Wolfensberger W
Syracuse University Training Institute for Human Service Planning, NY 13244-2280, USA.
Ment Retard. 1995 Jun;33(3):163-9.
Social Role Valorization is interpreted as a high-order empirical social science theory that informs people about the relation between the social roles that people hold and what happens to them as a result and how to valorize (improve or defend) the social roles of people at risk of social devaluation. Because Social Role Valorization is not a "religion," people must go to higher belief systems to determine whether and why other humans should be valued or devalued, whether the social valuation of others should be promoted, and which presumably effective means to this end are morally defensible or even imperative. Whether a pursuit of social valuation in certain cases has unacceptable implications can be in the domain of either "religion" or practical trade-offs.