>The Humanization of Everyday Life. An Analysis of the Ethics of the Social Professions<: If ethical analysis is to be of any service in elaborating a theory of the social professions, it must not simply be based on the patron-client relationship. Of greater importance are rudimentary social-political and universal ethical maxims, both of which imply a demand for social justice construed as working towards a social state – together with Albert Schweizer's >reverence for life< and Erich Fromm's >biophilia< (in the sense of dealing considerately with nature). Since most social occupations in present-day society are located in the service sector, the influence of commodification (>commodities always come with a price tab attached<) must be as much reflected in the worker's relation to the client as the possibility of abuse and remaining in tutelage. Finally speaking, institutional ties to colleagues and co-workers (>teamwork<) – as well as >looking after oneself< (in the sense of preserving one's psychic balance), work on the >patron syndrome< (W. Schmidtbauer), and the prevention of >burn-out< – are also in need of consideration. In all of these, the goal of a practical ethic for the social occupations not only consists in promoting the most >mature< possible standards of professional behavior; it also involves freeing the way for a showdown with compulsions and deformations that are deeply rooted in the socially conditioned motivational and demand structure, i.e. Erich Fromm's >social character<. Emancipating oneself from these compulsions is, to be sure, not easy and never completely successful – but achieving insight is the first step to liberation.
Vorwort – Preface
(1993)