Is Social Work Racist? A Content Analysis of Recent Literature

McMahon, Anthony; Allen‐Meares, Paula

doi:10.1093/sw/37.6.533

Cited by 27 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…One explanation may be that social work, from its inception, has tended toward centering and praising a certain "kind" of work. Although the CSWE introduced cultural diversity as an area of focus for both social practice and education in 1978 (McMahon & Allen-Meares, 1992), the study of Whiteness over the last 20 years and new understandings of White Supremacy help uncover and reveal that history books document events, persons, and explanations of value that maintain White culture (Jeyasingham, 2012). In contrast, those events, people, and principles upheld and applauded by BIPOC have seldom made it into history books, including those that tell the history of social work.…”

Section: The Crowned White Founders Of Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whitewashing of Social Work History

Wright

Carr

Akin

2021

ASW

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Severe racial inequity has characterized the incorporation of ethnic minorities’ contributions to U.S. history and advancements (Sandoval et al., 2016). These disparities are inextricably connected to White Supremacist ideologies and practices, and are perpetuated in higher education through textbooks, pedagogy, and research. Social work, like many disciplines, teaches about its early roots with a whitewashed historical lens. Indeed, review of the social work literature reveals the scarcity of attributions to Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC). Without a more racially diverse perspective on social work’s history, social work scholars promote and sustain White Supremacy. The implications of this are crucial since social work education is predominantly populated by privileged White students who adopt this mentality, unaware of Black, Brown, Latino, Asian, Native or Other ethnic “Jane Addams” who have massively promoted the social welfare of communities for decades without historical recognition or the privileged positions of Addams and Richmond. Historical distortions also potentially discourage BIPOC social work students’ self-efficacy and future efforts to contribute and excel in the discipline. To properly address this issue, social work history must be refaced with a more equitable and just lens. This review seeks to address the gap in the literature pertaining to the need for a greater integration and infusion of racially diverse social work historical contributions in several ways. Recommendations will be made for future research in this area to dismantle racist perspectives in social work history, and strategies will be offered to help social work educators and researchers address this critical issue.

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Section: The Crowned White Founders Of Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whitewashing of Social Work History

Wright

Carr

Akin

2021

ASW

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“…Their content analysis focused on interventions with historically marginalized populations. They found that the social work profession was superficial in its attempts to be antiracist because of its colorblind approach, its normalized oppression of clients by centering awareness of social workers, its intense focus on the individual rather than the structural systems that need to be addressed to assist the client, and its repetitive nature of normalizing the status quo (McMahon & Allen-Meares, 1992). Despite concluding that, "programs will require a more advocating, proactive, organized, and antiracist stance from the profession" (McMahon & Allen-Meares, 1992, p. 538), the profession continues to struggle with how to actually de-center racist white patriarchal ideologies that infiltrate our pedagogy, practice, and scholarship.…”

Section: Three Pillars Of Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…White supremacy is a mechanism of social control (Pewewardy & Almeida, 2014). Shannon (1970), Longres (1972), andMcMahon andAllen-Meares (1992) identified how white supremacist norms became a master narrative in social work practice, research, and education. One mechanism for disrupting the white supremacy that has become a master narrative in social work scholarship, practice, and education is to create a counter-narrative (Pewewardy & Almeida, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

De-Centering Whiteness Through Revisualizing Theory in Social Work Education, Practice, and Scholarship

Crudup

Fike

McLoone

2021

ASW

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Institutions that frame social work education and prepare future practitioners are firmly rooted in hegemonic philosophies and practices that perpetuate colonization, oppression, and white supremacy. In recognizing that white supremacy is a mechanism of social control, that our current social structure is grounded in liberal-patriarchal capitalism, and that social work conforms to prevailing social norms, we, as social workers, must acknowledge our complicity in perpetuating a white supremacist master narrative (Pewewardy & Almeida, 2014). The white supremacist ideology inherent within Western social work literature, teaching methodologies, and practice strategies only serves to perpetuate an oppressive system. This structure does not envision social workers as agents of change, but rather as essential cogs of the status quo who foster client dependence on a system that is inherently marginalizing. One mechanism for disrupting the white supremacy that has become a master narrative in social work is to create a counter-narrative (Pewewardy & Almeida, 2014). This paper creates a counter-narrative by using the pyramid of white supremacy framework (Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, 2008; Tuzzolo, 2016) to critique social work and deconstruct post-racial fallacies ascendant within the profession, and re-visualizes ecological systems framework as a mechanism for de-centering whiteness in social work scholarship, practice, and education.

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“…However, social work education has historically and continually failed to meet inclusive, diversity-related professional goals (Lasch-Quinn, 1993;Specht & Courtney, 1994;Turner et al, 2018). Scholars continually demonstrate that social work education does not change social work students' oppressive and racist beliefs (Corley & Young, 2018;Danforth et al, 2020;Lee & Bhuyan, 2013;McLaughlin, 2005;McMahon & Allen-Meares, 1992;Tolliver et al, 2016;Turner et al, 2018). While some scholars focus on educational techniques, others focus on the concepts in this area of study.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The Mirage of Action’

Aguilar

Counselman-Carpenter

2021

ASW

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This autoethnographic study highlights complex strategies for maintaining white supremacy used by “well-intentioned” heterocentric white female social workers that are enacted under the guise of practicing anti-racism in social work practice settings, classroom environments, policy initiatives, and advocacy work. Using autoethnography was both unplanned and deliberate. Unplanned, we needed a research method that allows us to explore the untouchable subject of heterocentric white female social workers and deliberate in that we could use our experiences to break ground and establish white supremacy among heterocentric white female social workers that espouse anti-racist values as an area of study. We draw on education, anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines to name some of the ongoing challenges to dismantling racism, colonialist, and reformer narratives in social work, and identify strategies used by all white folx, but particularly heterocentric white female social workers to neutralize the suggestion or accusation of their acts as racism. We name three challenges to dismantling racism among heterocentric white female social workers: hiding behind the data, anti-racist book clubs, and crying and comfort. We conclude with further questions for those who hold power in the field and a reflection upon our own continued intersecting struggles with these concepts.

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Is Social Work Racist? A Content Analysis of Recent Literature

Cited by 27 publications

References 26 publications

Whitewashing of Social Work History

Whitewashing of Social Work History

De-Centering Whiteness Through Revisualizing Theory in Social Work Education, Practice, and Scholarship

‘The Mirage of Action’

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