Social mediator ethics: critical questions about objectivity and neutrality

Abstract

The ethical dimension of social and community mediation, either in a micro or macro approach will constitute as the central focus of this article. The understanding of the structural axes of the rela-tionship, including the objectifying of a founding otherness, as well as the critical debate around the (im)possibility and/or ethical-moral suitability of the mediator’s neutrality, will provide the analytical underpinning for the reflection. Thus, we want to structure the debate around the complexity and the reflexivity inherent in the process and content of mediation and the resulting ethical and professional project of social mediators, as subjects of development, social justice and citizenship.