Social Diversity

4 Key excerpts on "Social Diversity"

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  eBook - ePub

  Human Behavior Theory

  A Diversity Framework

  • Roberta Greene(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  1 Social Work Practice Within a Diversity Framework Roberta R. Greene

  The idea of cultural pluralism, the enrichment which comes from the acceptance and enjoyment of cultural differences, should increasingly affect all disciplines concerned with constructive human relationships.

  (Hamilton, [1940] 1951, pp. 206-207)

  During the past 20 years, American society has become increasingly diverse. Although the United States has always been a multigroup society, in recent years the metaphor of America as a melting pot with its goal of homoge-nization has been challenged as never before. The debate is joined in the social and political arena by those holding an alternative vision: a multicultural society that supports a variety of ethnic group values and life-style choices.

  The United States has experienced, and will continue to experience, marked growth in the numbers of people who belong to diverse cultural groups. People have become increasingly aware of or have rediscovered their ethnic identity and cultural group membership. In addition, advocates for civil rights for minorities, women, and gays and lesbians have become more informed consumers of mental health services. The theories and practices for assessment, psychiatric diagnosis, and a range of mental health interventions have come under increasing attack for their gender, race, cultural, and social class bias. Hence, social work practitioners will undoubtedly need to prepare themselves to serve diverse client groups.

  These societal forces, combined with accompanying political factors such as increased participation of minorities in the political process, have profoundly affected social work education. As a result, educators have come to better appreciate the importance of teaching social work students within a diversity framework, and researchers are further examining how best to deliver culturally competent social work services.

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  Handbook of Workplace Diversity

  • Alison M Konrad, Pushkala Prasad, Judith Pringle, Alison M Konrad, Pushkala Prasad, Judith Pringle(Authors)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  1 Psychological Perspectives on Workplace Diversity C A RO L T. K U L I K A N D H U G H T. J . B A I N B R I D G E The title of this chapter links two problematic terms: ‘psychological perspectives’ and ‘workplace diversity’. These terms act as succinct, compact labels for two large, sprawling and essentially unruly literatures. On the one hand (‘psycholog-ical perspectives’) we have the psychological literature that focuses on the cogni-tive processes that underlie perceptions and judgments about people. On the other hand (‘workplace diversity’) we have the organizational literature that focuses on the range of applicant and employee attributes that contributes to organizational diversity. Our chapter is positioned at the intersection of these two literatures, and it has three distinct goals. First, we introduce the reader to the fundamentals of social cognition. ‘Social cognition’ is a broad umbrella term encompassing a range of theoretical models that describe how a perceiver forms impressions of other people. We link the social cognition literature to two other related, but distinct, theoretical perspec-tives: social identity theory and status characteristics theory. We demonstrate, as much as possible, the extent to which these theories make parallel and divergent predictions. Second, we review the recent (1995 onwards) workplace diversity literature that is based on these theoretical perspectives. In an effort to make this review man-ageable, we made some difficult choices. Most importantly, our review emphasizes what previous researchers have called the ‘surface’ diversity dimensions – ‘overt, THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON WORKPLACE DIVERSITY 26 biological characteristics that are typically reflected in physical features’ (Harrison, Price & Bell, 1998: 97). That is, we focus on characteristics such as race, sex, age and disability status. Finally, we step back and consider the linkages forged between the psycho-logical perspectives and workplace diversity.

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  The Psychology of Ethnic Groups in the United States

  • Pamela Balls Organista, Gerardo Marin, Kevin M. Chun(Authors)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Ethnic Diversity and Psychology – – 9 Research conducted at the University of Michigan by Gurin and colleagues (2002) showed that ethnic diversity produced a number of positive results not only for ethnic minority students but also for Whites. Those students who experienced diversity in classroom settings and in informal interactions showed high levels of civic and interpersonal engagement with diverse others. Inte-restingly, the research showed that these effects continued well after the students graduated from the university. In an analysis of research findings on the effects of ethnically diverse environments, Gurin and colleagues (2002) found improvements in critical thinking, ability to manage complex and conflictual situations, and preparedness for participating in an ethnically diverse democracy by showing respect for differences across groups. Furthermore, Antonio (2004) has found that diverse social groups enhance the intellectual self-confidence of their members, increase people’s ability to integrate different perspectives, and help improve the educational aspirations of ethnic minority students. Indeed, Anthony Marsella (1998), a psychologist from Hawai‘i, recently argued that “ethnocultural diversity is as important for human survival as is biological diversity because it provides social and psychological options and choices in the face of powerful unpredictable environmental demands” (p. 1288). THE ETHNIC DIVERSITY OF THE UNITED STATES The most recent national census (conducted in the year 2000) showed that a large percentage of the total population of the country considered themselves as belonging to at least one ethnic group regardless of the length of time they and their families had resided in the United States.

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  Diversity in Mind and in Action

  [3 volumes]

  • Jean Lau Chin(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  Gerodiversity calls for social justice perspectives. For individuals who are committed to work with minority elders, building knowledge and skills in social justice is a critical part of professional competency. Social justice in psychology has been called upon to teach, engage in clinical practice, and develop public policy and research with regard to racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, and other divisive perspectives. Such per- spectives enable professionals to fairly and competently work with and Gerodiversity and Social Justice 85 treat those who are different from themselves (Mays, 2000). At the present time, only a small number of psychology programs offer specific courses devoted to social justice and related areas such as advocacy and policy. In the field of counseling psychology, Toporek and McNally (2006) discuss multiple ways to bring social justice training into academic settings: an explicit course, a service learning component, community-based research and practice, and integration to existing cultural diversity training and coursework. In all settings, they state, “critical emphasis is placed upon trainees having a positive impact on environmental settings and assum- ing an active role in shaping of cultural contexts” (p. 39). Social justice perspectives are still new in the field of psychology. Thus, many psychologists trained by the traditional school of psychology may think it is irrelevant to their profession or may feel anxious and overwhelmed by the concept. In reality, many psychologists are already engaged in core elements of social justice, multicultural training, advocacy, community- driven activity, and influencing policy changes. Those who embrace the social justice movement argue that it may be time to change the “scientist- practitioner” Boulder model to “the scientist-practitioner-advocate” model (Baker & Benjamin, 2000).

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