Book contents
- Engaging with Social Work
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Engaging with Social Work
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Foreword to the second edition
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- 1 The critical potential of social work
- 2 Contemporary practice contexts: Enduring social forces
- 3 The new normal: Contemporary and emerging challenges and opportunities for social work
- 4 What can we do? A critical response to social contexts
- 5 How did we get here? The history of critical social work
- 6 Values and ethics for critical practice
- 7 Theories for practice
- 8 Social work practice
- 9 Diversity, power and knowledge
- 10 Fields of practice: Challenges and opportunities
- 11 Advancing critical social work into the future
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
9 - Diversity, power and knowledge
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2025
Book contents
- Engaging with Social Work
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Engaging with Social Work
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Foreword to the second edition
- About the authors
- Acknowledgements
- Acronyms and abbreviations
- 1 The critical potential of social work
- 2 Contemporary practice contexts: Enduring social forces
- 3 The new normal: Contemporary and emerging challenges and opportunities for social work
- 4 What can we do? A critical response to social contexts
- 5 How did we get here? The history of critical social work
- 6 Values and ethics for critical practice
- 7 Theories for practice
- 8 Social work practice
- 9 Diversity, power and knowledge
- 10 Fields of practice: Challenges and opportunities
- 11 Advancing critical social work into the future
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
In this chapter we explore concepts and practices related to diversity. This is a complex terrain to navigate as we are all ‘diverse.’ However, diversity (or our differences) have personal, social and political effects; many of which involve power and engender various forms of inequality, privilege and oppression. Critical social workers have been considering the ‘dilemma of difference’ for decades. In 1985, for example, Martha Minow observed that, rather than avoiding this dilemma, we should ‘immerse ourselves in it’, not necessarily to seek a final resolution, but to engage in a ‘more productive struggle’ for equitable processes and outcomes’. Challenging privilege and oppression is at the heart of critical social work and our journey is both personal and professional as we grapple with how to respectfully listen, learn and engage in mutual consciousness-raising across difference, while advocating for social and systemic change to address inequality.
Keywords
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- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Engaging with Social WorkA Critical Introduction, pp. 266 - 305Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Further reading
Baltra-Ulloa, A. J. 2013, ‘Why decolonized social work is more than cross-culturalism’, in Gray, M., Coates, J., Yellow Bird, M. & Hetherington, T., eds, Decolonising Social Work, pp. 87–104, Routledge.Google Scholar
Begon, R. & Billington, T. 2019, ‘Between category and experience: Constructing autism, constructing critical practice’, Educational Psychology in Practice, 35(2), 184–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernard, C. 2021, Intersectionality for Social workers: A Practical Introduction to Theory and Practice, Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bessarab, D., Coffin, J., Wright, M. & Kickett-Tucker, C., eds 2016, Mia Mia Aboriginal Community Development: Fostering Cultural Security, Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Cleary, M., Raeburn, T., Escott, P., West, S. & Lopez, V. 2018, ‘“Walking the tightrope”: The role of peer support workers in facilitating consumers’ participation in decision making’, International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 27, 1266–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessaris, T. N. 2006, ‘About being Mununga (whitefella): Making covert group racism visible’, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 16, 347–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIntosh, P. 1998, ‘White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack’, in McGoldrick, M., ed., Re-visioning Family Therapy: Race, Culture, and Gender in Clinical Practice, Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Oates, F. 2020, ‘Barriers and solutions: Australian Indigenous practitioners on addressing disproportionate representation of Indigenous Australian children known to statutory child protection’, AlterNative, 16(3), 171–9.Google Scholar
Quinn, M. 2009, ‘Towards anti-racist and culturally affirming practices’, in Allan, J., Briskman, L. & Pease, B., eds, Critical Social Work: Theories and Practices for a Socially Just World, 2nd ed., Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Wagaman, M. A., Shelton, J. & Carter, R. 2018, ‘Queering the social work classroom: Strategies for increasing the inclusion of LGBTQ persons and experiences’, Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 38(2), 166–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, M. & Baltra-Ulloa, J. 2019, ‘Australian social work is white’, in Bennett, B. and Green, S., eds, Our voices: Aboriginal Social Work, 2nd ed., Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
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