Reframing White Privilege

Author(s):  
Carla Mueller ◽  
M. Denise King ◽  
Dana Klar

Three undergraduate social work faculty began discussions about diversity education and experiences in the classroom. Being from diverse races—African American, indigenous, and white, brought a uniqueness of perspectives about teaching primarily white students about human diversity. One stumbling block, white privilege, appeared to be a concept where open discussion was stilted or absent, students began to disengage, and the authors, as instructors, became frustrated. Research on diversity education revealed these reactions to be a common barrier in teaching cultural competency. This chapter addresses the challenges of defining, creating awareness, reframing, and calling for social action to work toward equality. The experiences, teaching techniques, and the cultural lenses of the authors are shared.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2/3) ◽  
pp. 481-499
Author(s):  
Danté Bryant ◽  
Karen M. Kolivoski

Although there is a growing body of literature denoting social work’s efforts to engage many of the internal racial challenges it faces, there remains a paucity of research exploring the impacts of normative-whiteness and White supremacy within the profession. In an effort to address this gap in the literature, this investigation uses quantitative survey responses from 167 non-racially specific, currently active, social work faculty and administrators, and 12 qualitative interviews with African American, currently active, social work faculty and administrators to gain a more lucid understanding of how they view the roles and impacts of whiteness and White supremacy within Social Work. Thematic findings from this investigation include narratological-deception, epistemological-omission, and a divided-profession. Implications for social work suggest the need to equitably incorporate the contributions of racially underrepresented populations, while critically engaging and responding to the “why,” “how,” and “impacts” of their historical omission.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junior Lloyd Allen ◽  
Kimberly Y. Huggins-Hoyt ◽  
Michael J. Holosko ◽  
Harold E. Briggs

Purpose: This study explored the scholarship experiences of top-ranked African American faculty in schools of social work. Method: Qualitative interviews were conducted with N = 10 top-ranked African American faculty identified as achieving considerable productivity and impact of scholarship. Findings: Four major themes were identified, each of which had 2–3 subcategories. These included (1) mentorship, (2) collaboration, (3) time, and (4) strategic planning. The data revealed that of these identified themes, mentorship was the most prominent, and collaboration, although important, was the least. Implications: The noted experiences and strategies highlighted in this study could be of great utility for those seeking to enhance their scholarly productivity and impact, particularly for (a) junior faculty, (b) African American faculty, and (c) doctoral student researchers and candidates.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Shannon R. Lane ◽  
Njeri Kagotho ◽  
Jennifer McClendon ◽  
Theresa D. Flowers ◽  
Todd Vanidestine ◽  
...  

1995 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 478-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lee Hoxter ◽  
David Lester

Among 241 college students, both white and African-American adults were less willing to be personal friends with people of the other ethnic group than with people of their own ethnic group. African-American students were also less willing to be friends with Asian Americans than were white students.


2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Wildhagen

Background/Context The fulfillment of academic potential is an underdeveloped area of inquiry as it relates to explaining racial differences in academic outcomes. Examining this issue is important for addressing not only differences in the typical outcomes for African American and White students but also the severe underrepresentation of African American students among the highest achieving students. Whereas other studies have operationalized lost academic potential as unfulfilled expectations for educational attainment, this study takes a different approach, measuring whether students earn higher or lower grades than the grades predicted by earlier tests of academic skills. Students whose grades are equal to or exceed those predicted by their earlier test scores are said to have fulfilled their academic potential, whereas those whose grades are lower than predicted have not realized their potential. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study finds that African American high school students are less likely than their White peers to realize their academic potential. The analyses test several explanations for the racial gap in the realization of academic potential, focusing on the students themselves, their teachers, and their schools. Research Design This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to analyze data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002. Conclusions/Recommendations The results suggest that teachers perceive African American students as exerting less classroom effort than White students, which accounts for a substantial proportion of the racial gap in unrealized academic potential, even with several student characteristics held constant. At the school level, there are larger racial gaps in unrealized academic potential in segregated schools and schools with strict disciplinary climates. Strikingly, the negative effect of strict disciplinary climate exists net of students’ own receipt of disciplinary actions. That is, the negative association between strict disciplinary climate and the realization of academic potential for African American students applies to African American students regardless of whether they themselves have been in trouble at school. This study reveals that characteristics of schools that lack immediately obvious racial implications, such as a school's approach to student discipline, may be just as harmful as overtly racialized inequality within and between schools.


Social workers have played a key role in political settings from the profession’s historic roots to present day. Their knowledge, skills and values position social workers to practice in political settings. Social work faculty and students were interviewed to assess a) how field placements in legislative offices and participation in Campaign School and NASW-sponsored Legislative Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD) impacted students’ professional development and perspectives on political social work, and b) social work faculties’ perception of these activities in students’ social work education and necessary political social work knowledge and skills. Initial results demonstrate a high level of support for these activities among faculty and students with opportunities to further include them in the explicit and implicit social work curriculum.


2003 ◽  
Vol os-20 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda T. King ◽  
Thomas E. Ford

The Campus Climate Survey was developed to identify the institutional characteristics of predominately white colleges or universities (PWCUs) that African-American students perceive as important predictors of the quality of the campus environment. We examined whether African-American and White students differentially consider institutional characteristics relating to racial climate to evaluate the campus environment. The survey was administered to 131 African-American and 247 White high school seniors and college students. Results suggest that African-Americans were especially attuned to racial climate characteristics. Furthermore, these racial climate characteristics are uniquely important for African-American students: they mattered to them but not to Whites. Indeed, the general institutional characteristics (non-racial climate related) were more important for determining social comfort for White students.


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