POWER, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND DIVERSITY Lecture IX

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POWER, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND DIVERSITYLecture IX

• Tamara Norris, Instructor
• School of Social Work
• .University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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CASE ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT

• COMMUNITY PROBLEM ANALYSIS (30 pts.) The case
  analysis should critically examine a significant
  problem related to the organization or
  community served by your practicum, workplace
  (or other assigned agency). It should draw on at
  least three relevant organizational or community
  behavior theories or perspectives discussed in
  class. Once the source of problem behavior has
  been identified, use at least two theories or
  models to support changes that would resolve the
  identified problem. (The sources for the
  theories/models should be cited.) Develop the
  case analysis in the following steps

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POWER

• Power is autocratic, participatory,
  unilateral, collective, political, a degree
  of control over resources (human, fiscal,
  intellectual, etc.).
• Power is transferred through inheritance,
  anointment, violence, requests, or other means.
• Power inequality perpetuates oppression of ethnic
  minorities in the social services system. True
  or False?

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POWER (contd)

• Power is both VISIBLE and INVISIBLE.
• Is current welfare reform an example of VISIBLE
  or INVISIBLE power?
• Are low-income, poverty-ridden communities
  largely powerless?
• Are social workers largely buffers for the
  system do they support existing power
  structures? Why or why not?

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SOCIAL WORK PATRIARCHY

• Why is welfare/social work under-girded by
  patriarchal ideologies when it is
  female-dominant?
• What role(s) have females played in this process?
• How can women change the patriarchal pattern of
  social work?

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EMPOWERMENT

• Miseducation depowers the oppressed.
• Pedagogy of the oppressed
• Advocacy ? Empowerment ? Power
• Advocacy ? Reaffirmation of Status Quo
• Social workers do not usually engage in ADVOCACY
  and EMPOWERMENT for the oppressed and
  downtrodden. True or False?

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WHY SHOULD SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS BE
CULTURALLY COMPETENT?

• PERSONAL IMPERATIVE
• Individuals who have learned to function in
  multiethnic/multicultural situations develop
  superior communications skills, tend to be better
  leaders, better coaches, better at influencing
  others, better at giving and receiving feedback.
• SOCIAL IMPERATIVE
• Changing complexion of the clients of social
  services. We must learn to deal gracefully with
  more and more people who are not like us.
• LEGAL IMPERATIVE
• Discrimination law suits are expensive.

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APPROACHES TO DIVERSITY

• TRADITIONAL -
• Assimilation / Affirmative Action (Legacy) /
  Melting Pot Model
• UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY -
• Assumes that difficulty in organizations flows
  from a lack of understanding, so that the
  objective is to enhance your ability to accept,
  understand, and appreciate differences among
  clients.
• MANAGING DIVERSITY -
• An emerging supplement to the traditional option.
  The objective is to create an environment that
  fully taps the potential of all clients, in
  pursuit of your practice objectives, without
  blaming the client.

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DIVERSITY/CULTURAL COMPETENCE PUZZLE --
INDIVIDUALSFOUR KEY BEHAVIORS

• SELF KNOWLEDGE -
• Understanding how ones own personal beliefs and
  values may affect others.
• LEADERSHIP -
• Take responsibility for championing diversity.
• SUBJECT-MATTER UNDERSTANDING EXPERTISE -
• You must understand affirmative action/equal
  employment guidelines and how they differ from
  valuing and managing diversity.
• You must be knowledgeable of the Americans with
  Disabilities Act of 1992 and the Family and
  Medical Leave Act of 1993.

• 3. SUBJECT-MATTER UNDERSTANDING EXPERTISE
  (CONT)
• You must know the demographic profiles of clients
  being served by your organization.
• You must understand the effects of public and/or
  private sector policies, systems, and practices
  on clients in the context of their ethnicity,
  gender, lifestyles, and cultural differences.
• 4. FACILITATION SKILLS -
• You must know the clients of your organization
  and know how to design your service delivery
  based on their needs.

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IF YOU PLAN TO WORK IN A SOCIAL SERVICE
ORGANIZATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY, NOTE THE
FOLLOWING TRENDS

• Every one belongs to a minority group
• By 2000, one employee in four will come from a
  minority group.
• Hispanics will lead Blacks as the nations
  largest minority.
• Immigrants will become more important to U.S.
  population growth than natural increase.
• Challenge to Social Service Organizations
  Target the diverse cultures, age groups,
  lifestyles, etc. with right practices and
  messages.

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IF YOU PLAN TO WORK IN A SOCIAL SERVICE
ORGANIZATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY, NOTE THE
FOLLOWING TRENDS

• The family must be redefined.
• By 2010, married couples will no longer be a
  majority of households.
• An increasing number of children will be single
  female- and/or teen-parented (never married), and
  in poverty, with working mothers, and offspring
  of ex-offenders.
• By 2010, about one in three married couples with
  children will have a stepchild or an adopted
  child.
• Interracial marriage will darken the faces of the
  average family.
• Alternative family types will become more
  prevalent, including unmarried heterosexual
  couples, homosexual couples, and friends who live
  together.
• Bottom Line Social Service organizations will
  need to be tactful when depicting 21st Century
  home life.

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IF YOU PLAN TO WORK IN A SOCIAL SERVICE
ORGANIZATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY, NOTE THE
FOLLOWING TRENDS

• Bottom Bottom Lines
• Social Service organizations that effectively
  manage client diversity and look for ways to
  adjust agency practices to client needs are the
  ones most likely to excel in the 21st Century.
• An organizations reputation for cultural
  competence will be as valuable an asset as the
  professional backgrounds of its personnel.