This course is designed to help students explore the connections and contradictions that exist between social work ideology, values, knowledge, policies, goals and objectives, as they are enacted in professional social work practice. Students will be asked to reflect on their clinical actions to uncover the meanings and contradictions that exist in their work with clients. Uncovering these contradictions will help students identify the areas of personal and social change that require strategies to reorient their work with their clients. The level at which social and political action takes place will be determined in part by the level at which the contradictions are found, e.g., worker, agency, profession, social policy. Fundamental to the values of this course is that the contradictions at the clinical level must be examined, understood, and engaged before social and political action at other levels can be undertaken. Theories and strategies of social and political action to deal with various levels of contradictions will be examined. Finally, attention will be paid to contradictions and issues related to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion and disabilities.
- Instructor: Fred Newdom
- Instructor: Rani Varghese