Foundation of Social Work Theory

This essay critically analyzes the anti-racist perspectives in social work, including the origins, applications, and practices of the theoretical perspectives. It also presents counter arguments to measure the impact of these anti-racist practices.

Running head: FOUNDATION OF SOCIAL WORK THEORY
Foundation of Social Work Theory
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FOUNDATION OF SOCIAL WORK THEORY
Introduction
Social work practices are conceptualized as the application of social work principles,
values, and techniques to provide adequate supports to help people with tangible and intangible
services. The practices also include the psychotherapy and counseling to families, individuals,
groups, and families (Ladson-Billings & Tate IV, 2016). The primary mission of social work is
to meet the needs and requirements of the clients and enhance the well-being factors. Anti-
racism is another social work perspectives that fixes the aims on diminishing the race
discrimination. Anti-racism practices are generally based on theory and practices on action. It
criticizes the racisms and takes actions against to eliminate such practices (Bonilla-Silva, 2017).
The essay aims to develop the critical analysis of the anti-racist perspectives to diminish the race
discrimination. The study would develop the understanding regarding the past history based on
the anti-racist movements and practices. The analysis of the theoretical perspectives presented by
identifying the origins, applications and practices would be presented in this study. Furthermore,
some of the counter arguments would be developed to measure the impact of these anti-racist
practices.
Discussion
‘Race’ is regarded as the human beings who belong to the different species that have the
diverse ancestral and physical features. According to Acuña (2015), racism is defined as the
practices that discriminates a particular social group or individual belonging to another inferior
race. The social workers have identified the requirement of diminishing such racism perspectives
to protect the mankind from being discriminated. It is reported that the anti-racism movement
was originated from the community called BME during 1970’s. Jee-Lyn García and Sharif

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(2015) stated that it is required understanding the traditional of the radical values in UK social
work communities. The understanding regarding such context was quite helpful in engaging the
professionals into anti-racist practices. These influences of the radical strands of value became
prominent in social work practices since 1970’s. In order to develop the radical social work, it
depended in locating social work values with the struggles of the working class. According to
Gillborn (2016), radical social work is determined as the evolution of the social work values as it
focuses on developing the working methods through a framework formulation. Anti-racism
practices tend to focus on promoting the perspective values that is both pernicious and pervasive.
Many of theorists viewed this theory as the regime of white privilege and supremacy maintained
in spite of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of laws. Many of the critics presented
their views against such racial discrimination. The structural, systematic and individual changes
in the economic, political, and social life are required to diminish this social work perspective
that affects the humanity (Van Dijk, 2015). It has been observed that the social work
practitioners often focus on exploring the concept to mitigate the social issues due to racism that
affects the lives of the black people.
Racism and social work represents diverse types of issues and debates that contribute to
the social constraints. In modern Britain, this social movement was much necessary. The social
workers in Britain recognized the necessity of the awareness regarding the impact of social
marginalization (Nowicka, 2018). In today’s world, it has been observed that racism is highly
dominated by the overreaching term of ‘multiculturalism’ discourse. It individualizes the issues
with the service users and describes the cultural differences by focusing on the individual
empowerment. Malik (2015) argued that these approaches are challenged and the anti-racist
social work requires reframing the ‘anti-oppressive practice’. It explores the connectedness of

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the racism as a clear form of oppression in the society. In America, racism is viewed as normal in
terms of dominating the black by the white. This theory is often applied to the educational field
where the students from different races face the discriminative attitudes while pursuing their
education in a different country (Darling-Hammond, 2017). The disparities are noticeable
between the dominant and the dominated social groups. In this segment, the major divisions
focus on the gender, race, colour, disability, sexual orientation, preferences, age, and class. It is
implied that the social workers requires strengthening their attitudes and abilities for conducting
the anti-racism practices in diverse ways that can benefit the victimized people (Brown, 2018). It
requires obtaining knowledge and understanding the self-ability to work among different groups
and different social systems.
The elaborated understanding based on the experiences of the victimized people
influence such anti-racist practices. Europeans believed in the discriminative perspectives on the
basis of ethnicity. In describing social-context, it has been observed that the black people were
mainly discriminated and dominated in such regards (Kelliher, 2017). The anti-racist practices
are thus developed to support the equality against race and many people from different parts of
the world joined their hands together to develop the Anti-Racist Practices. For example, the
Grunwick Dispute Case occurred in 1976-1978, which was foreseen as the turning point of the
racism war (Stevenson, 2016). It was just the outburst of the issues between the European
employers and the black and Asian workers. In the year of 1970, black and Asian women
protested against the lower pay structure due to the race discriminative attitude of the European
employers. The European Trade Unions even ignored the issues faced by these Asian women.
Many of the women were from India and Pakistan (McDowell, Anitha & Pearson, 2014). They
had been the settlers in East Africa, which was under the British Colonial rule during that time.

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They took the profession of teaching and administrator departments and lived the comfortable
lives. After the independence of Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, the new Government adopted
some of the discriminative policies against the Asian migrants. British citizens, having entitled to
settle in United Kingdom, also decided to continue such discriminations against these Asian
workers. According to the research, the Asian workers associated with the Grunwick Factory
were much hardworking and docile, but they were paid much less amount than their white
colleagues (Willis, 2017). In the year of 1976, the protests were started against this
discrimination. In spite of the sound movement against racism, the protestors were defeated.
However, this protesting movement has been still celebrated as the British Labour Movement.
The current scenario highlights the major turn in the anti-racist movements. In today’s
world, people are widely fighting against racism for providing equal treatment to everyone.
Many of the theories are introduced to raise the voice against racism mentalities. One of these
famous theories is Critical Race Theory, which is viewed as the socially constructed instead of
being the biologically grounded. The function describes as the means of interests presented by
the white people against the black population. According to Anyon et al., (2018), CRT (Critical
race theory) suggests that the racial inequality occurs from the economic, social, and legal
differences that are created by the white population for discriminating the races. It also specifies
the maintenance of ‘elite’ white interests in the labor market and politics that increased poverty
and criminality in minority communities. On the other hand, Mattsson (2014) described that the
Critical race theory combine the progressive movement of the political struggles for gaining
racial justice with the convention and critical legal norms. These norms are often viewed as the
part of the illegitimate hierarchies, which needed reformation. Many of theorists viewed this
theory as the regime of white privilege and supremacy maintained in spite of the constitutional

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guarantee of equal protection of laws. Many of the critics presented their views against such
racial discrimination. For example, Derrick Bell wrote a much controversial critique of the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund that failed to provide the equal quality of education ahead of
racially diverse students.
On the contrary, Sterzing et al., (2017) argued that the critical race theory is developed by
embracing a radical tradition of the race-conscious mobilization, which is considered as the
empowerment strategy for the Asians, African-Americans, and other diverse races. On the other
hand, it was argued that this theory rejects the idea that ‘race’ has the natural referent. It was
stated that the ‘race’ is conceptualized as the product of the social power process. It is notable
that Lee (2015), the theory is widely concentrating on pursuing the equality in relation to the
social justice and racism. It develops the clear understanding regarding the experiences of the
racist people that tend to provide the solutions to the merging problems. In America, racism is
viewed as normal in terms of dominating the black by the white. This theory is often applied to
the educational field where the students from different races face the discriminative attitudes
while pursuing their education in a different country. Jee-Lyn García and Sharif (2015)
suggested that the life situation of the individual in relation to the social system, such as peer
groups, family, communities, and organisations develop the society, which can be affected by the
racism attributes of the dominant communities. The perceptive values of the aged people depend
on their ageing ideologist. Ladson-Billings and Tate IV (2016) explained that theory is presented
in a contextual way and it is generally concerned about the changes take place in the law system.
As an outcome, it promotes the racial issues and supports the practices against racism.
Sometimes, it is even perceived that the critical race theory defines the laws that are developed to
make the extreme justice to the people. However, Bonilla-Silva (2017) criticized that these laws

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associated with the theory is absolutely ineffective in terms of micro-organism cases. It is thus
discussed to describe the dominating nature of the people towards the minor communities
(Willis, 2017). Especially, the white people in America are dominating the black people by
depending on their conditions.
In discussing the effects of the anti-racism movement, another theory can be introduced
here. Anti-oppressive theory in social work process suggests the recognition of the oppression in
societies, communities and cultures. According to Acuña (2015), the anti-oppressive theory
focuses on the elimination of the pressures and disengages the sway of the emerging oppression.
It is notable that Anti-oppressive practice is largely understood as an omnibus term, which is not
limited to the diverse practice approaches, such as anti-racists, feminists, structural and critical
framework. Jee-Lyn García and Sharif (2015) observed that this anti-oppressive social work
represents the type of social work, which generally searches for the structural inequalities and
social barriers that are conducted with the users or the service workers. It tends to offer more
responsive, suitable, and perceptive services by observing the individual needs without
considering their social status. Gillborn (2016) argued that the theory is formulated to identify
the oriented philosophy of a person and an egalitarian value systems that are concerned with the
reduction of venomous results of the structural inequalities. It is notable that the social workers
ought to reinforce their attitudes and abilities for conducting the anti-oppressive practices in
different ways. It requires obtaining knowledge and understanding the self-ability to work among
different groups and different social systems. It also observes the human rights for mitigating the
social issues and the personal constraints.
Van Dijk (2015) opined that Anti-oppressive practices create the forms of social
inequality that are closely associated with the social justice process. The social-oppression theory

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is described by categorizing into several aspects. First aspect is social difference, which arise
due to the disparities noticeable between the dominant and the dominated social groups. In this
segment, the major divisions focus on the gender, race, colour, disability, sexual orientation,
preferences, age, and class. Similarly, on the other way, the divisions are made up on the basis of
religion, mental health, region, and single parenthood. Second aspect is linking the political and
personal forms, which suggests the personal biographies that are placed within a wider social
context (Nowicka, 2018). It perceives the life situation of the individual in relation to the social
system, such as peer groups, family, communities, and organisations. The perceptive values of
the aged people depend on their ageing ideologist. In such regards, the policies and the practices
are located within the social environment. The third aspect is power, which is conceptualized as
a social concept that can be explored to the private and public sphere of life. Malik (2015)
explained that power is visualized as the operational process at the structural and personal level.
In majority of the cases, it is noticed that the power is often influenced by the economic, social,
cultural, and psychological factors. In order to analyze the different access to the resources by
the individuals, these specific factors are needed to be taken into account (Darling-Hammond,
2017). The next aspect is historical and geographical location, which is perceived by the
experiences and the past events that gave meaning to the social facts, prevailing ideas, and
cultural differences. The final aspect is reflexivity or the mutual involvement, which depicts the
continuous considerations based on the social differences, values, and powers (Brown, 2018).
These factors influence the interactive attitudes between the individuals. In majority of the cases,
the psychological terms are not the only responsible factors for influencing the interactions
(Sterzing et al., 2017). The effects of the history, sociology, ethics, and politics are much
significant.

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The identification of this anti-oppressive theory describes the effects of racism on the
psychological aspects of the individual. It interconnects and overlaps the principles with each
other. Domestic violence against women is also one of the forms of this race-oppressive theory
(Kelliher, 2017). The social work practitioners often focus on exploring the concept to mitigate
the social issues due to racism. The structural, systematic and individual changes in the
economic, political, and social life are required to end or dismantle this social work perspective
(Stevenson, 2016). It is even noticed that the anti-oppressive theory sometimes demands the
considerations of the workers in terms of recognizing the social identity and values. The
progressive movement of the political environment struggles for gaining racial justice with the
convention and critical legal norms in the locality where the discrimination is affecting the lives
of the people. These norms are often viewed as the part of the illegitimate hierarchies, which
needed reformation. It also requires the clear understanding regarding the social world that is
experienced by the individuals while working with the people from superior racial background
(Mattsson, 2014).
In presenting the discussion of the theoretical analysis based on the anti-racist practices, it
can be inferred that the current world has been progressive enough to demolish such racial
discriminative attitudes (McDowell, Anitha & Pearson, 2014). In this modernized world, the
social workers take the hands-on approach in diminishing the beliefs of racism and developing
the equal treatment. It is notable that the origins and forms of racism persist as one of the most
significant challenges for the people who are minor in racial groups (Willis, 2017). It is reported
that the practices against racism has long been at the heat of the initiatives undertaken by
UNESCO. It has been observed that since the origin in 1946, the organisation has undertaken
many initiatives to fight for the human rights (Paradies, 2016). The major motto of this

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organisation is to diminish the discrimination against race and culture. UNESCO has contributed
much efficiently to the fights against racism in applied, normative, and intellectual ways.
UNESCO even mobilized experts from different scientific communities for drafting statements
on the concept of ‘race’ for refuting the viability as a biological phenomenon. It contributes to
the intellectual and scientific directions of the racism practices. The social workers have
identified the requirement of diminishing such racism perspectives to protect the mankind from
being discriminated. With the help of UNESCO, this movement against race received the proper
direction (Anyon et al., 2018). The description of the theories also indicate that the radical social
work is determined as the evolution of the social work values as it focuses on developing the
working methods through a framework formulation.
Conclusion
The study discloses the development of the social work perspectives in demolishing the
racism. It is noticed that the primary mission of social work is to meet the needs and
requirements of the clients and enhance the well-being factors. Anti-racism is another social
work perspectives that fixes the aims on diminishing the race discrimination. The structural,
systematic and individual changes in the economic, political, and social life are required to end
this social work perspective. It is even noticed that the anti-oppressive theory sometimes
demands the considerations of the workers in terms of recognizing the social identity and values.
It is suggested that the social workers usually require reinforcing their attitudes and abilities for
conducting the anti-oppressive practices in different ways. The development of the theoretical
concept provides the enriched ideas about the discriminative attitudes towards minor
communities in terms of their racial background.

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The ideas obtained from the above theoretical knowledge develop a framework based on
the social work practice. The theoretical framework based on this study develops the four stages
model that includes the person, theory, practices, and context. The first stage suggests the person
who is conducting this research and gathering the fruitful ideas about the subject matter. The
second stage describes the associated theory, which represents the study in clarified way. This
essay develops two major theories, such as critical race theory and anti-oppressive theory. The
practices suggest the anti-race awareness created by the social workers. It promotes the racial
issues and supports the practices against racism. Sometimes, it is even perceived that the critical
race theory defines the laws that are developed to make the extreme justice to the people. In
America, racism is viewed as normal in terms of dominating the black by the white. This theory
is often applied to the educational field where the students from different races face the
discriminative attitudes while pursuing their education in a different country. On the other side,
Europeans believed in the discriminative perspectives on the basis of ethnicity. In describing
social-context, it has been observed that the black people were mainly discriminated and
dominated in such regards. Social world is experienced by the individuals while working with
the people from superior racial background.

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