Social Work and the Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism : Concepts, Theory, and Evidence Based Approaches

This text offers a compendium of knowledge and perspectives from leading researchers dedicated to examining various forms of racism and their distinctions and impact on racial groups. Each chapter promotes both evidence and practice-based research that cultivates improvements in the daily lives of people affected by racism. The text also advocates for the facilitation of systemic change on the individual, organizational, community, and greater societal levels. With this advocacy perspective, the authors aim to advance community empowerment and advocacy to address and eliminate both racism and white supremacy. The authors identify the link between racism and social determinants of both physical/mental health and social well-being aiming to foster development of an anti-racist social work framework that promotes access to resources and opportunities that encompass transdisciplinary collaboration among the workforce. From a historical perspective, the book also examines the link between historical racial oppression and its contemporary effects and counterparts within racialized economic injustice. In sum, the authors collectively promote both teaching and learning within social work education programs that place emphasis on examining structural inequalities and white privilege - as well as the impacts on individual and group outcomes. To combat this, the text calls upon all social workers to develop a policy agenda for eliminating racism and white supremacy at the institutional and organizational level where structural racism is rampant, evident, and causes the most damage among marginalized groups. "Racism is imbued within the structures of our society and has been nesting comfortably within the social work profession since its inception (see Chapter 1). The 13th Grand Challenge is boldly calling social workers to extract this systemic stronghold from its profession and breathe new life into a field that has the capacity to transform our society. To facilitate this necessary disruption, social workers must be willing to critically engage in an exploration of the meaning of racism and its impact on social work in order to work towards its elimination from society and the profession. The chapters in this opening section provide a robust examination of race and racism, its role in social work, and the profession's movement towards a posture of anti-racism. In chapter 1, Understanding Race & Racism, Martell Teasley lays important groundwork required for this deep exploration of race, racism, and the social work profession. The author examines ways in which institutional norms produce racial common sense thinking as part of normative consciousness, discourse and social practice. Beginning with the fundamentals, he then provides the scaffolding necessary for understanding the function of race and racism at the micro, mezzo and macro levels"-- Provided by publisher