Developement and Diversity Paper

User Generated

PERNGVIR876

Humanities

Social Work 388

Description

Development and Diversity Paper

Competencies and Practice Behaviors:

This paper should be 8-10 pages in length which included cover and reference pages. Also please include a separate outline

2. Engage diversity and difference in practice

2.1. Apply and communicate understanding of the importance of diversity and difference in shaping life experiences in practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels.

2.3. Apply self-awareness and self-regulation to manage the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse clients and constituencies.

The purpose of this assignment is to apply what you have learned about the importance of difference in practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels and to enhance your self-awareness about your own identity in the context of development and biases that you may have towards other groups. It is also designed to help you recognize how your own identity and personal biases may impact your social work practice.

The components of the paper are listed below. The paper should be 8-10 pages in length.

  1. Select one of the following aspects of your identity to focus on: gender, race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion

Discuss, with examples, how this aspect of your identity shapes your beliefs and behaviors (i.e., who are you relative to this aspect of your culture).

Discuss, with examples, the ways in which this aspect of your identity was transmitted to you as you were growing up.

Discuss, with examples, how this aspect of your identity influences your current interactions with others in the various systems with which you are connected.

Discuss, with examples, the extent to which this aspect of your identity is congruent or dissonant with dominant American culture, and indicate the ways you have been affected by this congruence or dissonance. Consider and describe how the values and structures of society power and privilege you and/or oppress, marginalize, or alienate you.

Discuss how this aspect of your identity intersects with at least three other aspects of your identity (race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender (identity or expression), socio-economic status, religion, etc.) and discuss how you experience power, privilege, oppression, or marginalization with consideration of these intersection factors.

Discuss the ways in which this aspect of your identity has or will influence the way in which you perceive your role as social worker.


  1. Consider individuals and groups who differ from you on the basis of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual-orientation, class, or religion.

Identify a group that you are aware you have or have had personal biases towards. Describe the group that you have selected.

Discuss your beliefs about this group and how you developed such beliefs across your life. What did you learn about this group from your family, community, peers, etc.? Did you ever or do you now hold negative views about individuals who belong to this group?

Discuss how the values and structure of society power and privilege and/or oppress individuals who belong to this group.

Describe what you did/can do to become sensitive and effective in social work practice with individuals from this group.

  1. Discuss how differences on demographic characteristics (race/ethnicity, culture, sexual-orientation, gender, class, religion, etc.) may impact life experiences in positive and negative ways.


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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Running head: DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSITY

Development and Diversity
Institution Affiliation
Date

1

DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSITY

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Introduction

One factor that makes the world a unique and an exciting place is the levels or the aspects
of diversity that exist. Diversity is characterized by the differences people have whether
concerning their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and even religion. It is the diversity
and the differences in the world that provide for some of the shortcomings that the different
groups may have. The diversity and differences shape the experiences that people have in their
daily lives. In fact, in most cases, our views of the world and the people who live around us are
primarily based on the different beliefs that we grow up with as a people (Patel, 2016). The
beliefs explain why particular groups of people have biases towards others and also why others
may like the same people hated by other people. The aspect of diversity that this paper dwells on
is a race. It expounds on how race, in this case how being a black person, may shape beliefs and
lead to unnecessary biases against others. Moreover, it dwells on how on people can embrace
and appreciate social work practice (Patel, 2016).
How My Race Shapes My Beliefs and Behaviors
Being a person who belongs to the race of black people, a majority of my beliefs and
behaviors have been shaped by my racial identity. Having grown up in an area where the
majority consists of blacks, my ideas and thoughts reflect on the lifestyles that are led by mostly
people of the same racial descent as I (Patel, 2016). It is a common thing for people from
different ethnicities or religions or races to have certain beliefs strongly embedded in them just
by virtue of them being part of those groupings. As a black person, I can confirm that there have
been so many things that have been shaped by my racial identity and my beliefs and behaviors
form the massive chunk of them.

DEVELOPMENT AND DIVERSITY

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During my teenage years, some of the examples of the beliefs that were so much
ingrained in me were the belief in extremely hard work and the belief life is always unfair to
black people especially the children (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2006). Growing up in a
neighborhood where blacks faced so many difficulties, my mother always encouraged me to
believe that I could achieve anything that I wanted in life. The only thing I needed to do was to
be focused and to work hard. At school, the teachers told us the very same things hence I
developed that belief that the people of my race had no easy way in life and could only make it
after so much toil. Apart from that, I also had some belief that life was unfair to black people as
compared to the people from other races. This can be attributed to seeing most of my fellow
race-mates who were living in abject poverty and were always killed in random shootings
especially by the police. My race, however, at some point influenced my behaviors wrongly. As I
was growing up, I let myself be persuaded into some of the wrong ways such as developing so
much hatred and disgust for others whose skin color were not like mine. I did this while having
some false notions about social injustice that had been occurring (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman,
2006).
How This Aspect of My Identity (Race) Was Transmitted During Growing Up
Being black is apparently an aspect of my identity that was transmitted to me by virtue of
having a black mother and father. However, when talking about how this aspect of my identity
was transmitted when growing up, there are a whole lot of stor...


Anonymous
Really great stuff, couldn't ask for more.

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