Relevance of mahatma gandhi’s philosophy to social work profession: a review

Authors Details :
Abraham Mutluri

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This article presents the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy toward the Social Work Profession in India. It is a review article prepared with secondary data available in books and journal articles. Mahatma Gandhi was a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement in British-ruled India. His principles viz. Non-violence, Satyagraha, Swadesi, Sarvodaya and Democratic leadership led Indians to strive to bring independence to India. He had launched the freedom struggle movements viz. Dandi Salt March, Quit India and Non-Cooperation Movement for Independence. Gandhi found a few disparities in India and developed a concept called constructive programme with the points of conflicts between different religious groups, castes, untouchability, fear arising out of ignorance, economic disparities, decaying condition of our villages, the plight of Adivasis, Kisans and the labourers, and the position of women, etc. Gandhiji motivated his followers, and freedom fighters to work on the said disparities. These constructive programme points are very relevant to the social work profession and nowadays many social workers are working on these programmes. This article presents how Gandhian principles like Nonviolence, Satyagraha, Swadesi, and Sarvodaya are relevant to the social work profession. Gandhiji Principles such as seeking truth through service to the poor and needy, individual self-development and self-reliance, nonviolence social action and material simplicity are very related to the code of ethics of professional social workers. The study suggested that professional social workers should practice the principles of Mahatma Gandhi in their interventions. The associations of professional social workers should adopt the Gandhiji principles and include them in the social work curriculum