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Sample essay social work theories
Sample essay social work theories
Theories of social work that explain the nature of social work
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In the United States and many other countries throughout the world, societal structures have been created to place some in a position of power and others into oppressed positions. These systems often remain unchallenged and force the oppressed into silence for fear of becoming outcasts. These systems affect everyone and can even go as far as making the oppressed internally believe that they are supposed to stay in their second class state. One of these many systems is heterosexism. This paper will cover what heterosexism is, the effects of heterosexism, how heterosexism relates to other forms of oppression, and what can be done to stop heterosexism from being perpetuated.
Julie Fish (2008) defines heterosexism, in her article, as the dominant standard that everyone is measured up to. Everyone is assumed to be heterosexual unless proven otherwise which then leads to sometimes being labeled as corrupt and of a lower status. Heterosexism is perpetuated through societal forces such as language, religion, and the media. This is heterosexism in a nutshell, but we must venture deeper for greater understanding. There are more complex issues that are part of heterosexism that affect people on both grand scale and individualistic levels. The following paragraphs will discuss these facets in more detail.
Heterosexism has many effects on people of both heterosexual and non-heterosexual orientations. First our focus will be on the oppressed group. Fish (2008) writes in her article that heterosexuality is made superior in two ways. The first way is defining heterosexuality as the correct sexuality and second by labeling anything but heterosexuality as immoral, unsafe, and abnormal. These two components are the bases for creating all sorts of ...
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...t these systems and create our own path. The system relies on its people. The fewer silent people it has the weaker it will become. The systems can always be changed. A little bit of change from a lot of people can make all the difference. The next time a heterosexist remark is made speak up instead of remaining silent because a few words spoken by many can make the whole system come crumbling down.
Works Cited
Fish, J. (2008). Far from mundane: Theorising heterosexism for social work education. Social
Work Education, 27, 182-193.
Murray, O. (2011). Queer youth in heterosexist schools: Isolation, prejudice and no clear supportive policy frameworks. Multicultural Perspectives, 13, 215-219.
Brennan, D. J., Craig, S. L., & Thompson, D. A. (2012). Factors associated with a drive for muscularity among gay and bisexual men. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 14, 1-15.
From the article Homophobia As A Weapon of Sexism written by Suzanne Pharr, she brings up the true weapon of sexism, which is economics, violence, and homophobia. An example of sexism that Pharr really points out is economics in our society and how it affects women and men. As she states that the economics is known to be the root cause of sexism, and that it really causes a lot of oppression. As heterosexism is said to “create the climate for homophobia with its assumption that the world is and must be heterosexual and its display of power and privilege as the norm.” An example of heterosexism would be people that are against women’s liberation, like women’s equality, women’s self-determination, and women’s control of our own bodies and
For example, “sociological and popular understanding of gay and lesbian relationships has been greatly distorted by the false presumption that only heterosexual relationships are normal ways of expressing sexual intimacy and love” (Andersen 1997, 95). This explains how society helps in influencing and identifying people sexual identities throughout their lifetime. Andersen admits that “heterosexual identity includes the belief that men have an overpowering sex drive and that women are considered more loving, soft and are link to sex [… and] contemporary sexual attitudes are shaped by phallocentric thinking-that which sees men as powerful and women as weak” (Andersen 1997, 94, 96). Although, society is lead to believe that men should be the dominant figure of the family. The reality is that, in gay and lesbian relationships, no one individual displays the behavior of an authoritative
There are two types of people in society, those whom question the realities endured daily and those whom go about life accepting their place in the world, not questioning it. When learning about social justice, one realized that society is not perfectly functioning like one might assume. One professor Bobbie, Harro broke down socialization into different stages of life and organized it into a cycle which exposes oppression, power, prejudice and privilege, all of which are still prominent in today whether people choose to accept it or not. Through his many stages, he discusses how oppression, power, and privilege are recreated through socialization.
African American women are considered the most disadvantaged group vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. Researchers have concluded that their racial and gender classification may explain their vulnerable position within society, despite the strides these women have made in education, employment, and progressing their families and communities (Chavous et al. 2004; Childs 2005; Hunter 1998; Settles 2006; Wilkins 2012). Most people agree that race and gender categories are explained as the biological differences between individuals in our society; however sociologists understand that race and gender categories are social constructions that are maintained on micro and macro levels. Historically, those in power who control the means of production within a society have imposed race, class, and gender meanings onto the minority population in order to maintain their dominant position and justify the unequal treatment of minority individuals by the divisions of race, class, and gender categories (Collins 2004; Nguyen & Anthony 2014; Settles 2006;).
Homosexuality has existed since the beginning of recorded human history and yet, attitudes towards gay and lesbian individuals vary extensively. Some societies tolerate them; others openly welcome and encourage them; and most blatantly condemn them (Bates, 46). Throughout our country’s history, homosexuals have been misunderstood and discriminated against, leading many to acquire an irrational fear of gays and lesbians. Known as homophobia, this fear has prompted heterosexual individuals with a feeling a superiority and authority when using the word “homosexual” interchangeably with the words pervert, faggot, sodomite, and so on. Homophobes typically perceive homosexuality as a threat to society. Nonetheless, the Gay Rights Movement has achieved impressive progress since 1973 when the American Psychological Association (APA) eradi...
The major way through which sexism and heterosexism shape social welfare policy is by generating issues that need to be protected or helping in identification of needs to be met. These issues and needs in turn become the backbone through which social policy are formulated in order to enhance the well-being of every individual and group in the society for better functioning of societal members.
Sex is one of the most central themes in society today, with generally everybody in the world, adults and children, either seeing it in the mass media or taking part in it, whether it be for their career, for reproductive reasons, or for pleasure. Because of its predominance, sexuality plays an important, if not the most important, role in social inequality, causing double standards, violence and internal self-worth issues for minorities. Factors such as pornography, prostitution, and the way people view homosexuality and intersexuality as repugnant all influence the prejudice ways in which society views and treats women, homosexuals, and intersexuals.
Patricia Hill Collins outlines the existence of three different dimensions of gender oppression: institutional, symbolic, and individual. The institutional dimension consists of systemic relationship of domination structured through social institutions, such as government, the workplace or education institutions. In other words, this dimension explains “who has the power”. This is completely related to a patriarchal society. Patriarchy is the manifestation and institutionalism of male dominance. This means that men hold power in all institutions, while women are denied the access to this power. The symbolic dimension of oppression is based on widespread socially sanctioned ideologies used to justify relations of domination. It reflects inequality
Milstein, Susan A. Taking Sides Clashing Views in Human Sexuality. Ed. William J. Taverner and Ryan W. McKee. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
In social work, a social worker has to come to the client’s level and start from there. The client does not have to come to the social workers level. In order for this to happen the social worker has to know the importance of culture, race, gender, sexual, diversity and other forms of diversity to make the best decision for choosing a type of intervention. Understanding the client’s culture, race, gender, sexual diversity and other form of diversity is important because they affect each person differently. An example, Roberto is Latino and in their culture they believe in machomism, so this is something his social worker needs to know when addressing Roberto or someone of the Latino culture. Hispanic women bring machomism
As Tamsin Wilton explains in her piece, “Which One’s the Man? The Heterosexualisation of Lesbian Sex,” society has fronted that heterosexuality, or desire for the opposite sex, is the norm. However, the reason behind why this is the case is left out. Rather, Wilton claims that “heterosexual desire is [an] eroticised power difference [because] heterosexual desire originates in the power relationship between men and women” (161). This social struggle for power forces the majority of individuals into male-female based relationships because most women are unable to overcome the oppressive cycle society has led them into. Whereas heterosexual relationships are made up of the male (the oppressor) and the female (the victim who is unable to fight against the oppressor), homosexual relationships involve two or more individuals that have been freed from their oppressor-oppressed roles.
Throughout Western civilization, culturally hegemonic views on gender and sexuality have upheld a rigid and monolithic societal structure, resulting in the marginalization and dehumanization of millions of individuals who differ from the expected norm. Whether they are ridiculed as freaks, persecuted as blasphemers, or discriminated as sub-human, these individuals have been historically treated as invisible and pushed into vulnerable positions, resulting in cycles of poverty and oppression that remain prevalent even in modern times. Today, while many of these individuals are not publicly displayed as freaks or persecuted under Western law, women, queer, and intersexed persons within our society still nonetheless find themselves under constant
The concept of sexual orientation, which is a person’s romantic and emotional attraction to another person, is a modern sociological construct (Macionis, Jansson, Benoit, & Burkowicz, p. 190, 2016). The predominant classifications of this concept are heterosexuality, meaning the sexual attraction to someone of the opposite sex, and homosexuality, the sexual attraction to someone of the same sex (Macionis et. al., p. 190, 2016). With the large majority of society’s acknowledgment towards these two sexual identities, it leaves little to no room for those who find themselves in neither ends of these categories, to receive any sort of recognition. More specifically, the visibility for those who establish themselves as bisexual, defined as the sexual attraction to people of both genders, face misconceptions from a portion of society (Macionis et. al., p. 190, 2016). Whether it may be from heterosexuals or homosexuals, someone who falls in between the two identities seem to encounter greater difficulties in gaining social acceptance. Despite having its place in the term, LGBTQ, which is an abbreviation for the community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and people of other sexual orientations and
Gender and sexuality can be comprehended through social science. Social science is “the study of human society and of individual relationships in and to society” (free dictionary, 2009). The study of social science deals with different aspects of society such as politics, economics, and the social aspects of society. Gender identity is closely interlinked with social science as it is based on an identity of an individual in the society. Sexuality is “the condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex” (free dictionary, 2009). There are different gender identities such as male, female, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual that exists all around the world. There is inequality in gender identities and dominance of a male regardless of which sexuality they fall under. The males are superior over the females and gays superior over the lesbians, however it different depending on the place and circumstances. This paper will look at the gender roles and stereotypes, social policy, and homosexuality from a modern and a traditional society perspective. The three different areas will be compared by the two different societies to understand how much changes has occurred and whether or not anything has really changed. In general a traditional society is more conservative where as a modern society is fundamentally liberal. This is to say that a traditional society lists certain roles depending on the gender and there are stereotypes that are connected with the genders. One must obey the one that is dominant and make decisions. On the other hand, a modern society is lenient, It accepts the individual’s identity and sexuality. There is no inequality and everyone in the society is to be seen as individuals not a part of a family unit...
When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.