POWER, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND DIVERSITY Lecture IX

1. POWER, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND DIVERSITYLecture IX Tamara Norris, Instructor School of Social Work .University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina

2. 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:

3. 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?

4. POWER (cont’d) • 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?

5. 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?

6. 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?

7. 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.

9. 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.

11. DIVERSITY/CULTURAL COMPETENCE PUZZLE -- INDIVIDUALSFOUR KEY BEHAVIORS: 3. SUBJECT-MATTER UNDERSTANDING & EXPERTISE (CON’T) • 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. • SELF KNOWLEDGE - • Understanding how one’s 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.

12. 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 nation’s 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.

13. 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.

14. 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 organization’s reputation for cultural competence will be as valuable an asset as the professional backgrounds of its personnel.