Empowerment and Human Diversity Chapter 3

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Empowerment and Human Diversity Chapter 3
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Discrimination

• Discrimination- the act of treating other people
  differently based on the fact they belong to some
  group rather than merit.
• Lets think of some stereotypes that might led
  people to discriminate against others..

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Stereotypes

• Gay and lesbians are just confused or rebellious
• Black people are good athletes
• People with physical disabilities are
  unemployable
• Hispanic males only date females much younger
  then themselves
• Women are too emotional to make good supervisors

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Stereotypes and Predjudice

• Stereotype-A fixed idea of a member of some
  specified group based on some attribute or
  attributes that reflect an overly simplified view
  without appreciation of individual differences
• Prejudice- a negative opinion about an individual
  or group that is not based on fact
• Stereotypes and prejudice often contribute to
  discrimination, oppression, and economic
  deprivation

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Discrimination

• Discrimination occurs at two levels
• Individual negative treatment of one person by
  another.
• Institutional woven into the fabric of society.

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Populations-at-risk

• Groups of people who share some identifiable
  characteristic that places them at greater risk
  of social and economic deprivation and oppression
  than the general mainstream society.
• Ex. Homosexuals, people of color, women, the
  elderly, individuals with physical or mental
  disabilities

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What can Social Worker do?

• Focus on the strengths of a client to solve
  problems and empower clients.
• Empowerment is the process of increasing
  personal, interpersonal, or political power so
  that individuals can take action to improve their
  lives.
• Examples
• What is going well for you?
• What are your capabilities?
• Who is a support for you in your life?
• Everyone has strengths. Use these strengths to
  empower others.

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Strength Perspective

• Historically, social work focused on deficits,
  dysfunction, and pathology.
• In recent years, Social Work shifted towards the
  strength perspective to mobilize competencies and
  build self-confidence and stimulate hope.

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Strength Perspective

• 5 Principles of the strengths perspective as
  defined by Salebey (2002)
• Every individual, group, family, community has
  strengths
• Trauma and abuse, illness and struggle may be
  injurious but they may also be sources of
  challenge and opportunity
• Social workers should never place limits and
  continue to help others aspire and grow
• Collaboration is the best way to serve clients
• Every environment is full of resources

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Resiliency

• Resiliency-the ability of an individual, family,
  group, or community to recover from adversity and
  resume functioning even after suffering serious
  trouble, confusion, or hardship.
• risk factors adverse environmental conditions
  that increase vulnerability of individuals
• protective factors-protect against
  vulnerabilities

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Importance of Human Diversity

• Social workers need to appreciate the vast range
  of differences among groups that relate to age,
  class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity,
  family structure, gender, marital status,
  religion
• WHY???
• To promote social and economic justice for
  population-at-risk of discrimination and
  oppression
• To recognize the values and issues of diverse
  groups and to appreciate differences and build on
  strengths

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Cultural Competence

• Important to a develop a set of knowledge and
  skills in order to be effective when working with
  multicultural clients

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Developing Cultural Competence

• Develop an awareness of personal values,
  assumptions, and biases
• Establish and appreciation of other cultures and
  nurture attitudes that respect differences
• Self awareness of own culture and belief system
  and how that might influence interaction with
  clients
• Recognize stereotypes and oppression of various
  groups
• Commit to learning about different cultures
• Acquire skills for working with people of various
  cultures

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Race and Ethnicity
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RACEReality or Myth?

• Race a group with inherited physical
  characteristics that distinguish it from other
  groups.
• With a population of 6 billion, a rich diversity
  of human shapes and colors exist.

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Ethnicity

• Race applies to biological characteristics,
  Ethnicity applies to cultural characteristics.

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Melting Potor Tossed Salad?
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Tossed Salad

• Although we are all living in the US, we maintain
  our individual and cultural distinctiveness
• Social workers must address how people from
  various cultures have different ideas and
  expectations about what should happen during the
  intervention process

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Some Common Cultural Values for Hispanics

• Common language-90 of Latinos in the US continue
  to use the Spanish language
• Familismo- Importance of extended family
  relationships that includes aunts, uncles,
  cousins, grandparents
• Respect for the elderly
• Spirituality and religion
• Strict division of gender roles (ex machismo is
  the idea of male superiority that defines that
  man as the provider, protector, and head of
  household)

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Native Americans

• Extended family and respect for elders- sense of
  self is secondary compared to that of the family
  and of the tribe
• Non interference-the deep respect for rights and
  dignity of individuals (self-determination) (ex.
  Children are rarely told directly what to do but
  encouraged to make their own decisions)
• Harmony with nature
• Less formal concept of time
• Spirituality

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African Americans

• Extended family ties (ex. Often children are
  raised not only by the nuclear family but also by
  extended family members)
• Role flexibility
• Respect for Elderly
• Close relationship with the church

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Asian Americans

• Family primary unit
• Interdependence (ex chinese culture emphasizes
  kinship from birth until death.)
• Filial piety-a devotion to and compliance with
  parental and familial authority even if
  sacrificing individual desires and ambitions
• Investment in children
• Patriarchal hierarchy-father is head of household
  and authority is not questioned