Abstract
The social work profession has a long history of conflict between clinical social work and social justice oriented practice. This qualitative study examined how students mediate within the dichotomous nature of the social work profession by investigating the barriers to practicing from a social justice standpoint. This study examined how students define core concepts of social work, empowerment and social justice, and how their definitions are similar and different to those of the dominant discourse put forth by the NASW Code of Ethics (1996). This study explored and analyzed the extent to which students align with dominant discourse of social work education as well as challenges to practicing form a social justice framework.