Slow Ethics in an Age of Fast Technology: The Ethical Implications of Industry 4.0 for Social Work
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper brings together a range of perspectives on the ethical implications for social work of the growing use of digital technologies, big data, artificial intelligence and other features of ‘Industry 4.0’ (the fourth industrial revolution). Drawing on contributions to a workshop co-organised by the Ethics and Social Welfare journal, contributors explore: the nature and importance ‘slow ethics’ in an age of fast technological developments; ethical challenges for social work with the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, which outlaws digital communications; the empowering effect of online meetings for a young person in Italy; and the possibilities and limitations of using algorithms in mental capacity assessments and in ethical decision-making more broadly. Stimulated by these examples, the concluding discussion considers how to maintain a person-centred approach in social work, being pro-active in developing positive uses and resisting the de-humanising and exclusionary impacts of digital technologies.
Source: Ethics and Social Welfare
Institutions: Durham University, University of Trento, Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta, University of Haifa, Southern Cross University, Tel Hai Academic College, University of Ljubljana, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Universidad de Navarra, Japan Lutheran College
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4411354198