Developing the next generation of social work activists: Support for eliminating the micro–macro divide

Apgar, Dawn

doi:10.1080/10705422.2021.1881856

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Research has found that social work students reinforce this dichotomy in viewing social justice as separate from clinical practice, stating social justice classes are too theoretical and fail to offer practical skills (Bhuyan et al, 2017). Schools of social work lack emphasis on social action overall (Apgar, 2021). Results also found an overall lack of social justice integration throughout the curriculum, reporting that a lack of institutional support reinforced whiteness as the dominant social work perspective and an overarching lack of practical social justice skills throughout the program (Bhuyan et al, 2017).…”

Section: Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, while social work purports to value social justice, the profession appears to stall in moving this ideal into motion through social action. Social action, originating from community organizing, is essential to the social work mission of social change (Apgar, 2021). The NASW says social work involves political and social action; however, recent work reports that social workers are largely not involved in efforts for systematic change (Apgar, 2021).…”

Section: Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social action, originating from community organizing, is essential to the social work mission of social change (Apgar, 2021). The NASW says social work involves political and social action; however, recent work reports that social workers are largely not involved in efforts for systematic change (Apgar, 2021). In fact, there has been a decline of activism within the field, with social workers spending less than 2% of their time engaging in macro practices such as community organizing or policy development (Apgar, 2021).…”

Section: Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The NASW says social work involves political and social action; however, recent work reports that social workers are largely not involved in efforts for systematic change (Apgar, 2021). In fact, there has been a decline of activism within the field, with social workers spending less than 2% of their time engaging in macro practices such as community organizing or policy development (Apgar, 2021). While there have been critical and influential voices throughout time, the entire social work profession itself falls short (Brady et al, 2019), with some calling out the profession's deep thread of insincerity (Gambrill, 2001).…”

Section: Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This reduces the discourse to creating a professional image or branding, rather than offering tangible skills in order to achieve social justice (Bhuyan et al, 2017). Social work as a field likes to "talk the talk," yet proves time and time again that it lacks commitment to "walk the walk," revealing this unchanging gap between our so-called dedication to social justice compared to the actual actions of activism (Apgar, 2021). Social work is guilty of mainstreaming social justice, reducing our mission to hashtags and virtue signals instead of an actual commitment to structural change.…”

Section: Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

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#SocialWorkSoWhite

BlackDeer

Ocampo²

2022

ASW

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To date, social work continues to be a predominantly white-dominated profession; this is true across all levels of the profession’s current and aspiring membership, including students, practitioners, and faculty members. This racial composition is remnant of our profession’s history of upholding white supremacy and legacy of white saviorism. Not surprisingly, foundational teachings of social work center and champion white women (e.g., Jane Addams) while neglecting the important contributions of Black and Brown social workers to the profession. The harm done by continuing and upholding these practices extends to all spheres that social work education touches, directly or indirectly. While the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics would lead one to think of social work as a noble profession, the reality demonstrates that we continually fall short of that reputation. Social work education is guilty of exploiting vulnerable and marginalized communities for the benefit of the profession under the guise of promoting social justice. For example, field placement, a cornerstone of social work education, continues to send mainly white students into communities of color for the purposes of learning, often treating the community as guinea pigs in the pursuit of white knowledge through experiential learning. Although in the long run, field placements can have some benefits for communities, we need to be more critical about the practices we engage in and the ways in which they fail to advance social justice and reinforce the status quo. We are at a pivotal moment in our profession as we reckon with the dissonance between our preaching and practice. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the many ways in which social work education haphazardly 1) perpetuates colonialism and upholds white supremacy, 2) harms marginalized communities, and 3) fails to model our code of ethics. We make a call for serious introspection within the field of social work: to evaluate the power dynamics at play, reckon with our past, and plan for a profession that strengthens and lives up to its commitment to social justice. We conclude with recommendations for transformative change within the social work profession.

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Section: Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Justicementioning

confidence: 99%