CMHL4000 Sociology: Analyzing Problem Representation in Community Work

This sociology assignment analyzes the representation of social problems, particularly within the context of community work and Aboriginal health in Australia. The report critically examines the construction of policy problems, drawing upon Carol Bacchi's framework and the 'eggs' model by Shannon and Young to illustrate the interconnectedness of micro, meso, and macro-level issues. The student explores assumptions, values, and the potential effects of different problem representations, focusing on issues of inequality, discrimination, and access to healthcare. Furthermore, the assignment discusses the possible reconstruction of these problems through legislative and justice perspectives, considering the implications for social work practice and the delivery of social services. The report highlights the impact of the social structures, models regarding the structural changes and the process regarding the change of the social structures. The report concludes by contrasting the responses that might arise from different framings of these issues, emphasizing the legal and judicial implications of viewing health and social disparities as social crimes. The report uses scholarly references throughout the analysis.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

SOCIOLOGY 1
Problem
The issue that has been highlighted by the author in the book 'Women, Policy and Politics: The
construction of policy problem' is an approach of policy usefulness towards the comparison to
some of the primary understandings of policy development. From the framework of Bachchi's,
the problem that has been highlighted includes the description of the challenges of the policy-
making process. It furthermore consists of the public policy towards addressing the societal
issues, their aims and the differences they make. The problems in this category refer to the social
issues and the role of government towards resolving the creation of particular ways towards
addressing the issues (Green & Haines, 2015). The author of the article highlights the approach
towards the policy as the method for the exposing of the meaning creation that is involved in the
design and the analysis of the system. With the context of Indigenous health, the problem
highlights the counselling for the problem gamblers. The debate on implementation of the policy
together with the neglect of the deep structural factors. This consist of the economic pressure that
leads to gambling and the perverse dependence over the national budgets over the gambling-
related tax dollars. According to insight of author of the article, the issues and challenges related
to the indigenous health representing the problem gamblers as the pathological has some of the
significant political impacts with the narrow range of limits and the protection of the specific
interest together with stigmatizing of the problem (Holland, 2019). The representation of the
problem furthermore necessarily involves the implications regarding the issues and the factors
responsible for the problem. Within the wide range of the social problem lies analysis of
government of Australia regarding the investigations on why the aboriginals tend to high rate of
the mortality rates. The author in the article illustrated analysis by Michael Shapiro's regarding

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semi-nomadic life of aborigines. The challenges are being represented by way of life and
solution of aboriginals by implications for altering their lifestyle.
Within the context of the issues of the social worker, it is essential for the workers to call over
their professional knowledge and develop certain practices towards the situation for arriving at
certain actions and goals (Greenhalgh et al., 2016). The explanation regarding issues involves the
theoretical explanation like explanatory theory and interventive theory that states the process of
the things. With the presentation of the three-step procedure of the theories from a holistic
perspective, the diagram termed as the egg diagram seeks for embodying the discussion of the
complex process leading to the intervention.

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Figure 1; The egg diagram showing the connection among the perspectives of the social work,
the models and theories
Source - (O'Brien, 2006)
As per the above model of the egg diagram by Shannon and Young, the problems of the
aboriginal health can be categorized among the micro, meso and macro levels. In the macro
levels, issue and challenges related to aboriginal health include lack of justice and equality
together with lack of freedom. The macro level furthermore highlights the impact of the social
structures, models regarding the structural changes and the process regarding the change of the
social structures. The perspective of the meso level highlights the empowerment issues, the
challenges related to the human rights in the context of the aboriginal health followed by the
theoretical explanation of the effects of the patterns of the organization, the change regarding the
organizational patterns and the change models. Finally, the interpersonal level or micro level
highlight issues and challenges of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people regarding the
factors of individuality and liberty followed by the impact of the personal characteristics,
changing the action of the people and the interpersonal models of change.
Assumptions, values and representation of the problem
In the current days, the social work faces numerous of challenges with some of them having
present in part of environment where social workers work. According to the author of the article,
instances of new right and new liberal theory is one of the most essential factors overturning the
traditional welfare state role regarding social worker towards the demand of new forms of
accountability and practice (Melendez-Torres et al., 2016). The Aboriginal and the Torres Strait

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Islander people in the post-colonial societies in Australia and New Zealand, on the other hand,
have rejected all such orthodoxies and has been demanding their recognition and knowledge
regarding the practice based around them.
Regarding my assumptions, I feel that aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander people have long
been under discrimination. Numerous of policies and legislatory measures has thus been
developed and implemented over the community people. These statements and the moves have
not reached the community people leaving them in utter darkness throughout the era. The article
highlights the changing era of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people towards their
access to inalienable rights (Reeve et al., 2015). Several governmental perspectives and measures
have been taken for closing the gap of inequality among the indigenous and non-indigenous
people in Australia. Regarding the values of the indigenous people, I believe that the indigenous
people have a very deep and spiritual connection with the land. In consideration of the values,
the aboriginal community people are not with the people of the community but also with the
environment that includes the animals, land, plans, water, skies, weather and the spirits.
According to their culture and their values, the aboriginal and tires strait islander people believe
in the fact that like the human mother the land and the environment gives us enjoyment,
protection and provides towards our needs including the social, economic and religious factors.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a human relationship with the land. The
social worker faces numerous challenges and issues towards addressing the issues of the
community. The values of the indigenous people are within the centre towards the programs and
the mission of the environment. Though there has been no singular indigenous culture, there lie
some of basic common threads with the tradition of native people within the country that are
worth remembering.

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The author of the article furthermore highlighted discrimination and the socio-economic issues
that community people face regarding access to daily necessities and health care needs, which is
one of the major social problems. Another issue that the author has highlighted is the improper
implications of the policy and the facilities for the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander
migration in the country (Lusch & Nambisan, 2015). According to the article, the main goal of
the problem is the approach towards the major goal bringing regarding the silence within the
problematizations regarding the neglect of the effect or the implications of the representations of
the specific problems. To summarize, referring to the eggs that are presented in Shannon and
Young, the article highlights the challenges regarding the health of the indigenous population
and their right towards the access to necessities.
Possible effects
This section will highlight the probable impacts of the challenges and the issues faced by the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people regarding their health statistics. The section will
also illustrate the issues regarding the representation of the aboriginal health and the effects of
the representation over the community people. According to Reeve et al., (2015) the indigenous
health refers to the cultural, physical, emotional wellbeing and the social structures of the
indigenous people. As per the statistics, the aboriginal people within Australia are being
represented as the discriminated community having a majority of the chronic disease that
includes the mental health issues, the cardiovascular disease, the respiratory disease, diabetes and
the chronic kidney diseases. The representation of the health challenges of the aboriginal people
is often induced with issues such as the employment, housing and education that affects the

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people of the community in general. Further specific risk factors that tend to have a high effect
over the social and the emotional wellbeing among the aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander
people are represented as depression.
Thus the representation of the poor and low health status of the aboriginal people residing in the
country effects both the people within the community and the government of the country. One
gets affected negatively while the other positively. As per the question, the government of the
country gets benefitted by the poor representation of the health status of the aboriginal. This is
because, the high rate of the chronic diseases, mortality rates and the representation of the
aboriginal health make the government of the country attract foreign aid and resources for the
development of the aboriginal community people.
Reconstruction of the problem
The above problem can furthermore be reconstructed by the terms of legislation and justice. It is
to be noted that as per the statements and the standards of the Universal Human rights, the rights
of each and every individual is inalienable in nature, and each and every individual has their
right towards basic necessities. The discrimination towards the poor community people,
specifically the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, is against the justice
and the legislative standards. Furthermore, it is to be noted that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people are long discriminated on the basis of the racialism and colonialism and hence
the factor of the colonialism plays an essential role towards the social services within the
community. As per the persona, insight regarding the issues faced by the social workers towards
the delivery of the social service includes the factor of social inclusion (Fife, 2017). Often it is

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believed that the social workers belonging the community people can deliver effective services
and facilities related to availing of the rights and the health care factors to the people as
compared to the non-community people.
Reconstructing the problem from the legislative and the factor of the justice, the things that are
likely to change are the initiative by the government of the country towards the development and
the facilitating of the community people towards availing of their basic rights (Welch & Plaxton-
Moore, 2017). The government with the help of the International platform, the WHO and
UNICEF will initiate in the development of the policies and the measures together with the goals
and the strategic plans or the elimination of the inequality among the community people and the
non-community people. The government will continue initiative in the recruitment of social
workers furthermore and encourage the students towards the participation in the courses and the
modules related to the carrier in the social work practices.
Differences of responses
Had the problems been represented or presented differently as the social issues and connected to
the inequality regarding the availing of the aboriginal rights from legislative and justice
perspectives, the responses would have different. The inequality and the issue of the
discrimination of aboriginal health would have been considered as a crime. According to Renne
(2016), crime is nothing less than the behaviour that is against the law. Within the factors and the
systems of the law and the legislation, the crime of the inequality among the aboriginal and the
non aboriginal population would have been handled in a different way and the response of the
lack of the implementation of the existing policies and the structures for the benefit of the
aboriginal community people would have been punishable. Furthermore, as per the consideration

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of the law and the judicial system, the challenges of the health of the aboriginal people in
Australia is a social crime since these people have been the victims of racial, colonial
discrimination for their facilities of health care access.

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References
Akintola, O., Gwelo, N. B., Labonté, R., & Appadu, T. (2016). The global financial crisis:
experiences of and implications for community-based organizations providing health and
social services in South Africa. Critical Public Health, 26(3), 307-321.
Anglin, R. V. (2017). Promoting sustainable local and community economic development.
Routledge.
Bacchi, C. L. (1999). Women, policy and politics: The construction of policy problems. Sage.
Bulmer, M. (2015). The social basis of community care (routledge revivals). Routledge.
Fife, C. O. (2017). Community development.
Green, G. P., & Haines, A. (2015). Asset building & community development. Sage publications.
Greenhalgh, T., Jackson, C., Shaw, S., & Janamian, T. (2016). Achieving research impact
through co‐creation in community‐based health services: literature review and case
study. The Milbank Quarterly, 94(2), 392-429.
Holland, B. (2019). Factors and strategies that influence faculty involvement in public
service. Building the Field of Higher Education Engagement: Foundational Ideas and
Future Directions.
Lusch, R. F., & Nambisan, S. (2015). Service innovation: A service-dominant logic
perspective. MIS quarterly, 39(1).

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Melendez-Torres, G. J., Dickson, K., Fletcher, A., Thomas, J., Hinds, K., Campbell, R., ... &
Bonell, C. (2016). Systematic review and meta-analysis of effects of community-
delivered positive youth development interventions on violence outcomes. J Epidemiol
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O'Brien, M. (2006). Solving Social Problems: Southern Perspectives. Community Development
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Reeve, C., Humphreys, J., Wakerman, J., Carroll, V., Carter, M., O’Brien, T., ... & Smith, B.
(2015). Community participation in health service reform: the development of an
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