Globalization and the Transformation of Social Work: A New Paradigm for Social Justice

Globalization has altered the social, economic, cultural, and institutional environments in which social work is taught and practiced, requiring the profession to reconsider the relationship between local intervention and transnational structures. This article examines how globalization has reshaped the conceptual, professional, educational, and ethical foundations of social work and explores how these transformations are refracted through the Albanian post-socialist context. The study employs a critical interpretive literature review and thematic synthesis of international scholarship, foundational social work texts, recent studies on social work education and professionalization in Albania, and an institutional mapping of Albanian social services. Five interrelated themes emerge: the shift from international to global and glocal social work; interdependence, cultural competence, reciprocity, and social justice; transformation of social work education; ethical and regulatory tensions; and the effects of welfare restructuring and global political economy on professional roles. The Albanian evidence shows that global standards are not simply transferred into national practice but are translated through post-socialist institutional legacies, decentralization, educational reform, professional regulation, and uneven local service capacities. The article concludes that global social work is most productively understood as a relational and multi-level framework in which universal professional commitments are combined with critical reflexivity, contextual adaptation, and structural advocacy.