Anti-Racist Social Work: A Challenge for White Practitioners and Educators

209 Pages·1997·21.76 MB·English

by  Lena Dominelli (auth.)

PRACTICAL
SOCIAL WORK
Series Editor: Jo Campling
IBASW I
EditorialAdvisory Board:
RobertAdams, Terry Bamford, Charles Barker, Lena Dominelli,
Malcolm Payne, Michael Preston-Shoot,
Daphne Statham andJaneTunstill
Socialwork isatanimportantstageinitsdevelopment. Allprofes
sions must be responsive to changing social and economic
conditions if they are to meet the needs of those they serve. This
series focuses on sound practice and the specific contribution
which social workers can make tothe well-being ofour society.
The British Association of Social Workers has always been
conscious of its role in setting guidelines for practice and in
seeking to raise professional standards. The conception of the
Practical Social Work series arose from a survey of BASW
members to discover where they, the practitioners in social work,
felt there was the most need for new literature. The response was
overwhelming and enthusiastic, and the result is a carefully
planned, coherent series of books. The emphasis is firmly on
practice, set in a theoretical framework. The books will inform,
stimulate and promote discussion, thus adding to the further
development of skills and high professional standards. All the
authors are practitioners and teachers ofsocial workrepresenting a
wide variety of experience.
JO CAMPLING
A list ofpublishedtitles inthisseriesfollows overleaf
PRACTICALSOCIALWORK
SocialWorkandEmpowerment WomenandSocialWork
RobertAdams JainaHanmerandDaphneStatham
SocialWorkandMentalHandicap YouthWork
DavidAnderson TonyJeffsandMarkSmith(eds)
BeyondCasework ProblemsofChildhoodandAdolescence
JamesG.Barber MichaelKerfootandAlanButler
SocialWorkwithAddictions CommunicationinSocialWork
JamesG.Barber JoyceLishman
CitizenInvolvement WorkingwithViolence
PeterBeresfordandSuzyCroft CarolLuptonandTerryGillespie(eds)
PractisingSocialWorkLaw SocialWorkwithOlderPeople
SuzyBrayeandMichaelPreston-Shoot MaryMarshallandMaryDixon
SocialWorkersatRisk AppliedPsychology/orSocialWorkers
RobertBrown.StanleyButeandPeterFord PaulaNicolsonandRowanBayne
SocialWorkersandMentalJ/lness CrisisInterventioninSocialServices
AlanButlerandColinPritchard KieranO'Hagan
SocialWorkandEurope SocialWorkwithDisabledPeople
CrescyCannan.LynnBerryandKarenLyons MichaelOliver
ResidentialWork CareManagement
RogerClough JoanOrmeandBryanGlastonbury
SocialWorkandChildAbuse SocialCareintheCommunity
DavidM.CooperandDavidBall MalcolmPayne
ManagementinSocialWork WorkinginTeams
VeronicaCoulshed Malcolm Payne
SocialWorkPractice WorkingwithYoungOffenders
VeronicaCOllished JohnPitts
SocialWorkandLocalPolitics EffectiveGroupwork
PaulDanielandJohnWheeler MichaelPreston-Shoot
SociologyinSocialWorkPractice EffectiveProbationPractice
PeterR.Day PeterRaynor.DavidSmithandMauriceVanstone
Anti-RacistSocialWork(2ndedn) PracticeLearningandTeaching
LenaDominelli StevenShardlowandMarkDoel
WorkingwithAbusedChildren SocialWorkwiththeDyingandBereaved
CeliaDoyle CaroleR.Smith
Evaluating/orGoodPractice ChildCareandtheCourts
AngelaEverittandPaulineHardiker CaroleR.Smith.MaryT.LaneandTerryWalsh
AppliedResearch/orBellerPractice CriminologyforSocialWork
AngelaEveritt.PaulineHardiker,JaneLittlewoodand DavidSmith
AudreyMullender SocialWorkandHousing
StudentSupervisioninSocialWork GilStewartandJohnStewart
KathyFordandAlanJones FocusonFamilies
WorkingwithRuralCommunities ChristineStones
DavidFrancisandPaulHenderson Anti-DiscriminatoryPractice
Children,theirFamiliesandtheLaw NeilThompson
MichaelD.A.Freeman DealingwithStress
FamilyWorkwithElderlyPeople NeilThompson.MichaelMurphyandSteveStradling
AlisonFroggatt Workingwith.MentalJ/lness
ChildSexualAbuse DerekTilbury
DanyaGlaserandStephenFrosh CommunityWork
ComputersinSocialWork AlanTwelvetrees
BryanGlastonbury WorkingwithOffenders
WorkingwithFamilies HilaryWalkerandBillBeaumont(eds)
GillGorenBames
Women,ManagementandCare
CordeliaGrimwoodandRuthPopplestone
Anti-Racist Social Work
A Challenge for White
Practitioners and Educators
Lena Dominelli
Forewordby John Small
--
MACMILLAN
©BritishAssociationofSocial Workers 1997
Foreword ©John Small 1997
Allrightsreserved. Noreproduction,copy ortransmissionof
thispublication maybemadewithoutwrittenpermission.
Noparagraph ofthis publicationmay bereproduced,copied
ortransmittedsave with written permissionorinaccordance
withtheprovisionsoftheCopyright,Designsand PatentsAct
1988,orunderthetermsofanylicencepermittinglimited
copyingissued bytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,90
TottenhamCourt Road,London WIP9HE.
Anypersonwhodoes anyunauthorisedactinrelationtothis
publication maybeliable tocriminalprosecutionand civil
claims fordamages.
The authorhasassertedher rights tobe identified asthe
author ofthis work inaccordancewith theCopyright,Designs
andPatentsAct 1988.
Firstpublished 1997by
MACMILLANPRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke,HampshireR021 6XS
andLondon
Companies andrepresentatives
throughout theworld
ISBN978-0-333-68719-2 ISBN 978-1-349-14381-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-14381-8
Acatalogue record forthisbook isavailable
fromtheBritish Library.
This bookisprinted onpaper suitablefor recyclingand made
from fullymanagedandsustained forestsources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
06 05 04 03 02 0I 00 99 98 97
Editing andoriginationby
Aardvark Editorial, Mendham,Suffolk
Contents
Forewordto SecondEdition byJohn Small VII
Dedication xiv
Preface to SecondEdition xv
Acknowledgements xvi
Introduction: Anti-Racist Social Work - ACriticalIssue
for White People 1
Defining racism? 7
The parameters of anti-racist social work 15
Notes 21
1 Racism PermeatesSocial Work Ideologyand Practice 23
Racism in British society and social work:
a theoretical and practical understanding 24
Racism insocial work practice 31
Racism in social work: a social issue 40
2 Social WorkTraining isImbued with Racism 42
The social work curriculum: ananalysisofthe
racism permeating the social work literature 43
Examining the racism inherent incurrent
definitions of social work 49
Respectingautonomous black organisations 57
Changing directions inthe social workcurriculum 61
The employment ofteaching staffwithablackperspective 62
Anti-racist practice placements: theanti-racist
apprenticeship model 66
Black students and social work training 68
Guidelines for white educationalists 69
3 Deconstructing Racism: Anti-RacismAwareness
Trainingand Social Workers 71
Barriers to anti-racist practice: avoidance strategies 72
Anti-racismawareness training 74
Exercises aimed atexamining personal awarenessofracism 84
Anti-racismawareness training andorganisational
v
vi Anti-RacistSocial Work
change: changing employmentpolicies 89
Anti-racism awareness training and trainers 92
4 Social Working Black Families 94
Problematisingblackfamilies 94
The myth ofthe 'blackfamily' 95
White social workers' intervention with black children 99
. The use of interpreters 106
Theconvergenceof white sexism and racism
insocial work practice 107
Multiple oppression: the case ofa First Nations woman 113
White social work intervention with blackyouth 115
Whitesocial work intervention with olderblackpeople 120
Countering white social workers' racism 124
5 TacklingRacism at the Organisational Level:
Workingon Agency Policies and Practices 129
Ending the conspiracy ofsilence about racism in social work 130
Establishing anequal opportunities policy:
setting theclimatefor anti-racist social work 138
Blockages toequal opportunities 139
Endorsing an equal opportunities policy
requires additional resources 140
Theexploitationofblackworkers through Section 11posts 142
Collective strategies and methods in
implementingorganisational change 145
6 Campaigningfor theTransformation of Social Work: the
WhiteSocialWorkeras anAnti-RacistAdvocate 148
Campaigns againstinstitutionalisedracism
andthe denial ofblack people's rights 150
Anti-racist social work practice is good practice 158
Equalising action, not 'positive discrimination' 161
7 Conclusions: DevelopingAnti-Racist/Non-Racist
Social Work 165
Anti-racist social work guidelines 166
UsefulAddresses 168
Bibliography 169
Index 182
Foreword to second edition
Within the eight years since this book was published there have been
significant changes which have been amplified bythepolitical transfor
mation in Eastern Europe. These changes have resulted in hope and
optimism in some quarters. However, behind this hope and optimism
lurks fear and anxiety about the reactivation of the far right ideology
which ismanifestingitselfthrough attackson 'migrants'orblackpeople.
This has brought into focus the forces in society that are supporting
attitudes that are adverse to the welfare of the black population. Social
work and socialservicesare key playersintheprocess.The freemarket
philosophy andprivatisation haveresultedinthetrimmingofthewelfare
stateandarolling backofthegainsofblackpeoplewhichwereachieved
through hard struggles.
Againstthisbackground,Anti-RacistSocialWorkisrevisedinorderto
take account of these developments. These developments have caused
consequential shifts in the social, political and economic landscape.
Social work and social services must therefore be seenand analysed as
politicalphenomena;notinthe narrowpartysensebutwithinthecontext
of thedistribution and theuse ofpowertoreward orpunishonthebasis
ofrace andcolour.Itis within thiscontextthatLenaDominellianalyses
social work and social services, by putting the discipline under the
microscope and demonstrating how the 'purchaser', 'provider',
'community care', 'care management' and 'value for money', as the
guiding principles of the new social work, have worked against the
welfare of the majority of black people inBritain.Outof thisprocessis
emerging a new form of specialism in social work. This is being
anchored in traditional socialwork,withoutanyregardtothevitalroles
of racism within the structure of ideas that underpinsthe method. This
revised edition of Anti-Racist Social Work forces us to recognise the
political nature of socialwork and socialservices.
It shows how social work can influence ideas, structures, values,
institutions, behaviour and also determine the types ofrelationship that
exist between individuals within the client-worker relationship. In this
regard,the challengesfacing black people are notonlythose todowith
separation from the familiar and attachment to the unfamiliar but
vii
Vlll Anti-RacistSocial Work
confronting the multi-dimensional characteristics of racism as they go
about their daily lives. It is sad that even after such a long history of
blackpeopleresiding inBritain and thecontributionthatthey have made
to the development of the economy and society, nevertheless they are
still regarded as aliens and are cut off from the main stream of British
societyanditsinstitutions.
Anti-Racist Social Work shows that the major obstacle confronting
blackpeopleinBritaintodaycontinuestobeinstitutionalisedoppression.
Asapartofthisprocess,racismisstillthefundamental barrier preventing
accesstoopportunity,privilege, power and socialjusticeforthe majority
of the black population. It is against this background that the book is
written. It is designed to bring to the foreground the effect of racism in
social workeducation and training and to demonstrate how the various
elementsofracistpracticearestitched intothefabric ofsocial work.
It has been said that the teacher today is teaching what has been
learned at least two generations ago from textbooks that were written
several decades before. In the field of social work this is certainly the
case and in relation to social work with black people the problem is
multiplied in that social work theoreticians have largely ignored the
presence of the black population, and so in their theory-building little
attention hasbeen paid to the effects of racism on the black population.
The immediate and central task of the discipline must therefore be to
reorientatethevalue baseofsocial work inareal way toconfrontracism
initsvariousforms.
Thisbookrecognises theurgent need fortransformationinthefield of
social work. Without work of this nature, stereotyping and the
reinforcingofracist practices is likely tocontinue into the distantfuture
without being challenged.The first task is to acknowledge differences
and identify similarities but the danger, of course, is that often differ
ences becomegeneralised into stereotypes, and this we must constantly
guard against. Lena Dominelli's work demonstrates that generalisation
performs an important function in terms of making sense.of new
situations.However, assheshows, generalisation should notbeasubsti
tute for accurate description of new situations, of observation, analysis
andlogicaldeduction basedonthelevelofcurrentknowledge.This book
illustrates how the process of generalisation can be transformed into
stereotyping and then fed back into the structure of ideas, thereby
reinforcingracism.
Dominelli shows that racist ideas have survived the past, exist in the
present andwillcontinue into the future, not as areuslt of theconserva
tive nature of the society but because of the essential function that is
Forewordto second edition ix
servedbythephenomenon.Infact,racistideasareoftenreactivatedfrom
the past to serve the same function in the present.Through a thorough
analysis of racism she shows that although certain symbols of racism
have changed asaresponse totheanti-racist onslaughtothershavetaken
their place, thereby articulating the old and bringing to the surface the
adaptive nature of the phenomenon. Withthis analysisshe shows that a
change in symbolic form does not necessarily result in a concomitant
change in symbolic function, inthat thesamefunctionisserved bynew
symbolic forms. It is therefore of critical importance that anti-racist
strategies are brought into the social work profession to safeguard its
value base.
This work shows that racism is a dynamic force, with the inherent
nature to change over time and that it is profoundly influenced by the
political, economic and socialforces thatareinoperationataparticular
period of time. It can be articulated through the medium of culture
'culturalracism'.Forexample,wherecertainculturalfeaturesareseenas
British and desirable, or 'black' and undesirableandtherefore 'superior'
or 'inferior'. It is also used to explain the poverty of black people in
Britain or the existence of poverty in former colonial countries. In this
way the underdevelopment and poverty inthecountriesfrom which the
black population descend are not seen as due to imperialism and
colonialismbutasaresult ofcultural andgeneticinferiority.
Dominelli shows that racism is inherently exclusionary and is
embeddedwithinthestructureofthesociety.Consequently,itisvitalthat
the variables be isolated and analysed in order to bring into focus its
exclusionary characteristics, the elements within, its articulation, its
persistence and the process of its operation through a dialectic of
inclusionary and exclusionary representations. In this regard Dominelli
conceives it as being of primary importance that individualand institu
tional racism are to be studied simultaneously in order to discover the
interrelationship between them and the impact on individuals and
society.Todootherwisewould betooperateatalevelofdescriptionand
toleave her work unfinished.
In arriving at this position, Dominelli avoids the usual analytical
problem of applying different meanings anddifferent termstothe same
phenomenon. In this work, racism is seen not only as discriminatory
treatment onthebasisofraceandcolourbutalsoanideologywhichfuels
institutions by the use of power within a class society with conflicts
permeating every level of the social structure. The exclusionary and
inclusionary nature of the phenomenon together with its collective