Critical Race Theory: A Content Analysis of the Social Work Literature (original) (raw)
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Using Critical Race Theory to Measure "Racial Competency" among Social Workers
Journal of Sociology and Social Work, 2014
Critical Race Theory, a theoretical framework and interpretive model, demonstrates to be a valuable tool of social justice that further promotes a space placing race in the center of analysis, proving to be a beneficial, yet a component that has not gain much recognition in the Social Work profession. This research study explores the need to integrate a model such as Critical Race Theory which promotes "racial competency" among practitioners serving racial and ethnic minorities. The research study surveys 175 social work and counseling practitioners providing services in four Midwest regions. The study examines practitioners' understanding of the significance and functionality of race.
Moving From Multiculturalism to Critical Race Theory Within a School of Social Work
Advances in Social Work
The continued presence of racism and white supremacy has risen to a crisis level as today’s global pandemic, police abuse targeting Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) communities, and mass urban uprisings rock the nation. This article presents a case study of a West Coast school of social work that has carried out a five-year systematic campaign to move all levels of the program beyond a multicultural orientation towards critical race theory. This study reveals the results of a self-organized cross-racial committee within a school of social work, motivated by an ambitious goal to implement a racial justice orientation throughout the school’s personnel, practices, policies, and curricula. The committee has been further characterized by its commitment to engage across the power-laden divisions of field faculty, tenure track faculty, and administrative staff. The article offers documented stages of development, narratives from across differences of identity and profess...
Mapping an Integrative Critical Race and Anti-Colonial Theoretical Framework in Social Work Practice
Advances in social work, 2022
The social inequities highlighted by the racial injustice protests of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic challenge the social work profession to respond to the past and present social consequences that disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We argue that social work's commitment to social justice has not taken up an explicit anti-racism mission to eradicate white supremacy, racism, and coloniality in the profession. We further argue that although social service agencies often include a commitment to cultural competence/humility, practices continue to be rooted in color-blind approaches to service and treatment. Social work's failure to address racism poses challenges for those from racialized backgrounds experiencing psychological distress due to racism and other inequities. Building upon the theoretical foundations of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Anti-Colonialism, we provide a conceptual framework for practice and service delivery with BIPOC clients through social work praxis. This conceptual framework offers three overarching directives that include integrated critical race and anti-colonial theoretical concepts for social work practice and service delivery. We discuss the implications for application of this conceptual framework in practice and service delivery.
Critical Social Work
Ranging from a multicultural approach to models of cultural sensitivity and cultural competency, social work education has historically avoided challenging the power of racism in shaping inequity in the United States. We argue that integrating critical race theory (CRT) in social work education decenters whiteness, counters color-evasive racism in education, and centers anti-racist ideas and practices. CRT provides social work educators with a framework that explicitly addresses race and racism while challenging social work students to self-reflect critically on their own experiences with privilege and oppression. Further, it enables social work students and practitioners to analyze race and other systems of oppression structurally. This manuscript offers an overview of how CRT is integrated across an MSW curriculum to better prepare social work students to engage in anti-racist social work practice. We describe specific examples of how CRT is infused into the curriculum in theory a...
The U.S. is transforming into a multi-racial and multi-ethnic society in which factors such as race and ethnicity are important variables to consider in professional practice and service provision to racial and ethnic minority populations. This multi-racial and multi-ethnic transformation presents many challenges for professional social work and counseling practitioners providing services to racial and ethnic minority groups. This study examines Social Work's current Cultural Competency Model, proposing the need to integrate a model such as Critical Race Theory which promotes "racial competency" among practitioners serving racial and ethnic minority women domestic violence survivors. The research study surveys 175 practitioners providing services in four Midwest regions. Variables such as race, racial attitudes, ethnic identity, knowledge of domestic violence and understanding of Critical Race Theory are examined. Implications for social work practice and education are discussed.
Latina/o/x Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) in Social Work Praxis
Advances in Social Work
We propose that the profession is theoretically at a point of convergence between CRT and LatCrit. Both theories are united in the production of knowledge to dismantle oppression. This article provides a brief review of CRT and a comprehensive understanding of LatCrit as a starting point for critical social work education perspectives. We discuss implications for social work education by broadening the racial discourse to include Latinas/os/x and suggest critical solutions and adaptations to current social work pedagogy to better prepare students to enter the social work field and respond to this growing population. We provide recommendations for reevaluating social work and find an exit from the loop of “band-aid” interventions that lack a fundamental basis for addressing the underlying causes of trauma, stress, and racism. We provide concrete examples for incorporating LatCrit into social work education, practice. We close by calling on the professions leading organizations, NASW ...
Critical Multiculturalism, Whiteness, and Social Work
Journal of Progressive Human Services, 2006
In this paper, I suggest that most cultural diversity classes in social work are taught from a liberal or conservative multicultural perspective that precludes a power analysis and a critical discussion of whiteness. In order to undo this status quo, social educators and practitioners need to incorporate critical multiculturalismas a tool in subverting racism. A critical multicultural practice includes an analysis of whiteness and a commitment on the part of white social workers to take up an antiracist practice. Pedagogical strategies are described that unmask whiteness. Finally, Stephen Madigan's oppositional whiteness, illustrated in a case vignette, is illustrated as an antiracist practice in which a white social worker/therapist situates his own privilege and becomes an ally.
Critical Race Theory and the Limits of Relational Theory in Social Work with Women
Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 2015
The authors present a conceptual framework for expanding the use of relational theory with African-American women. Relational theory (RT) informs practice with women but is inadequate in addressing all aspects of culture and identity. RT presumes that all women desire or are able to make therapeutic connections, yet race, gender, and cultural experiences influence their ability to do so. Successful practice with minority women must address racism and its impact. Critical race theory (CRT) that incorporates a solution-focused (SF) approach is well-suited to address the limits of RT. This overview of a CRT/SF approach describes treatment for diverse women that extends RT and enhances effective social work practice to provide culturally sensitive treatment to women.
Reframing Black Perspectives in Social Work: New Directions?
This paper aims to focus on the politics of exclusion by opening up a debate about black perspectives in social work and articulates a comparative assessment between the UK and USA which includes contributions from social and political theory, particularly the 'politics of recognition'. The paper begins by mapping the territory denoted in the growth of 'studies' in sociology and academia. Following these discussions, I review criticisms and possibilities of anti-racist social work and black perspectives to argue that in the British context, the dilution of anti-racist social work into a discriminatory practice framework undermined the place of black perspectives in social work education. In the next section, a reframing of black perspectives is envisaged with implications for social work learning and practice. By attending to these issues, social work learning andpractice can support a more inclusive approach to professional knowledge which recognizes changing patterns of social life, complexity and multiple perspectives
Using Critical Race Theory to Analyse Community Engagement Practice in a Graduate Social Work Course
International Journal of Educational Development in Africa, 2022
of action that was familiar to them instead of developing deeper levels of understanding in working with Black, Indigenous, and racialised populations. This article details one aspect and the process of community engagement undertaken by the class and provides a critical reflection on how the students could have better engaged the community and challenged power dynamics and epistemology while using CRT.