Recognition in Professional Care

Abstract

A recognitive attitude is an essential requirement for professional care. It is important from the perspective of ethics but also from the perspective of quality and efficiency of work. Users of social and health care services are often in a vulnerable position and dependent on their helpers. This asymmetry underlies the importance of respect, esteem and care. The professional helpers should respect the rights of their clients and patients, starting from the right to self-determination. If needed, the professional helpers should also support the self-esteem of their clients and patients. Significantly, the genuineness of care may be the decisive element that leads to recovery. However, the context of social and health care services involves some special challenges for recognition theory. For instance, what does respect for self-determination mean in the case of service users who have limited cognitive capacities? Finally, recognition theory is useful also on a macro level. For instance, we can conceptualize a gap in the service system as a form of misrecognition if it relates to vital needs for services of a marginal group.