An Ethic of Care? Academic Administration and Pandemic Policy

Authors

Stephanie A. Bryson, Portland State UniversityFollow

Published In

Qualitative Social Work

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2021

Subjects

Social Work education

Abstract

This reflexive essay examines the adoption of an intentional ‘ethic of care’ by social work administrators in a large social work school located in the Pacific Northwest. An ethic of care foregrounds networks of human interdependence that collapse the public/private divide. Moreover, rooted in the political theory of recognition, a care ethic responds to crisis by attending to individuals’ uniqueness and ‘whole particularity.’ Foremost, it rejects indifference. Through the personal recollections of one academic administrator, the impact of rejecting indifference in spring term 2020 is described. The essay concludes by linking the rejection of indifference to the national political landscape.

Rights

Copyright (c) 2021 The Authors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325020973386

DOI

10.1177/1473325020973386

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35306

Citation Details

Bryson, S. A. (2021). An ethic of care? Academic administration and pandemic policy. Qualitative Social Work, 20(1-2), 632–638. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473325020973386