Dr. Weinberg has provided some analytical tools for professionals that expand thinking on ethics, and after giving an example, discusses their usefulness. Rather than seeing language as simply reflecting reality, Dr. Weinberg believes that it constructs what we take to be truth. The power of new concepts is to transform unarticulated senses and experiences, giving voice to them. For example, the concept of “black is beautiful” is a potent device to subvert racism and potential notions of the inferiority of people of colour and can change people’s perceptions of themselves and others. Therefore, putting terms into the lexicon of social science theory helps make those ideas real and useable. We cannot think outside of discourse, so adding concepts can expand our thinking of what is ethical.
The analytical tools discussed are ethical trespass, moral distress, discursive fields, preferred and actualized selves.