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Undoing privilege in Western social work: implications for critically-reflective practice in China

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-18, 12:30 authored by Bob PeaseBob Pease
Critical reflection is promoted by many Western social work writers as a process for facilitating practitioners’ capacity to reflect upon their complicity in dominant power relations. However, the Western social work literature tends to focus on those who are disadvantaged, oppressed and excluded. Those who are privileged in relation to gender, class, race and sexuality, etc. are often ignored. Given that the flipside of oppression and social exclusion is privilege, the lack of critical reflection on the privileged side of social divisions allows members of dominant groups to reinforce their dominance. This article interrogates the concept of privilege, as it is manifested in the West and examines how it is internalized in the psyches of members of dominant groups. Chinese readers are invited to consider how this concept may be relevant to social workers in China. The article concludes by encouraging social work educators in both the West and the non-West, to engage in critical reflections about privilege when teaching social work students about social injustice and oppression.

History

Publication title

China Journal of Social Work

Volume

8

Pagination

93-106

ISSN

1752-5098

Department/School

School of Social Sciences

Publisher

Routledge

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2015 Taylor & Francis

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Pacific Peoples community services not elsewhere classified

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