Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Karl marx theory on communism
The power of the social work role
Karl marx theory on communism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Personal Definition of Power Power is an inner forte one possesses which can be used to empower oneself, strengthen another, or create positive/negative change in the world. When one person has the ability to assist with elevating another individual, they have power. In addition, when an individual has the strength to uplift themselves after a massive life downfall, they have power. Last but not least, when a person has the inner capacity and strength to control a group of people (positive/negative), they have power. Therefore, power is define as an inner strength to control and uplift any given situation.
Take into consideration the social change lens of social workers, which view people’s problems on a macro level by exploring the causes of oppression in society. The importance of promoting social change in society is to endorse fairness which in turn promotes self-power. Equal access to resources and opportunity for growth will allow people to access their inner strength.
…show more content…
Not every social workers advocate for political change to reduce powerlessness even though the profession standards promote it. If social workers themselves lack the power and inner strength to advocate on behalf of marginalized groups, then who will? Karl Marx theory exhibits that the social class problem between social groups shapes people’s social structures and constitutes why different groups and social classes are constantly fighting for resources and power. The inequality associated with the poor minority marginalized groups is maintained by the privileged people in society. The capitalist society promotes unequal distribution of power. So if social workers lack the power to advocate of behalf of the people, then they are not adhering to the rules of the
The definition of power is the ability to influence the behaviors of others or to change the course of events. Power can be gained through hard work or power can be given to you In a book published in 1937, this problem couldn’t be more prevalent. This book is Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. The story tells of two migrant workers, who are incredibly close friends. They goes place to place looking for a job during The Great Depression era. They eventually find a ranch in Soledad, California. Where they will face characters and incidents that will decide the fate of their dream. Powerful people are not as powerful as they seem, but is given power due to societal hierarchy or physical traits.
Power has been defined as the psychological relations over another to get them to do what you want them to do. We are exposed to forms of power from the time of birth. Our parents exercise power over us to behave in a way they deem appropriate. In school, teachers use their power to help us learn. When we enter the work world the power of our boss motivates us to perform and desire to move up the corporate ladder so that we too can intimidate someone with power one day. In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness Kurtz had a power over the jungle and its people that was inexplicable.
The empowerment perspective, “support[s] the development of innate abilities and recognize differences in a positive manner are also helping social workers increase the individual client’s capacity to learn to use his or her own systems constructively” (Empowerment, 2011). Meaning, it is when social workers would use the positivity of being different races and religions to help the client. For example, it would be recognizing that being black or Muslim is not a bad thing, but that there are numerous positives. To address the impact of classism, a social worker would “Help clients [to] better understand these contradictions [(that media and the world send them of what certain class’s attitudes, schemas and behaviors are like)] may help them understand” (Liu, 2005). Meaning, the social worker would help the client to understand the good attributes of being in a certain class, and how to obtain a higher class. Since the media often sends contradictions, such as saying “saving is important, but you have to spend to succeed” (Liu, 2005). Lastly, an understanding of the social construction of culture will be used in social work practice, since it could help a social worker to get a better understanding of their clients. Being, it could help them to better understand how their clients view themselves or how their clients feel society views them. Which can lead to the social worker understanding their clients lives and who their clients are, in a better
Power is a difficult concept to define conclusively or definitively however, Bourdieu explains power to be a symbolic construct that is perpetuated through every day actions and behaviours of a society, that manipulate power relations to create, maintain and force the conforming of peoples to the given habitus of that society (Bourdieu, 1977). Power, is a force created through the
One must consider the nature of oppression and how it is present within social work. The nature of oppression infiltrates all aspects of life. Social work theorist, defines oppression as “relations that divide people into dominant or superior groups and subordinate or inferior ones. These relations of domination consist of the systematic devaluing of the attributes and contributions of those deemed inferior, and their exclusion from the social resources available to those in the dominant group”. When humans experience a perceived threat to their personal identities and lack the ability to maintain and affirm a unique identity, they exclude others by contrasting themselves against a constructed, and inferior, identity of the other. To better
McShane and Von Glinow define Power as “the capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others” (300). Furthermore, they state that power derives from five main sources and four main contingencies like the following figure illustrates.
Social work vision of empowerment includes seven elements: historical perspective, ecological view, ethclass, cultural/multicultural perspective, feminist perspective, global perspective and critical perspective. The social work definition of empowerment is known as the process whereby the social worker engages in a set of activities with the client or client system that aim to reduce the powerlessness that has been created by negative valuations based in membership in a stigmatized group. Power blocks are important in these theories. Power blocks include any act, event or condition which disturbs the process that an individual develops effective person and social skills. Indirect power blocks include three levels: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary level is the negative stigmas that are generated by oppression that incorporates into the family and interferes with development of self-respect and cognitive skills. Secondary level involves limitations from blocks at the primary level that lead to the development of interpersonal and technical skills. The tertiary level involves limitations from blocks from the primary and secondary levels that limit effectiveness when it comes to valued social roles. Another type of power block is called, direct power blocks, these occur when negative valuations are applied directly by agents of our major social institutions. Once again there are three levels including: primary, secondary, and tertiary. In the primary level, oppressed populations are being
Social justice is a core value in the social work field. We define social justice as, “all citizens would possess equal fundamental rights, protection, opportunities, obligations and social benefits (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015, p. 29). Unfortunately, we understand there are many members in today’s society that are not receiving social justice. Some may not want help and believe that s/he is able to do it on their own and then there are the individuals that we may not know about that could really use our help. Our jobs as social workers is to help those who need help no matter if they are rich, poor, disabled, white, Hispanic, it does not matter because everyone should be treated equally. As NASW states, “The original mission of social work had much to do with championing the rights of society’s most vulnerable members, from children to homeless people to the physically disabled” (NASW: National Association of Social Workers, 2015, para. 1).
As a social worker, I have never interrogated my theoretical orientation, in part because I considered that common sense, agency´s directions, and social policies guided social work interventions. In fact, Mullaly (2010) discusses that social workers do not see the relation between theory and practice, and social work is perceived as a performance of practical duties. This was my perception until now, in particular, because I have been analyzing anti-oppressive principles and I realized that my experience has many nuances of those principles. Therefore, my past interventions have some commonalities with the anti-oppressive perspective, and then some strengths and limitations compared to the Canadian social work. (1) One of these strengths is empowerment. Power is an important element of
The term power has a variety of definitions. According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the first definition of power refers to “the ability or capacity to act or do something effectively”, also include “a capacity, faculty, or aptitude,” (“power. (n.d.)
By empowering clients it may change their way of thinking, manage relationship in their life and the way they interact in their social environment (Walsh, 2013). Social workers help clients become aware of the conflicts with themselves and their surroundings that oppress or limit them and help clients become better able to free themselves from those constraints (2013). Those there are also limitations to empowerment practice. Clients may rely on the social worker’s guidance to seek solutions for their problems, referencing the social worker as an expert. Most importantly, a social worker cannot empower their clients if they themselves don’t have power. Social workers must have respect and influence among their peers in the service professions (Walsh,
When they are in need we must do everything in our power to make a change. Sometimes this involve advocating for them to see a change in social problems. The definition of a social worker states that they are trained person that carries out work with the aim of alleviating conditions of those in need (12). This often calls the need for social justice. After learning about social workers throughout history, I realize there’s multiple ways to help those in need (11). They’ve been able to implement social welfare for the public.
I define power as the ability to create desired outcomes. This is generally thought of as done through the control of other people to create outcomes that benefit you, but that is not always the case in my paradigm. Power also exists in less adversarial ways like in the relationship between a teacher and student or in social advocacy. The amount of power that exists for a person is largely dependent on the situation and the goals of those involved. When talking about accomplishing social justice I believe it is important to understand the dynamics of
Social workers challenge social injustice. Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. The meaning of this value is to ensure that individuals going into the social work profession pursue change, most importantly with, on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals, and with groups of people. Additionally, this social work value forces social workers to constantly affect social change primarily focused upon issues of poverty, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice by creating activities that seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic
A) Social workers “promote social change...the empowerment and liberation of people” (International federation Of Social Workers 2014, para 1);