Agency Structures: Inequality Within Agency Groups

|DH3W 34 |Sociology for Social Care Practice |(02) Understand the causes of discrimination and analyse its effect |

The readings for this week were an interesting mix of journal articles and a New York Times magazine article. The New York Times article; “The Case of Marie and her Sons” is about a Puerto-Rican mother’s battle with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) to regain custody of her five sons. The journal articles; “A Social Worker’s Reflections on Power, Privilege, and Oppression” by Michael Spence; “Pregnant With Possibility”, Merlinda Weinberg; and Racial Macroaggressions in Everyday Life”, Derald Wing Sue, et. al.; have illuminated some common issues that can occur during my career that will have a profound effect on the power and control the profession can have in the public sphere.

I believe that Carniol’s view of social work is appropriate and timely. For the profession that is trained to analyze and address social problems, it is unfortunate that we have not established our mark as champions of oppressed and/or its voice in policy making. We have not embedded in the consciousness of the public that we are the experts on these matters. There are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is that we have allowed ourselves to be oppressed and have failed to change the system that oppressed us. Also, most of the social workers are trained in and practicing conventional approach that limits their attention to the client and his/her immediate environment.

Social work is based on respect for the inherent worth and dignity of all people as expressed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights(1948) It is therefore of paramount importance that a social work professional should work towards promoting the best interests of individuals and groups in society. I very much recognize the contribution that social work brings to inclusion having worked alongside social workers during the course of my shadowing placement. I possess a real commitment to promote equality which I have had the pleasure of doing in a multitude of different roles. From academic journals as well as my lecture notes I now appreciate the central importance of using the fundamental principles of human rights and equality to underpin my practice, and the inherent need to promote justice in relation with the people I will work.

Within this essay the areas in which discrimination and oppression occur will be highlighted and then evaluated to show how ‘good’ anti oppressive/ discriminative practice within social work can ‘aid’ and empower service users who are in groups that experience oppression and discrimination to overcome their problems. Gil (1994) states that “the conditions that cause people to seek help from social services are usually direct or indirect consequences of social, economic, and political institutions, and... the profession of social work is ethically committed to promote social justice. Insights into oppression and social

IntroductionThis paper discusses and explores both case studies in order to find the powers and duties a social worker acting in a statutory capacity might exercise in these cases, how might they be exercised and how might wider principles of welfare law impact on their decision making? It also analyses the tensions and dilemmas that may exist, referring to specific legislative provisions, and identify how anti-oppressive practice might influence the resolution of these case studies. It also demonstrates an ability to study relevant law in social work practice and have a critical and analytical understanding of the service delivery standards and powers and duties of social workers, demonstrate a working knowledge and understanding of key

One of the most challenging professions for African American males is social work. As a social worker, I have realized that I have to work under two domains. The first one is to work under the race identity and the second one is to work as a class identity. Although I am proud of being an African American, I usually feel sorry for myself being from unprivileged social class in the American society. The identity of being an African American male has affected my social work in many aspects. This is because it has made it impossible to carry out my professional duties because of negative perspectives and discrimination in the society. African American social workers are considered to be incompetent by the rest of the society hence making it impossible to delegate duties without any form of discrimination. This paper provides my own reflections as an African American male in the field of social work and how this identity has affected my practice in community work and advocacy duties.

Social workers are often on the forefront in the fight against any form of oppression as against the marginalized society. These demanding but oftentimes unappreciated efforts are often addressed through the conscious use of skills and knowledge of the problems being solved against. When such oppression is however committed against them within the organization where they work, the social worker seems to be mum about the situation, or their efforts perhaps are rendered inutile. North America social workers experience this form of oppression within the social service institution. For this reason, I examine the arguments why the social workers need to be aware of the existence of this unique form of oppression. In order to eliminate oppression in the social welfare workplace, the social workers, in their pursuit of social change, must have a competent understanding of the theory around racism and oppression.

A Social Worker’s reflection on Power, Privilege and Oppression, this is the title of Michael Spence’s article, but what really does that mean? Spence talks about his personal experiences in life that dealt with all three of these aspects, power, privilege and oppression. In this paper this writer will also talk about power, privilege and oppression in regard to Spence’s outlook on the topic. What is power? How does it relate to Social Workers and social situations? Is privilege really something that can be given to you just based on race and where you grew up, or how you were raised? Lastly Oppression, what causes one type of social group to be oppressed?

According to Duffy (2016), there are two different types of social work practice when it comes to working alongside a disadvantaged population. The first kind, is used more often and is called conventional social work approach, which focuses its attention on undertaking assessment and ensuring that individuals are families are received the correct support through organised services and support. On the other hand, critical social work, the less utilized approach aims to challenge the inequalities and oppression in society, by targeting the societal structure via activism and research, in order to bring forth criticism and questions on discourses attached to particular marginalised groups. The author proposes that both social work practices are important, however, critical social work should be emphasized on more frequently, especially with groups such as the ageing population as it targets the stubborn discourses (Duffy, 2016). Mattsson broadens critical social work, by relating it to critical reflection. Critical theorists have proposed critical reflection as a method to understand how social work practices can uphold oppression due to seemingly everyday actions, words and attitudes. Therefore, this can have an implication on how social workers execute their practice, as ordinary and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies may senselessly abide social workers to uphold and reproduce social oppression, even though they might be well-intentioned. Critical reflection

Feminist and critical race theory both address privilege and social oppression in society. Though both theories seek to address the same issues, they have wildly different approaches to understanding the mechanisms behind them. It is imperative to know how these theories acknowledge oppression as well as privilege in order to decide whether it is appropriate to utilize them when practicing as a social worker. In doing so, the social worker will be able to more effectively know when to correctly apply one of these theories as well as when it would be inadvisable to do so.

History serves to educate us about our past and guide the future. As social workers it is important to understand the history of our profession in order to appreciate how the current practices came into being and in turn how our history affects our current practice. To adequately serve the various populations, we must understand the historical oppression and discrimination they faced so we can provide culturally competent service delivery. This essay will compare and contrast the origins of micro and macro social work practice and how they are reflected in modern practice.

Within the social work that we encounter on a daily basis, anti-oppressive (AOP) practice is generally referred to as the wider term that covers various practices and approaches as structural, radical, feminist, critical, anti-racist and liberating actions. AOP is viewed as a social work practice that attempts to address the structural inequalities and social divisions that is usually experienced in the social work. The ultimate aim of AOP is to provide more appropriate and sensitive services that ensure the social status is not an impediment to them enjoying the social service. AOP is egalitarian in approach and caters for personal philosophy while suppressing the negative effects of the structural weaknesses and inequalities (McGraw, n.d). It is deemed to cater for both the process and the outcome and aimed at reduction of the negative effects of hierarchy that may be experienced in the social work.

People who have always been marginalized and oppressed by agencies, schools and people, would require special preparation, attention and effort to prove them that they can modify their lives with the intervention of structural social workers. Moreover, it is important to admit that not everyone agrees with the vision of structural social work, therefore, this could be another obstacle to create change in workplaces and public service facilities. Limited access to public services due to discrimination of race, color, sex, gender, religion and language are taken into account as part of the challenges encountered in this process of challenge of structural barriers within society. Finally, I believe that a structural social work vision in a person from a visible minority in society will trigger obstacles for the individual himself. It would be challenging to create change within his/her environment, as many would argue that his/her opinion does not count, making it difficult when challenging structures of oppression for the sake of clients’ well-being and structural social work

The journey towards the attainment of the Bachelor of the social work degree has been an enlightening and educational experience, as the individual is exposed to the realities of many social and political issues in the society. As a student, I ventured into the degree, with minimal insight as to how the degree can influence and shape the way I perceive the social world, and the way I relate these matters to myself. However, throughout my endeavour, which encompasses years of theoretical studies, and two intensive placements at two drastically different organisations, I believe I have accumulated the bare minimal knowledge to possess a solid foundation about the unfairness and inequality that people in disadvantaged conditions face. Social workers are predominantly found in welfare organisations which Howe (as cited in Limber, 2015) suggested largely influences the practice, direction and values of the social worker, and impacts on their ability to act autonomously (Lymbery, 2015). During my placements, there was a dominant theme that frequently stood out and enticed my attention. This was the accepted practice of focusing on the individual’s problem, as opposed to the social problems that existed and the lack of acknowledgement about the social restrictions of the human agency that limited self-determination. The realization that organisations were managed this way was important in ensuring that I made a proactive effort to understand and untangle the reasons behind such