Reference no: EM133527199

Assignment: Introduction Social Work Critique

Synthesize key concepts about diversity into a written critique.

Purpose

In these critiques, you will be asked to engage in critical thinking by responding to a series of questions related to the textbook chapter reading. These questions cover key concepts and important topics, and may require response(s) to a change agent exercise or case study or both. This is a place for you to apply and integrate new concepts, terminology, and theories.

Instructions

In a maximum of four double-spaced-pages, respond to the following prompts:

Question A. An individual's social identity is made of membership in multiple, overlapping, and intersecting social groups based on gender, social class, sexual orientation, nationality, and so on, e.g., woman, working class+woman, working class+transgender+woman, working class+transgender+undocumented+Spanish speaking only+woman. This is known as intersectionality. At times, an individual may identify with, or be more profoundly affected by, one social identity more than another. For example, battered women share aspects of the lived experience of abuse; however, the realities experienced by non-English-speaking, battered women who lack legal recognition (i.e., an undocumented person) and have little to no education are quite different from the realities experienced by highly educated women who are battered and have access to resources such as a private attorney and finances to comfortably meet needs.

Question B. What are your social identities?

Question C. How have you been or how are you influenced by your own social identities/group memberships?

Question D. Write about a time when at least two of them intersected to have an impact on you.

Question E. Provide an example when an identity/belonging to one social group had a more pronounced impact on you than another identity.

Question F. What does it mean to say that commonly held beliefs about social groups are "socially constructed"? Share an example other than one from the chapter that illustrates social construction.

Question G. One of the ethical principles of the NASW Code of Ethics states, "Social workers challenge social justice."

Question H. If you've been involved in a social justice effort, describe it.

Question I. The chapter also introduced several areas of social injustice that compel social work involvement. As an aspiring social worker or other human services professional, what do you see as the sphere of influence that you might have related to one of these issues?

Question J. What can you do to act as a change agent?

Question K. Respond to Box 5.5-What Do You Think? which asks you to consider which stage of cultural understanding describes the vice principal. On the basis of this, explain how you could help her become more culturally competent and move toward cultural proficiency.

Question L. Read Box 5.6. If a similar comment was made to you, how would you respond?