scholarly journals Institutional Racism and Individual Agency

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Lavoie
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Principal Factor ◽  
Institutional Racism ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Disciplinary Power ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Direct Practice ◽  
Individual Agency

Institutional racism is a principal factor in the exclusion and oppression of racialized groups.  Social work scholars have examined the organizational indicators, attitudes, and actions of staff that contribute to institutional racism in order to elucidate its function.  However, an understanding of the interplay between institutions and individuals within institutional racism has remained largely elusive. This paper aims to address this gap.  Using the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault and his theorization of disciplinary power, this paper presents a case study of one social worker’s efforts to address racism in her organization. The result is a unique understanding of institutional racism that considers the dynamic interactions between institutional constraints and individual agency. Such an analysis enables those in direct practice as well as in leadership roles who are committed to anti-oppression social work to understand the barriers and routes to anti-racist institutional change.

Leadership and Strategic Change under Ambiguity

1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 673-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Louis Denis ◽  
Ann Langley ◽  
Linda Cazale ◽  
Jean-Louis Denis ◽  
Linda Cazale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Change ◽  
Collaborative Leadership ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Linear Pattern ◽  
Effective Change ◽  
Leadership Group ◽  
Political Realignment ◽  
University Affiliation

This paper draws on a case study of a large public hospital to examine the processes of leadership and strategic change in organizations where goals are unclear and authority is fluid and ambiguous. The case history describes the evolution of leadership roles during a period of radical change in which a general hospital acquires a university affiliation while moving towards a more integrated form of management. The study traces the tactics used by members of the leadership group to stimulate change, and the corresponding impact of these tactics on both the progress of change and on leadership roles themselves. It is suggested that strategic change in these organizations requires collaborat ive leadership involving constellations of actors playing distinct but tightly-knit roles. Yet, collaborative leadership is fragile and can easily disintegrate due to intemal conflict or to discreditation associated with more unpopular (although potentially effective) change tactics. Thus, under ambiguity, radical trans formations may tend to occur in a cyclical non-linear pattern with periods of substantive change alternating with periods of political realignment. The paper concludes with a series of five propositions concerning the collaborative, cyc lical, interpretative, and entropic nature of leadership and strategic change pro cesses under ambiguity.

From converts to cooperation: Protestant internationalism, US missionaries and Indian Christians and ‘Professional’ social work between Boston and Bombay (c. 1920–1950)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Michael Phillipp Brunner
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
North America ◽  
Social Gospel ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
High Phase

Abstract The 1920s and 30s were a high phase of liberal missionary internationalism driven especially by American-led visions of the Social Gospel. As the missionary consensus shifted from proselytization to social concerns, the indigenization of missions and the role of the ‘younger churches’ outside of Europe and North America was brought into focus. This article shows how Protestant internationalism pursued a ‘Christian Sociology’ in dialogue with the field’s academic and professional form. Through the case study of settlement sociology and social work schemes by the American Marathi Mission (AMM) in Bombay, the article highlights the intricacies of applying internationalist visions in the field and asks how they were contested and shaped by local conditions and processes. Challenging a simplistic ‘secularization’ narrative, the article then argues that it was the liberal, anti-imperialist drive of the missionary discourse that eventually facilitated an American ‘professional imperialism’ in the development of secular social work in India. Adding local dynamics to the analysis of an internationalist discourse benefits the understanding of both Protestant internationalism and the genesis of Indian social work and shows the value of an integrated global micro-historical approach.

Slow scholarship for social work: A praxis of resistance and creativity

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502199086
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Wahab ◽  
Gita R Mehrotra ◽  
Kelly E Myers
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Relational Ontology ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Rapid Production ◽  
Time Frames

Expediency, efficiency, and rapid production within compressed time frames represent markers for research and scholarship within the neoliberal academe. Scholars who wish to resist these practices of knowledge production have articulated the need for Slow scholarship—a slower pace to make room for thinking, creativity, and useful knowledge. While these calls are important for drawing attention to the costs and problems of the neoliberal academy, many scholars have moved beyond “slow” as being uniquely referencing pace and duration, by calling for the different conceptualizations of time, space, and knowing. Guided by post-structural feminisms, we engaged in a research project that moved at the pace of trust in the integrity of our ideas and relationships. Our case study aimed to better understand the ways macro forces such as neoliberalism, criminalization and professionalization shape domestic violence work. This article discusses our praxis of Slow scholarship by showcasing four specific key markers of Slow scholarship in our research; time reimagined, a relational ontology, moving inside and towards complexity, and embodiment. We discuss how Slow scholarship complicates how we understand constructs of productivity and knowledge production, as well as map the ways Slow scholarship offers a praxis of resistance for generating power from the epistemic margins within social work and the neoliberal academy.

Applying critical social work in direct practice with families

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Idit Weiss-Gal ◽  
Lia Levin ◽  
Michal Krumer-Nevo
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Direct Practice ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
Critical Social

Social Work Ethics Audits in Health Care Settings: A Case Study

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Kirkpatrick ◽  
F. G. Reamer ◽  
M. Sykulski
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Health Care Settings ◽  
Work Ethics ◽  
Social Work Ethics
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