Slow ethics in an age of fast technology : the ethical implications of industry 4.0 for social work

Banks, Sarah (author), Sobočan, Ana Marija (author), Bertotti, Teresa (author), Shears, Jane (author), Strom-Gottfried, Kimberly (author)

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.

• Language: English
• Keywords: social work, slow ethics, digital technology, artificial intelligence
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FSD - Faculty of Social Work
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 137-155
• Numbering: Vol. 19, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-171210
• UDC: 364:17
• ISSN on article: 1749-6543
• DOI: 10.1080/17496535.2025.2512949
• COBISS.SI-ID: 239945219
• Publication date in RUL: 19.08.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Ethics & social welfare
• Publisher: Routledge
• ISSN: 1749-6543
• COBISS.SI-ID: 518833177

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: socialno delo, etika, digitalna tehnologija, umetna inteligenca