Ethics & Social Welfare

ACCESSIBILITY OF WELFARE RIGHTS — ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES ON LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGIES

This special issue aims to critically examine the ethical implications of linguistic, communicative, and technological barriers in accessing welfare rights. We invite contributions that explore how these dimensions affect individuals’ ability to understand, claim, and exercise their social rights — not as a matter of administrative efficiency, but as a fundamental question of justice, dignity, and equality.

Understanding the language of law and public administration is not merely a technical skill — it is a precondition for ethical and democratic participation in society. Legal and normative language shapes individuals' capacity to become rights-bearing subjects: to understand their entitlements, assert claims, and seek redress when rights are denied. These rights include both negative protections (such as the right to privacy or bodily integrity) and positive obligations of the state (such as the right to social security, education, or a healthy environment). As such, the accessibility of these rights through communication channels and technological systems is inseparably linked to ethical values — including autonomy, fairness, non-discrimination, and social inclusion.

Despite being enshrined in international human rights instruments (e.g., the European Social Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU), access to welfare rights is frequently compromised by non-legal barriers. These include linguistic complexity, digital exclusion, socio-economic disadvantage, and the lack of user-centered public communication. For many, the language of the law remains alienating or unintelligible, leading to unjust outcomes. Inaccessible digital platforms, opaque procedures, or overly bureaucratic language not only frustrate access but reproduce systemic inequities and reinforce marginalization.

These are not simply matters of design or administration — they raise pressing ethical questions:
Who is included or excluded by current systems of communication and digitalization in welfare services?
What responsibilities do governments, institutions, and professionals hold in ensuring equitable access?
How can we promote epistemic justice for participants in relevant services, and challenge technocratic practices that overlook their lived experiences?

This special issue is edited by a transdisciplinary team of scholars working at the intersection of social work, law, linguistics, and artificial intelligence. Together, we approach the accessibility of welfare rights as an ethical concern requiring critical reflection, inclusive practices, and systemic change.

Suggested topics for papers include, but are not limited to:
Ethics of Communication in Welfare Systems: Critical analyses of how complex language, institutional opacity, and bureaucratic discourse create ethical barriers to welfare access.
Linguistic Justice and Welfare Rights: Exploration of ethical issues related to language diversity, translation (or lack thereof), and exclusion of linguistic minorities in accessing welfare systems.
Digitalisation and Data Ethics: Examination of how technological tools — from digital forms to AI supported eligibility checks — can either empower or exclude users, with attention to privacy, surveillance, and autonomy.
User-Centered Design as Ethical Practice: Analysis of design choices in welfare service delivery from the perspective of respect, inclusion, and responsiveness to diverse user needs.
Policy and Justice: Reflection on how national and international policy frameworks promote or hinder equitable access, and what ethical principles should guide reform.
Intersectionality and Structural Injustice: Discussion of how overlapping systems of oppression (based on race, class, gender, disability, migration status, etc.) shape unequal access to rights.
Community and Advocacy Ethics: Examination of how grassroots actors ethically negotiate the space between formal systems and lived realities, acting as intermediaries or challengers of the system.
Legal Empowerment and Ethical Responsibility: Critical consideration of legal aid, public legal education, and professional ethics in enhancing or failing access.
Global and Comparative Perspectives: Ethical reflections on best practices, asymmetries, and policy transfer across diverse sociopolitical contexts.
Ethics of Innovation: Inquiry into emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, or algorithmic governance and their potential for ethical innovation or new exclusions.