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Social Justice and Human Dignity in Contemporary English Literature: A Social Work Perspective
Subject area: Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities · Area of research: Literature & social works
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I3-1722721
Abstract
Contemporary English literature has increasingly become a mirror through which societies examine questions of inequality, marginalization, and the inherent worth of the human person. This paper explores the intersection of social justice and human dignity as represented in contemporary English-language fiction, and argues that these literary representations offer valuable conceptual and pedagogical resources for the profession of social work. Drawing on works by authors such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Khaled Hosseini, Kazuo Ishiguro, Colson Whitehead, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Zadie Smith, the paper demonstrates how narrative fiction dramatizes the lived experience of oppression, displacement, racism, poverty, disability, and gender-based violence, while simultaneously affirming the dignity and agency of marginalized characters. The paper situates this literary analysis within social work's core values — service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence — and within theoretical frameworks including Rawlsian distributive justice, Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach, and the person-in-environment perspective. It concludes that literature functions as a form of empathic pedagogy for social work education, sensitizing practitioners to the structural roots of suffering and to the resilience of those who endure it, while also cautioning against the risk of aestheticizing suffering without corresponding structural critique.
Keywords
social justice, human dignity, contemporary English literature, social work, empathy, narrative, marginalization, capabilities approach
References
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[2] Adichie, C. N. (2013). Americanah. Alfred A. Knopf.
[3] Charon, R. (2006). Narrative medicine: Honoring the stories of illness. Oxford University Press.
[4] Germain, C. B., & Gitterman, A. (1996). The life model of social work practice: Advances in theory and practice (2nd ed.). Columbia University Press.
[5] Hosseini, K. (2003). The kite runner. Riverhead Books.
[6] Hosseini, K. (2007). A thousand splendid suns. Riverhead Books.
[7] International Federation of Social Workers. (2014). Global definition of social work. IFSW.
[8] Ishiguro, K. (2005). Never let me go. Faber and Faber.
[9] Kant, I. (1998). Groundwork of the metaphysics of morals (M. Gregor, Trans.). Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1785) Crossref
[10] Keen, S. (2007). Empathy and the novel. Oxford University Press.
[11] National Association of Social Workers. (2021). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. NASW Press.
[12] Nussbaum, M. C. (1995). Poetic justice: The literary imagination and public life. Beacon Press.
[13] Nussbaum, M. C. (2000). Women and human development: The capabilities approach. Cambridge University Press. Crossref
[14] Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
[15] Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Harvard University Press.
[16] Smith, Z. (2000). White teeth. Hamish Hamilton.
[17] Tervalon, M., & Murray-García, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9(2), 117–125. Crossref
[18] United Nations. (1948). Universal declaration of human rights. United Nations General Assembly.
[19] Whitehead, C. (2016). The underground railroad. Doubleday.
[20] Woodward, K. (2004). Calculating compassion. In L. Berlant (Ed.), Compassion: The culture and politics of an emotion (pp. 59–86). Routledge.
How to cite this paper
@article{1722721,
author = {Dr. J. Senthilkumar, Sheba Shaji, Dr. Kavitha Rani V, Dr. K. Nithya},
title = {Social Justice and Human Dignity in Contemporary English Literature: A Social Work Perspective},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {10},
number = {3},
pages = {210-217},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1722721.pdf},
abstract = {Contemporary English literature has increasingly become a mirror through which societies examine questions of inequality, marginalization, and the inherent worth of the human person. This paper explores the intersection of social justice and human dignity as represented in contemporary English-language fiction, and argues that these literary representations offer valuable conceptual and pedagogical resources for the profession of social work. Drawing on works by authors such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Khaled Hosseini, Kazuo Ishiguro, Colson Whitehead, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Zadie Smith, the paper demonstrates how narrative fiction dramatizes the lived experience of oppression, displacement, racism, poverty, disability, and gender-based violence, while simultaneously affirming the dignity and agency of marginalized characters. The paper situates this literary analysis within social work's core values — service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence — and within theoretical frameworks including Rawlsian distributive justice, Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach, and the person-in-environment perspective. It concludes that literature functions as a form of empathic pedagogy for social work education, sensitizing practitioners to the structural roots of suffering and to the resilience of those who endure it, while also cautioning against the risk of aestheticizing suffering without corresponding structural critique.},
keywords = {social justice, human dignity, contemporary English literature, social work, empathy, narrative, marginalization, capabilities approach},
month = {September},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I3-1722721}
}