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Why is social change important essay
Disadvantages of cultural change
Why is social change important essay
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So how does one eliminate these social injustices? One would think that is it easy to just stop the behaviors and actions that cause theses injustices. But, how can this be achieved if the individuals and groups violating these rights are not aware that these are in fact violations of civil rights. One must not sit in silence, but create the voice of change. Social Workers and community officials should encourage and empower the community. The citizens and disenfranchise must be the catalyst for Social Justice and restore rights granted by the constitution. In order to seek social justice, one must comprehend the social justice system perspective. This perspective requires observation of a person in an environment and the interactions …show more content…
It is the one thing that is constant in this world. Social change, no matter how small is absolutely necessary when correcting social injustices. One must first self-reflect on what steps have been made to make the world a better place, write wrongs, and assisting the disenfranchised populations while knowing it is being done for the good of the community. When doing so, one must also understand that self may not be top priority. There are six major factors for social change. The first major factor is the physical environment. Mother Nature and geographical changes may produce unforeseen changes. History books are filled with data on great civilizations that have vanished due to the physical environment. Daily life and activity continues to be influenced by this factor (Mondal, 2014). The second factor is demographics which are biological data generally used for statistical records. It is believed that the social structure of society correlates with the change of size and composition of that society. Composition of population is measured by age, marital status, race, social economic status, and but not limited to literacy (Mondal, 2014). Demographics also tend to be the basis or source for discriminations and profiling. The identification and isolation of differences lead to intentional and unintentional injustices. However, research shows that there is a significant relationship between fluctuation within the population …show more content…
Culture can be simply defined as beliefs, arts, customs, behavior, or ways of thinking that are passed down from one generation to the next. Cultural changes involve social change, and social systems are founded on the creations of cultural values. Culture is said to guide the direction of social change while setting its own boundaries. It is believe that cultural change affects society by discovery and invention as well as diffusion and bowering (Mondal, 2014). For example, the creation of the wheel began the start of a transportation revolution. One culture often adopts concepts from another, thus making no two cultures alike. Individuals assimilate to environments, and countries even borrow ideas such as technology to make it their
Moreover, the concepts of Marxian and elite theory denotes people without power will eventually succumb to the acceptance of lower standards in view of their health and well-being as they are blinded by the exploitation (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2012). In light of this, social workers may view this as a need to rescue those that are victimized with sought out solutions seeing this interest group as being oppressed by their opponents (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2012). Social workers are held accountable to the ethical commitment of challenging social injustice mainly in regards to those that oppressed and vulnerable (Code of Ethics, n.d.). The vast aspects of the theories given aids in the knowledge and concepts which allows us to understand factors that are political, historical, and economical and how it impacts the lives of people (Robbins,
The value of service involves the social worker placing the needs of the client above personal interests. The social worker accesses their knowledge base to assist clients and engage in social problems to evoke change. Additionally, social workers are expected to be philanthropists by allocating time to pro-bono work. It is expected that such contributions are categorized as volunteerism and does not include the service provided in the professional setting where there are earnings involved. Social justice lies at the foundation of social work. Social workers continuously strive to advocate for vulnerable and disenfranchised clients facing oppression and social injustice. They exhibit efforts in the name of social change in arenas of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, amongst others. Social workers seek to continuously educate themselves on cultural diversity as well as connecting client’s with necessary resources to improve the quality of their lives and empower them to sustain lasting change (Reamer,
42). Dialogue and conversation will increase the likelihood of accepting social responsibility and providing outreach. Understanding the team dynamics of outreach can also increase the likely hood of positive outcomes. Perception and the interpretation of self and other people will impact our relationships and behaviors with other people. Sensitive to cultural differences such as receiving soft versus hard commands at work from ethnic supervisors. A young individual develops views of self and self in the community, then emerges the lifelong fight for independence and
Defined by the NASW (2016), social justice is the idea that everyone is entitled to equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities. This is one of the main goals social workers aim to achieve. There are many injustices occurring in the world today, such as wage inequalities, institutional racism, and the amount of people living in poverty. Fighting for social justice is fighting for equality in all of these
After emigrating to America in my later adolescence, I was astounded by the increased level of poverty that existed. I also realized that the social policies are not always in the best interest of the more vulnerable populations. As such, when it was time to attend college, I decided to study Social work as a means of gaining knowledge and experience to better understand how policies affect social justice, and impact the lives of minorities and individuals on the lower socio-economic scale. I also wanted to gain the opportunity of being a part of encouraging and creating changes to aid in improving the well-being of the less fortunate
Social inequality refers to inter-relational processes in our society that has an adverse effect on limiting or harming a specific group’s social status, social class, and social circle. The way in which people behave, socially, through racist or sexist practices and other forms of discrimination, at the grass roots, gets down to affect the opportunities of the minorities, that the wealthy individuals can generate for on their own. This can be seen in almost all the levels of economy, ranging from state to the global economy.
Institutions that affect our social justice views can include religions, schools, our government, social networking and media. Our own identity of ourselves is highly impacted by the restrictions and judgments that come along with these institutions. Whether you believe in it or not, you are impacted directly by the views from these institutions. The views of these institutions can be a determining factor in your decisions, because if you decide the rebel against these views you can look like an outsider. Social justice defines what should be done in order the live the perfect American Dream, be socially acceptable, fulfill life to the fullest and be an active member of society.
As I progress through my degree and career, I understand that social work is a diverse field and my area of practice may change. Though, the underlying principles of social work are interwoven across each sector and the foundation of my practice is reinforced by my drive to be an agent of change, alleviate barriers that impede on social justice for individual, groups and
Social welfare policy and the review of the YouTube video “The Tip Of The Iceberg: Social Work, Social Justice and Social Action – Darrell Wheeler, Ph.D.” The video gets off to a slow start but once the keynote speaker steps up to the mic, he begins to describe social work, social justice and social action with incredible intellect and very few notes. Dr. Wheeler knows his subject area extremely well and is passionate in leading others by sharing his knowledge.
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).
Social Justice enables individuals to become more empowered and self-aware. It gives individuals equal access and diminishes negative prejudices and stereotypes. The minority in society is oppressed by the dominant ones and social justice strives to diminish that. I am privileged and that allows me to obtain an education to help others. I am going to use this to help others gain the same privileges that I have and be able to build the future they want. Throughout middle school I would have friends that would be made fun of or denied entry to certain social groups, unless they were with me. Just because they had a different skin color or their culture was different they were not allowed to play tag on the playground. Associating negative stereotypes and prejudices, about cultures or ethnicity, to a young child is not okay. Only letting a child join a game of tag when a member of the dominant group is accompanying them is also not okay. This is a huge issue in society and not just when it comes to children, teaching children to become culturally competent and aware at a young age will lead to the decrease of this social issue. I strive to be culturally competent enough to have the ability to aid various individuals on their road to empowerment, safety, and self-healing. Educating myself is just the first step, joining the Social Work program will help me expand my field of knowledge. Through this, I will be enabled to become a better social worker and
As an advocate or change agent there are many factors that need to be considered when weighing differing perspective about how discrimination and oppression occur in order to make a choice. To begin, an advocate must be aware and have the knowledge needed to identify the ways that discrimination and oppression negatively impacts individuals that are being discriminated against. Also, consideration must also be given to how agencies and societal institutions interact with individuals that experience discrimination. Similarly, the advocate needs to be aware of any
Anthropologists define the term culture in a variety of ways, but there are certain shared features of the definition that virtually all anthropologists agree on. Culture is a shared, socially transmitted knowledge and behavior. The key features of this definition of culture are as follows. 1) Culture is shared among the members of that particular society or group. Thus, people share a common cultural identity, meaning that they recognize themselves and their culture's traditions as distinct from other people and other traditions. 2) Culture is socially transmitted from others while growing up in a certain environment, group, or society. The transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation by means of social learning is referred to as enculturation or socialization. 3) Culture profoundly affects the knowledge, actions, and feelings of the people in that particular society or group. This concept is often referred to as cultural knowledge that leads to behavior that is meaningful to others and adaptive to the natural and social environment of that particular culture.
Capeheart, L., Milovanovic, D. (2007). Social Justice: Theories, Issues and Movements. USA: Rutgers University Press
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.