Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Implications Of Racism For Social Work Practice, Seymour Mirelowitz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines school and practice issues in social work in relationship to the concepts of ethnicity, minority groups, racism, and institutional racism. Operational definitions to establish conceptual clarity are also developed. The statistical aspects of progression vis-a-vis cultural diversity in social work institutions, enrollment in schools of social work, and representation on the faculty of schools of social work are studied. Social policy and the implementation of change in social work practice and education are then dealt with in relation to the current reality of the profession and the society in which it functions.

Blacks And Capital Punishment: An Assessment Of Latent Discriminatory Justice In The United States, Laurence French

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

A major consideration in interethnic relations is the control factor and how this is maintained in minority/ majority situations especially those occurring within heterogeneous societies. Granted numerous subtle control processes operate at both the primary and secondary levels of interethnic interaction but a critical measure of the effectiveness of minority subjugation is reflected in judicial discrimination. This formal legal control apparatus has a legal mandate to deny social members their freedom, to punish and even to execute them. In the United States the criminal justice system's avowed mandate is to provide 'equal justice' for all citizens without discrimination due to …

Racial Differences In The Confident Relationship, Ruth E. Dunkle

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Numerous researchers have studied the black family in American society. Unfortunately, too few have focused on the role of the family in the life of the elderly. In this paper it is my intention to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the black family and, in particular, on the black family member as confidant.

Frazier, in a book, The Black Family, edited by Robert Staples, discusses the character of the black family during the various stages of its development. He purports that the black family has been affected by the social isolation of blacks in American society. Frazier believes …

Two Perspectives On Organizationally-Inspired Barriers To Innovation In Schools Of Social Work: Short And Long Term Strategies To Promote National Minority Group Representation, R. Louis Mcneely, John Oliver

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper focuses on conditions conceived to militate against innovation and change in organizations adhering to administrative principles found often in many workplaces. While these principles are not peculiar to schools of social work, these schools are singled out along with two related problems identified often by persons employed in these schools as ones for which few effective innovations have been implemented. These problems center upon how these schools may best achieve an adequate representation among faculty members, of minority group staff, and an adequate representation of substantive course offerings focusing upon the experiences of national minority group members. The …

The Perpetuation Of Institutional Racism Through Ethnic And Racial Minority Content In The Curriculum Of Schools Of Social Work, James E. Herrick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The author asserts that the effect of assimilation of ethnic and racial minority content into the curriculum of schools of social work may perpetuate institutional racism.

Social work education as well as the purpose of the profession itself are viewed as basically one of helping people adjust and accommodate to the dominant and racist institutions of our society. Consequently, the author argues, incorporation of ethnic and racial minority, content into curriculum that serves such a function is likely to serve ends to which it was not intended.

Five suggested areas of change in the mission of social work education are …

Blacks In The American Criminal Justice System: A Study Of Sanctioned Deviance, Terry Jones

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Almost since the beginning of Black history in America there have been differences of opinion as to what the role of Blacks should be in reference to the criminal justice system. In the beginning these differences centered around the issue of cooperation or resistance to the slave system and a criminal justice system that guaranteed slavery durante vita. Now, while the issue is no longer slavery, Blacks continue the debate over cooperation versus resistance to the criminal justice system. What should the role of Blacks be in reference to the criminal justice system? Can Blacks be of greater assistance to …

Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Paraprofessionals: An Empirical Comparison, John E. Blount Jr., Kirk W. Elifson, William Chamberlain

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper provides a comparative description of indigenous and nonindigenous paraprofessionals who were employed in a social service capacity in a large urban setting. Personal interviews were conducted with 88 paraprofessionals employed by the Fulton County Department of Family and Children Servives (Atlanta, Ga.). The primary variables discussed include an assessment of the respondent's background, their present employment situation, experience with and attitudes toward welfare and general attitudinal measures. The results provide a basic demographic profile of the indigenous and non-indigenous paraprofessional and indicate their differing characteristics. Briefly, the indigenous respondents were less anomic, felt more efficacious in terms of …

Debunking Sapphire: Toward A Non-Racist And Non-Sexist Social Science, Patricia Bell Scott

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The term "Sapphire" is frequently used to describe an age-old image of Black women. The caricature of the dominating, emasculating Black woman is one which historically has saturated both the popular and scholarly literature. The purpose of this paper is debunk the "Sapphire" caricature as it has been projected in American social science. By exposing the racist and sexist underpinnings of this stereotype, it is hoped that more students and scholars might be sensitized and encouraged to contribute to the development of a nonracist and non-sexist social science.

Towards The Development Of Theory: Cultural Pluralism Redefined, Antonia Pantoja, Wilhelmina Perry, Barbara Blourock

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The authors are attempting to move beyond the descriptive position, evidenced in the current writing, towards a theoretical approach to cultural pluralism. A series of definitions are presented concluding with the authors' definition of cultural pluralism - redefined. The new definition is discussed, as an operational concept, emanating from participants in the new cultural pluralism movement.

The current societal conditions that impede the realization of cultural pluralism are discussed in relation to a conceptual model, Criteria for Assigning Preferred or Unpreferred Status, that is used to explain our society's idealization of certain personal, social, and economic characteristics.

The authors conclude …

Indigenous Correctional Paraprofessionals: "Bourgeois Nigger Or Empathetic Worker?" - A Brief Position Paper, Robert J. Wicks

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Employment of paraprofessionals in correctional settings is no longer considered to be a controversial experiment. Their involvement in institutional and community-based programs is expected today. To utilize only professionals such as social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and penologists is considered to be an outdated waste of available personnel. A number of recent, comprehensive reports have borne this out (Gartner, 1971; Sobey, 1970; Arnhoff & Rubenstein, 1969; Grosser, Henry & Kelly, 1969).

Differential Utilization Of The Health Care Delivery System By Members Of Ethnic Minorities, Patricia A. Brown

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Research and statistical reports of the 1960's strongly attested to the underutilization of the health care delivery system by members of ethnic minorities. For example, a 1968 national report on hospital utilization showed that a larger proportion of white persons was hospitalized than were persons of 'color.'I This was found to be true regardless of sex and age; but "... as family income increased, the rate for white persons and those of other races became closer." This fact not withstanding, each income level saw whites using hospitalization more than persons of 'color.' Reasons for this difference in utilization were offered …

Some Socio-Cultural Aspects Of Growing Up Black, Joan S. Wallace, Samuel P. Wong

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Black people, like other people, grow up in families. This simple observation is a suprise to people who are accustomed to associate the experiences of Black people with slavery, crime, delinquency, civil disorders. The Black historian, Benjamin Quarles (1967) has observed that white America tends to have a distorted perspective on Black life, and the fact of Blacks growing up in a family is a fresh approach to the understanding of socio-cultural aspects of growing up Black (cf. Billingsley, 1968).

The family is society's primary context for meeting a child's biological needs, directing his development …

Racial Identification Versus Professional Identification: Can They Be Reconciled, Patricia A. Brown

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

For close to a decade, members of the social work profession, who also were members of a minority race, have been confronting the profession with their perception that social work has not addressed adequately the needs of their racial groups. The fact that members of one group (a minority race) confronted another group (the social work profession) in which they also held membership signaled the strong and serious conflict between a person's identification with two major groups. Whether the two group identifications could find a common ground, became a concern for not only the individual belonging to the two groups, …

The Ethnic And Class Dimensions In Neighborhood: A Means For The Reorganization Of Human Service Delivery Systems, Arthur J. Naparstek, Karen Kollias

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Human service delivery systems get criticized by both "users" and "providers" of the services, regardless of countless reforms, evaluations, models, decentralization efforts and re-evaluations. In order to determine directions for the future, this article will discuss past policy initiatives, and review the literature which links human service needs to ethnicity and social class in a neighborhood context.

Black Families And National Policy, Andrew Billingsley

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

The family is both a source of society and a product of society. As a source of society the family produces individuals, values and a set of behaviors we call socialization which helps to build institutions which constitute the fabric of the larger society. As a product of society the family is highly influenced, conditioned and to a great extent determined by the forces which emanate from the institutional fabric of the larger society. Thus, what a family is, is to some extent determined by, influenced by, defined by the larger context of the society …

Social Workers, Immigrants, And Historians: A Re-Examination, Leslie Leighninger

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As a profession frequently caught in a "middleman" role between society at large and specific client groups, social work is often charged with adjusting client behavior to societal demands, rather than working from the other end of the continuum. In terms of their relations with ethnic and minority groups, social workers are sometimes pictured as representatives of a dominant, white Protestant culture, acting, intentionally or unintentionally, as standard bearers for that culture among dissident minority groups. In light of this picture, the addition of courses like "Black Dor Chicano] Culture and American Social Work" to the social work curriculum appears …

Assimilationist Theory And Immigrant Minorities In The United States And Canada: Implications For Social Services Development, John M. Herrick

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines from a comparative perspective theories of cultural assimilation in the United States and Canada and speculates on the impact of these theories for developing social services, especially social services for immigrants and ethnic minorities.

Some Implications Of Ethnic Disparity In Education For Social Work, Faustine C. Jones, Samuel P. Wong

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from full-text article:

The increasing attention to the institutional nature of social problems is a significant emphasis in social work. Many of the personal troubles of individual clients are the products of a social system which operates to keep them in trouble, and an awareness of the institutional nature of social problems is a prerequisite for effective solution of personal troubles (cf. C. Wright Mills, 1959).

The Significance Of Ethnicity In Staffing Corrections, Alfred J. Kutzik

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

Until recently the total thrust of efforts to improve the staffing of corrections has been towards the recruitment and development of trained personnel. In the past decade it has begun to be recognized that factors other than training have to be taken into account. Largely as a result of California's groundbreaking Community Treatment Project the personality of staff is now considered by some to be as important as their training and in a few programs those with certain types of personality and training have been assigned to work, i.e., "matched", with juvenile offenders who have …

Ethnicity, Professionalism, And Black Paternalism: Implications For Social Welfare Services, Robert S. Bartlett

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Excerpt from the full-text article:

The assumption around the use of nonprofessionals as members of the agency team suggest that the "bridge" function is enhanced when the new worker and the client-system are similar in such factors as ethnicity, class, cultural background, religion, and so on. Data from a 1968 survey tested Grosser's hypothesis: "that staff similarity with the client in ethnicity...will result in greater accuracy regarding the client and his community (1966:60)". Grosser's hypothesis was tested at a black staffed community action agency, serving a black ghetto in a large metropolitan city in the northeastern section of the United …