housing research. Housing Studies, 1-19.

 Rashbrooke, M. (2014). The inequality debate: an introduction. Bridget Williams Books.

 Simmons, L.  (2017, March 29). Economic Justice. Encyclopedia of Social Work. Retrieved 3 Dec. 2020, from https://oxfordre.com/socialwork/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.001.0001/acrefore-9780199975839-e-1266.

Westoby, P., & Shevellar, L. (2019). The possibility of cooperatives: a vital contributor in creating meaningful work for people with disabilities. Disability & Society, 34(9-10), 1613-1636.