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Social Work Commons

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Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Social Work

Social Work In The Black Community: A Collective Response To Contemporary Unrest, Stephenie Howard Jan 2017

Social Work In The Black Community: A Collective Response To Contemporary Unrest, Stephenie Howard

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The frequent outpour of civil unrest in the Black community in response to instances of social injustice is a manifestation of outrage and exhaustion with systems that perpetuate socioeconomic disparities and human rights violations in this community. Lessons learned from historical practices of social work in the Black community may enhance the potential of contemporary social workers to shepherd this social consciousness into sustained social change. Toward this goal, this paper will synthesize and juxtapose the parallel paths taken by early Black social workers and their majority counterparts. This paper will also identify strategies for integrating the legacy of early …


Blurring Professional Borders In Service Of Anti-Poverty Collaboration: Combining Social Work Skills And An Anti-Oppressive Feminist Lens With Legal Aid, Andrew C. Schoeneman Jan 2017

Blurring Professional Borders In Service Of Anti-Poverty Collaboration: Combining Social Work Skills And An Anti-Oppressive Feminist Lens With Legal Aid, Andrew C. Schoeneman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The history of legal aid is contested and gendered. Like social work, since the late 1800s professionalization and broader political forces have pushed legal aid toward greater focus on individual-level interventions to alleviate poverty. As a result, the capacity of contemporary legal aid programs to work collaboratively with low-income communities to address their legal and non-legal concerns is limited. This article traces the shared histories and commitments of legal aid and social work, calls for an increased collaboration between legal aid programs and social workers, and proposes an anti-oppressive, feminist theoretical perspective to guide this collaboration. By embracing collaboration across …


Habitus, Symbolic Violence, And Reflexivity: Applying Bourdieu’S Theories To Social Work, Wendy L. Wiegmann Jan 2017

Habitus, Symbolic Violence, And Reflexivity: Applying Bourdieu’S Theories To Social Work, Wendy L. Wiegmann

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

During the mid- to late-twentieth century, Pierre Bourdieu crated a conceptual framework that describes how underclass status becomes embodied in individuals, and the ways that personal, professional, and political fields perpetuate this oppression. Bourdieu’s theories also outline the role of the “critical intellectual” in undermining oppression and fighting for social justice. Using key terms from Bourdieu’s explanatory framework, this article examines the power relations and symbolic violence built into the interactions between social workers and clients, and offers suggestions as to how reflexive and relational social work can help workers reduce this impact. This paper also explores the role of …