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Social Diversity Research Paper

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A social worker will encounter many people from all different cultures, socioeconomic classes, and different genders. In order to effectively help people or groups of people and adequately assess the person in their environment it is essential that a social worker understand the issues of diversity. This essay will begin with a definition of diversity and an explanation of how diversity has led to segregation throughout history and into present day. Next will be examples of social diversity and the importance of diversity awareness. In conclusion, this paper will show how a social workers understanding of social diversity directly relates to the social work code of ethics. Diversity was defined in the class lecture as the cultural differences …show more content…

In other words, discrimination and oppression can come from multiple angles. For example, a Native American woman may experience injustice because she is Native American and because she is a woman. Ramirez also addressed this concept, stating that a Native American woman is oppressed for both reasons since they are richly intertwined. To illustrate this point, Ramirez brought up the issue of violence against indigenous women. If the two caveats, being Native American and female are separated then indigenous males are allowed to continue the oppression of their women. With the focus on the empowerment of Native Americans and not female Native Americans, then the oppression and domestic violence continue. A person that is Native American and female has intersecting characteristics and both need to be addressed. According to Ramirez, it is essential that both indigenous men and women develop a Native feminist consciousness in order to combat sexism to allow all indigenous women to become full members of their homes, communities and tribal nations. In order to be an effective social worker and work with the complexities of people that intersect at multiple dimensions of diversity, a social worker must understand the multiple components of social diversity as well as the effects that occur when multiple identities are …show more content…

This type of thinking gives a social worker tunnel vision. The Black-White binary paradigm reduces people into two groups, either black or white. It is not fair to group Latinos with African-Americans or Native Americans with Caucasians. They are all different. They come from different historical backgrounds, different cultures, traditions, languages, etc. The list of differences can be extensive and by generalizing people into just two groups, a social worker would negate the process of evaluating individuals in their environment. This leads to the paradox that was discussed in class. Race is absolutely meaningless, but it must always be considered. In a world where everyone is treated equally a social worker could be colorblind, they could take race out of the equation. Unfortunately that is not the case. This is a world were African-Americans have been denied equal housing, equal income, and equal employment opportunities. Even though forms of segregation became illegal, de facto segregation continued to further oppress African-Americans in the United States. The radio broadcast in class explained how housing regulations were used to segregate neighborhoods, allowing Caucasians to build wealth and pass it on to future generations. Alternatively,

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