Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:11:38.840Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Compassion in Contemporary Social Policy: Applications of Virtue Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2011

MARY ELIZABETH COLLINS ,
KATE COONEY  and
SARAH GARLINGTON
MARY ELIZABETH COLLINS
Affiliation:
Boston University School of Social Work, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, USA email: [email protected]
KATE COONEY
Affiliation:
Boston University School of Social Work, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, USA email: [email protected]
SARAH GARLINGTON
Affiliation:
Boston University School of Social Work, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, USA email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Current academic debate in the social sciences and humanities is revisiting the role of virtue in civic life. This debate is relevant to social policy. We argue that virtue is already an implicit component of policy debates, but that the virtue of compassion has not received sufficient emphasis. To support our argument we review classical and contemporary arguments regarding virtue and its linkage to the ‘good society’; articulate the necessity of compassion and its application to specific policies areas (e.g., domestic violence, welfare, emergency care); and assess how compassion intersects with other virtues in the policy environment. Policy implications are identified including: recognition of the realities of suffering, the need for sufficient administrative infrastructure and trained professionals and an often long-term commitment to work in community settings. Weighing the risks, and the overall challenges of virtuous action, our analysis suggests compassion remains a compelling, yet under-utilised, basis for constructing and implementing policies.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 251 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristotle (2002), ‘Nicomachean Ethics, Books I–VII’, in Cahn, S. M. (ed.), Classics of Political and Moral Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Banks, S. and Gallagher, A. (2009), Ethics in Professional Life: Virtues for Health and Social Care, London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barad, J. (2007), ‘The understanding and experience of compassion: Aquinas and the Dalai Lama’, Buddhist–Christian Studies, 27: 11–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, R. C. (2002), ‘Socratic political philosophy and the problem of virtue’, American Political Science Review, 96: 3, 525–33.Google Scholar
Beaudoin, M. N. and Taylor, M. (2009), Responding to the Culture of Bullying and Disrespect: New Perspectives on Collaboration, Compassion, and Responsibility, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.Google Scholar
Block, F., Korteweg, A. C. and Woodward, K. (2006), ‘The compassion gap in American poverty policy’, Contexts: 5: 2, 14–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Button, M. (2005), ‘‘A monkish kind of virtue’? For and against humility, Political Theory, 33: 6, 840–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comte-Sponville, A. (2001), A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues, New York: Holt & Co.Google Scholar
Gibson, J. L. (2006), ‘The contributions of truth to reconciliation: lessons from South Africa’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 50: 3, 409–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giddens, A. (1991), Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hawkins, R. L. (2005), ‘From self-sufficiency to personal and family sustainability: a new paradigm for social policy’, Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 32: 4, 77–92.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. (2000), Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and Justice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hursthouse, R. (1999), On Virtue Ethics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. (1995), The Voluntary Sector, the State, and Social Work in Britain: The Charity Organisation Society/Family Welfare Association since 1869, Aldershot: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar
Lejano, R. P. (2006), Frameworks for Policy Analysis: Merging Text and Context, New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lipset, S. M. (1996), American Exceptionalism: A Double-edged Sword, New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, A. (1981), After Virtue, Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
Manz, C. C., Cameron, K. S., Manz, K. P. and Marx, R. D. (2008), The Virtuous Organization: Insights from Some of the World's Leading Management Thinkers, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.Google Scholar
Norman, J. and Ganesh, J. (2006), Compassionate Conservatism: What it is – Why We Need It, London: Policy Exchange.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. (2001), Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Olasky, M. (2000), Compassionate Conservatism: What it is, What it Does, and How it Can Transform America, New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Porter, E. (2006), ‘Can politics practice compassion?’, Hypatia, 21: 4, 97–123.Google Scholar
Reilly, R. (2006), ‘Compassion as justice’, Buddhist–Christian Studies, 26: 13–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabl, A. (2005), ‘Virtue of pluralists’, Journal of Moral Philosophy, 2: 2, 207–35.Google Scholar
Sayer, A. (2005), The Moral Significance of Class, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, A. and Ingram, H. (1993), ‘The social construction of target populations: implications for politics and policy’, The American Political Science Review, 87: 2, 334–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slote, M. (2007), The Ethics of Care and Empathy, London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szostak, R. (2002), ‘Politics and the five types of ethical analysis’, International Journal of Politics and Ethics, 2: 4, 275–90.Google Scholar
Szostak, R. (2005), Unifying Ethics, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Trattner, W. (1999), From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America, New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Urban Institute (2003), Beyond Ideology, Politics, and Guesswork: The Case for Evidence-Based Policy, Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Weaver, G. R. (2006), ‘Virtue in organizations: moral identity as a foundation for moral agency’, Organization Studies, 27: 3, 341–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, R. (2008), ‘Rousseau and the education of compassion’, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42: 1, 35–48.Google Scholar
Whitebrook, M. (2002), ‘Compassion as a political virtue’, Political Studies, 50: 529–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wuthnow, R. (1991), Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar