Our laboratory is American society. American society includes discrimination, racism, oppression that is represented in all social institutions, particularly in economics. Explain how we should use a theory (discuss the theory) to understand oppressive conditions on any level, and structure our approach to improve a human condition.
Theories are utilized to explain a social phenomena, as to make sense of what we are observing. Social Work may adopt theories from other disciplines, and create theories that are informed by practice. When we are working with specific racial groups, we have to ensure that the theories we choose are truly comprehending and interpreting the lived realities of people, and that the application of theories add meaning and value to what we are seeing. Does this help?
Consider that Black people have always worked, created, invented. But due to racism, we have not been engaged in the economic system as equal players, only as laborers and consumers. When I write laborers, I am speaking of workers (all income levels).
Social workers have to understand America as a complicated society, with a terrible (not glorious) history as a civilization that has preyed upon certain groups of people to claim a flawed frontier, brave frontier identity. This is not to say we don’t love America, but that America’s goodness has not flowed to all groups of people. We see elements of these flaws in every social institution, and definitely in the social service industry (government services, corporate funding, philanthropy, foundations, private elite organizations, etc).
When applying social action theory, consider the entry points that our people require services (page 157), and how they are met. Social action integrates structural and voluntarily aspects of micro and macro levels. How do we do this with people who find themselves needed supports at inopportune times (because emergencies and crisis are not planned)?With regards to systems theory, though applying this theory should also yield for us answers about resources that are not in the lives of people. I think we tend to apply it in an unhelpful way. We aren’t looking for systems, we should look for the absence of systems, and work from that point. Let us move forward.
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