SOCW 6051: Diversity, Human Rights, and Social Justice

Social workers experience clients from different backgrounds facing various injustices in society. Some of the types of clients that social workers are likely to encounter are victims of social injustices. For instance, the issue of racism has been in the United States for a very long time. Individuals of the African American origin were alienated by their white counterparts, and the discrimination impacted the life and health of victims. Racism is still present in America, even though not as much as it used to be, and social workers are likely to encounter individuals who have discriminated against based on their skin color (Ashe & Nazroo, 2017).   Other forms of social injustices include unfair labor practices and various types of discrimination, like gender bias. In such scenarios, social workers apply knowledge on multiculturalism to understand the problem of the client and provide an effective intervention. Social workers may also meet individuals facing economic injustices. The difference in income distribution is the key contributor to economic injustices in America, where the rich have much power in society than the poor, which results in the oppression of the poor (Goyes & South, 2017). For example, a social worker might receive a student client from a low class who is discriminated in class by her friends whose parents come from upper-class families in society. Examples of environmental injustices in society include inadequate transportation, pollution, and unsafe housing. For example, a social worker might encounter individuals working in a manufacturing company who are complaining of poor housing by their employer or complains about an employer who releases polluted water into the environment thus contaminating the source of drinking water. Social workers employ their understanding of the concepts of power and privilege to remind the clients of their rights and privileges as employees or members of the community.   

References

Ashe, S., & Nazroo, J. (2017). Equality, diversity and racism in the workplace: A qualitative analysis of the 2015 race at work survey. Online: http://hummedia. manchester. ac. uk/institutes/code/research/raceatwork/Equ…(accessed: 7 April 2017).Goyes, D. R., & South, N. (2017). The injustices of policing, law and multinational monopolization in the privatization of natural diversity: Cases from Colombia and Latin America. In Environmental Crime in Latin America (pp. 187-212). Palgrave Macmillan, London.