Assessment for AOP
Anti-oppressive practices(AOP) refers to the disciplinary approach within social work practices which deals with restricting social and economic oppression(Danso, 2015). It focuses on social equality and justice despite having a category of superior people in society.
Internationalization plays a very crucial role in changing the min of the social citizens towards fulfilling their minimum rights and social value. External control affected the social structure because of internationalization in the field of movement of human being, thoughts, identities and emotion(Baldwin, 2016).
Social structure has become a great concern for the citizens which does not limit to the skin surface of citizens. The social structure had penetrated and enveloped the citizens for restricting the factor of oppression.
As stated byDalrymple and Burke (2006), AOP requires an authorized approach that aimed to remove the restriction for service users for controlling the well-being of citizens. Additionally, partnership working enhances the decision-making approach and minimum intervention is applied for restriction of oppression.
Oppression mainly deals with the collaborative power of the group in society to deny, exclude and control other groups in society(Sakamoto, 2007). Anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory functions in society are diminished through the philosophy of community development, youth work, and criminal justice.
The contrast between remarkable deprivation and unprecedented opulence is reflected from poverty persistence, famines occurrence, widespread hunger and violation of elementary political freedom(Collins & Wilkie, 2010).
In this report, the analysis of social structure, internalized oppression, and nature of it are described along with the principles and values of the anti-oppressive model. In addition, the application of social policy and theoretical perspective for inform thinking with anti-oppressive functions are also described in the report which provides personal and professional values to criminal justice worker, youth worker or community development worker.
Evaluating the structure and nature of oppression and internalized oppression
Oppression is defined as the humiliating treatment of a particular group which is followed by injustice and hardship applied by the dominant cluster over another(DAVIES, 2005).
It deals with the demeaning implementation of power which sometimes also involve individual’s disregarding rights for denial of citizenship. Oppression is mainly derived from the power differentials which exists in the context of society and the groups of society are created on the basis of male, white, heterosexual, able-bodied adults and middle or upper class.
The differential in power directly deals with discrimination which is defined as the prejudicial behavior against the citizen of the less-powered group such as women, old people, ethnic minorities and working-class people(Dalrymple & Burke, 2006).
Oppressions are inter-connected, the mode of discrimination may differ but the nature of oppression is the same. For example, a black man, a disabled man, a black woman, and a middle-class man, etc.
The principles of oppression directly deal with the empowerment of any particular group towards the less powered group for establishing their aspect in the society which restricts social justice, respectful treatment, and equal rights(Clifford & Burke, 2008). Discrimination on the basis of age, gender, skin color and professionalso disrupts flourishing the stable social structure.
Thompson had derived one model for describing the inter-connected oppression level which helps to connect personal, cultural and structural requirement of society for maintaining social equilibrium(Doel & Marsh, 2017).
Three components of PCS model affect the structure of oppression and the social mindset of the human being. Psychological or Personal component of PCS model describes the discrete level of feelings, thoughts, action and attitude which helps in dealing with clients(THOMPSON, 2003).
The attitude thought and feelings of a resident related to any social group are fashioned by the personal experience of oppressed people which also indicates the prejudice and mind inflexibility for non-judgemental and discriminatory practices.
The extensive range of social power and power relation among the forces of the dominant group are demonstrated in the structural component of Thomson’s model. In the cultural component, oppression is also derived from the shared view of the dominant group and wrong consensus related to any belief.
Thompson indicated that the discrimination and individual attitude of the group is enhanced by getting the support of social structure, institutes, and culture(OLIVER, 1990). So, implementation of anti-oppressive functions has become tougher due to challenging social and cultural environment along with personal behavior with the attitude of the dominant group.
The social and cultural circumstances are maintained through normalizing the oppression which reflects the casualness towards regular life of oppressed people(FRANKLIN & FRANKLIN, 2013). It might have two reasons that are the proper reason behind discrimination in a biological manner and the necessary difference of relation between inferiority and superiority.
So, the concept of internationalized oppression has come into the context where the oppressed people have started to believe the myths and stereotype that are delivered by the dominant group. The reason behind internal oppression is reflected through four components of oppression which are misusing power, objectification process, silence witness and victim entrapment(CHOUHAN, 2009).
International transmission indicates the injection of any particular belief from childhood without being a critique related to that side. Socialization reflects the social structure which makes anybody oppressed due to the involvement of a large number of dominant people(Doel & Shardlow, 2017). In the era of social media, oppression has become more internalized due to constant judgment, trolling and personal attacks which make a person oppressed.
From the definition of Berger, (1966, p. 140), the impact of society is reflected from the movement of individuals, shaping their identities, thoughts and emotions. Thomson’s PCS model also indicated that the psychological factor or the min-set of the dominant group make a class of people oppressed and their identity has also been attached with the tag of discrimination.
The inclination of a person’s choice and movement has also become the factor for discrimination due to not following the traditional one. The consciousness of the people has to be similar to that of the outmoded system and social structure(Harris & White, 2018).
Failing to that, the individual has to be oppressed for a long time and internationalized oppression has been applied for continuing the tradition. For a human being, the perspective of the society matters in depth of his thinking, living or performing regular operations.
Values and principles of anti-oppressive practice
Anti-oppressive practices are defined as the disciplinary actions which have been able to resist the discrimination. Social empowerment is directly aligned with the process of enhancing interpersonal, political and personal power for taking necessary action to restrict the oppression or discrimination(Dominelli & Lorenz, 2017).
Anti-oppressive practices are needed to be applied in the context of delivering value to society as being a part of it. Value is characterized as the social and cultural norms which direct the regular life of people.
The terminal values are provided to the individuals from the social context by maintaining peace in the world which are aligned with the practice of anti-oppression(Csiernik & Rowe, 2017). On the other hand, the instrumental values for interpersonal focus enable the society to overcome the traditional culture and adapt the new one. Organized and structured behavior of the social group also assists in delivering value to society.
The characteristics of anti-oppressive practitioners require proper understanding of power culture and social empowerment followed by its commitment. Critical skills for change and analysis of the practices are also favorable for assist in anti-oppressive practices(Strier & Bershtling, 2016).
The accumulative voice of basic requirement and strategies for overcoming barriers is included under empowerment that processes social justice, equal rights, and respectful treatment.
The legislation which assist in mitigating oppression are considered as Equality Act (2010) and strong action against racisms(Equalityhumanrightscommission, 2010). Commission for Racial Equality had set standard for behaving and no discrimination can be done on the basis of skin colour(EQUALITY, 1995).
Freire had derived the concept of oppression where a situation is exploited by other groups for establishing their culture and viewpoint on the discriminatory practices. The level of consciousness also refers to the power of anti-oppressive practices which is determined with the help of Freire’s model of consciousness(Berila, 2015).
According to the theory, three-level of consciousness are magical, naive and critical consciousness. People who follow magical consciousness does not know about the context and inclination of unchangeable and static behavior. The naïve concerned people are well aware of the situation and problem but restrict the thinking with the external environment due to limited concern(Hicks, 2015).
On the other hand, the people of critical consciousness are able to recognize the situation and problem which affects their way of leading their life. This type of awareness enables the people to take disciplinary action for changing the perspective of oppressed people and protest against that of dominant people(Mattsson, 2014).
Critical consciousness directly deals with the principles of anti-oppressive functions which helps to raise the awareness of citizens towards any particular belief.
The principles of anti-oppressive functions are derived from the ethical considerations which are taken by the practitioner for removing the threat of discrimination based on the viewpoint of dominant social structure(Parrott, 2014).
For example, young people are treated with respect and their opinions are assessed and evaluated with value due to being a separate individual. Youth are assumed to be open-minded as they interacted with a wide range of personnel in their course of study or job.
Internationalization also affects the principles of oppression due to having a different type of culture, dress code and religion which induces discrimination through following a proper mind-set(Baldwin, 2016). Anti-oppressive principles focus on the strategies which help to overcome the traditional mindset of the dominant group citizens.
The anti-oppression practices such as NYA YW professional principles and Community Development Work NOS (2015) indicates the regulatory actions which are to be maintained for removing the oppression rate.
The own choice and decisions of youth citizens also ensure the safety and welfare of society which also adds value to promote social justice(Clifford & Burke, 2008). Distinguishing the line between professional and personal life along with stable and discrimination-free workplace culture supports the principle of anti-oppressive functions which are to be followed.
The dominant social group must discuss and communicate for delivering justification against the reason of discrimination which makes the rate of oppression downwards.
Social justice and development of the community are also accomplished through following the principles and approaches of anti-oppression such as gender equality and anti-discrimination on the basis of age, skin color or disability(Mattsson, 2014).
The empowerment of the community and collective action enable the anti-oppressive practitioners to follow social justice by implanting the norms in the workplace. All of the employment agencies are discussed with the anti-discrimination approach for enhancing the efficiency of the worker by developing the required competence and skills(Hicks, 2015).
The invalidation of women’s or youth’s opinion and the denial of third gender people are included under de-humanization which ideologies are overcame through following the approach of anti-oppression.
Application of social policy and theoretical perspective for inform thinking and argument about oppression and anti-oppressive practice
Social policy of any country directly deals with inform thinking as it also enforces in removing the discriminatory practices derived from the modernization. In the context of the topic, anti-social behavior of a group of citizens causes serious threat for the normal human being which is mitigated through the policies improved by the firm(Baldwin, 2016).
The Government had planned to introduce new planning and systems which restricts the social problem and discrimination and its effect in leading regular lifestyle. The social policies are formed for keeping the perspectives of family members in mind especially for single parents and residential support.
Residential support or supervision of the families act as preventive detention which helps reminiscent of various so-called anti-social families to lead their life in a normal manner(Dominelli & Lorenz, 2017). Deficit theory has been taken into consideration for discussing the aspects of criminal which provides an opportunity for the criminal justice workers to reflect all the necessary insight.
The theory mainly focuses on poor educational accomplishment and criminal behavior or weakness in the light of poverty, character weakness, and unemployment.
According to Pine (1995, cited in Garrett 2007, p. 210), asocial families were applied in those group which belongs to the member of inferior, idlers, criminals and wastrels.
On the other hand, asocial families and social outcasts are characterized from the parameters of character weakness, less restraint, loose morale, lack of interest in any social occasion or event, mind poverty and idleness of the citizens(Csiernik & Rowe, 2017).
Social policies and initiatives also help on developing the practices against the discriminatory practices which is followed by the glaring contradiction between social order promises.
The concept of solidarity and diversity cannot co-exist at the same time due to segregation to fanaticism(Doel & Shardlow, 2017). As most of the Muslim citizens are involved with the terrorist activities, the community is oppressed which has become a problematic condition for them to reside and perform regular work.
Oppressions are considered as the result of influence the power differential which generally classified the social structure on the basis of the heterosexual, white, middle class or disabled citizens(Harris & White, 2018).
Thompson had indicated the PCS model which indicates the personal, cultural and structural factors that directly affects the regular life leading of the citizens. Social structure deals with the division in society and power relation for maintaining any decision which demonstrates the interconnected pattern of influence and power.
Wide-span of social factors and cultural mix enable the politics of the country to implement anti-oppressive functions for restricting discrimination. Internationalised oppression is long term based and induced due to the taken for granted attitude towards their lives and culture(Strier & Bershtling, 2016).
Following this principle, the myth and belief of dominant group have assumed to be true to the oppressed people which affects the overall group of citizens.
The value commonalities and behavior pattern of the citizens also affect the cultural aspect of society. Personal belief and thoughts are to be applied towards any particular group or society are considered as the reason for being discriminated from the childhood age(Danso, 2015).
The anti-oppressive practices are formed which help to remove the religious, gender and skin color factor for delivering value to social citizens. The non-judgemental and fair practices of workers help to attract the citizens of the dominant group to reside and make their own community.
The basics of discrimination are induced from the avoidance of the feedback and opinion of the selected group of members which reduces their morale towards the execution of the job.
From the theoretical perspective, it has been summarised that the dominant group of all regiment has accumulated in case of extended and long term oppression where leading life has become tough(Mattsson, 2014). High level of oppression is demonstrated from the extermination followed by the physical attack which generally indicates exceed of tolerance limit.
Figure 1: Theoretical perspective of oppression Source: Author
The social policies are generally homogenized in the landscape for affecting the labor and capital market for integration with the capitalist economy(Doel & Marsh, 2017).
Race and skin color have also been identified as the matter of oppression which is to be restricted by following the anti-oppressive functions through delivering guidelines and policy for the group of people.
Inform thinking refers to the critical evaluation of one aspect from both parties’ point of view to implement the practices of anti-oppression(Dalrymple & Burke, 2006). For example, in 2001, community cohesion policies are undertaken for integrating Muslim citizens in the UK due to the blame of self-segregation and multiculturalism.
So, institutional and individual racisms are considered as the main challenges for building a cohesive society which is overcome through following the social policies.
Analysis of the impact of personal and professional values on the practice of community and criminal justice worker, youth worker or community development worker
Empowerment is characterized as a process for engaging the social worker for reducing the powerlessness created for negative valuation based on stigmatized group membership.
The race is taken as the parameter for discrimination which is to be controlled by the implementation of professional value in the workplace. Migrant workers act as constituting underclass who are able to experience discrimination in the field of housing, education, and employment(Doel & Shardlow, 2017).
The ethical dilemma and conflicts related to any particular issue need to be solved and the oppressed group of people has to come forward for establishing a stable and discrimination-free society.
The application of personal values is also reflected from the normalcy point of view where the factor of discrimination is not considered as the fault of human being and enforces on regular practices.
The criminal justice workers have the responsibility of assessing the situation and criminal activity of the person. Every country has different rules and regulations towards the criminals which are equal for all the people without division of class, power, gender or skin color.
The politicians or the well-known people of politicians sometimes do not convict despite doing fault or criminal activities because of the effect of political structure and influence on the legal parameter.
On the other hand, the personal belief of the citizens of that area towards a particular community easily makes that people judgemental which is against the principles of anti-oppressive functions.
For example, after the incident of 9/11, the USA citizens have blamed Muslim citizens or Pakistani tourists for any type of criminal activities which might not have any link with that person. It is to be ensured that the judgment of the criminal is done on maintaining the standard process and no extra punishment is applied based on discrimination.
Youth workers also aimed to undertake the practices of anti-oppression which includes the ethical principles for mitigating discrimination. The youth employees’ commitment towards their work is enhanced through following the anti-discriminatory policies which are reflected through their pattern of the work process(CHOUHAN, 2009).
Delivering value to each and every individual and treating the young people with proper respect are indicated as the main priority for anti-oppressive practices which are to be ensured for structured society(DAVIES, 2005).
Promoting and delivering respect to the right and demand of the youth citizen help to make proper choices and decisions for legitimating interest of the youth community.
Promotion of safety and ensuring the welfare of youth citizens provides an opportunity for learning new things by overcoming the barriers of educational accomplishment. Youth People also contributes to social justice promotion which restricts figuring out the diversification and oppression challenge.
The community development work has also been playinga very crucial role as they emphasizes on improvement of any particular community who are constantly involved in the well-being of society(Dalrymple & Burke, 2006).
Discrimination on the basis of age, gender and skin color affects theregular work process in an organization which is considered as the constraints for business due to lack of communication.
The key values of community development are reflected as social justice, equality, collective action, empowerment of community and learning or working together for fulfilling the business goal(OLIVER, 1990). So, the discussion with management for collaborative and conflict-free workplace enable the community to improve their performance in the respective field.
The inclination of a person’s choice and movement has also become the factor for discrimination due to not following the traditional one. The consciousness of the people has to be similar to that of the outmoded system and social structure.
Internationalization refers to the external control of the time and culture of society due to its acceptance and validity among wide locations(Sakamoto, 2007). As social perspective has been integrated with our regular life, the discrimination on the basis of age, gender and skin color are restricted through the assistance of youth workers who are provided proper respect and maintain the social guidelines.
From the above study, it has been concluded that oppression is characterized as the barriers or traditional mind-set of the dominant group which restricts the social improvement.
Anti-oppressive practices help to follow the basic and open-minded principles which assist the social people to involve in all of the activity despite maintaining their own choice of being heterosexual or be women or black.
Thomson had identified three factors which affect the anti-oppressive practices which are people, culture and social structure. Asocial families and social outcasts are characterized by the parameters of character weakness, less restraint, loose morale, lack of interest in any social occasion or event, mind poverty and idleness of the citizens.
The perspective of criminal justice is maintained in a structured approach which assists to build a healthy society.
Internationalised oppression is long term based and induced due to the taken for granted attitude towards their lives and culture.
The youth workers are also provided minimum respect and relaxation which help them to overcome a lack of experience and learn the job role in an effective manner. Social justice, equality, collective action, empowerment of community and learning or working togetherare considered as the key values which are provided to the youth workers for being proficient with social structure.
Anti-oppressive practise is termed as an interdisciplinary approach which is primarily rooted within the practice of social work that focuses on ending socioeconomic oppression.
The process of anti-oppressive practices also includes creating an environment that is free from racism, oppression and other forms of discrimination(Danso, 2015).
Oppression also refers to the insidious type of manipulation along with the control that resonates specific group of people within the country which includes men, girls, the colour of people, citizens in poverty and youth and children.
This reflective statement will briefly discuss the anti-oppressive practice which creates discrimination among the people. With the help of Gibbs reflective cycle, my observation will be explained in this reflective statement.
Moreover, in this reflective statement, it would also explain my viewpoints in regards to anti-oppressive practices which needs to be eradicated in terms of maintaining good social interaction.
While I was learning about the concept of anti-oppressive practices I identified that it is a form of injustice that occurs when a social group is subordinated while another one is privileged.
During the initial stage, I also learned that anti-oppressive stance which increases racism and discrimination among the people based on religion, sex, colour and language.
I also learned that anti-oppression work seeks to recognize the oppression that prevails within the society and it tries to mitigate its effect along with equalizing the power imbalance within the communities(Knott & Scragg, 2016). People who are in class tries to discriminate between people based on their social lifestyle which increases the chances of social oppression within the society.
I have noted that most of the organisation has two washrooms for managers and employees, this is created in basis of resonating the class differences among the employees.
This is one of the reasons that increase the anti-oppressive practice within the organisation which influences discrimination and racism within the society. While I was learning and acquiring more knowledge in regards to anti-oppressive practice
I also identified that it also leads to multiple forms of violence in regards of gender inequality that increases the turmoil among the organisation and creates an imbalance within the firm which fails the management to achieve a great amount of success(Schön, 2017).
Oppressive practices are categorized into three parts which are personal/individual oppression, cultural oppression and structural oppression. Combining these three oppression it grows racism and discrimination among the people. The anti-oppression practices that I learned are structuring relationship among people along with empowering knowledge and reducing negative effects in terms of developing maintaining interaction and relationship among themselves.
Through this activity, I have learned that anti-oppressive activity within the society increases racism and discrimination among the society which makes it difficult in terms of creating collaborative nature within the society.
Moreover, I also learned that within organisation relationship needs to be maintained in terms of reducing social oppressive from the nature of employees. I would like to increase my knowledge in regards to cultural oppression, I would also like to increase my knowledge in the field of structural/ institutional oppression that will increase my knowledge in this topic.
Baldwin, M., 2016. social work, critical reflection and the learning organization. 1 ed. London: Roultedge.
Baldwin, M., 2016. Social work, critical reflection and the learning organization. 1 ed. London: Routledge.
Berila, B., 2015. Integrating mindfulness into anti-oppression pedagogy: Social justice in higher education. 1 ed. London: Routledge.
CHOUHAN, J., 2009. Work with Young People: Theory and Policy for Practice. In: ‘Anti-Oppressive Practice.’. London: Sage, pp. 47-52.
Clifford, D. & Burke, B., 2008. Anti-oppressive ethics and values in social work. Macmillan International Higher Education, 1(1), pp. 17-18.
Collins, S. & Wilkie, L., 2010. Anti-oppressive practice and social work students’ portfolios in Scotland. Social Work Education, 7(29), pp. 760-777.
Csiernik, R. & Rowe, W. e., 2017. Responding to the oppression of addiction: Canadian social work perspectives. 1 ed. Canada: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Dalrymple, J. & Burke, B., 2006. Anti-oppressive practice: Social care and the law. 1 ed. London: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)..
Danso, R., 2015. Qualitative social work. An integrated framework of critical cultural competence and anti-oppressive practice for social justice social work research, 14(4), pp. 572-588.
Danso, R., 2015. An integrated framework of critical cultural competence and anti-oppressive practice for social justice social work research. Qualitative social work, 4(14), pp. 572-588.
DAVIES, J., 2005. The Social Exclusion Debate. Policy Studies, 1(26), pp. 3-27.
Doel, M. & Marsh, P., 2017. Task-centred social work. 1 ed. London: Routledge.
Doel, M. & Shardlow, S., 2017. Modern social work practice: Teaching and learning in practice settings. 1 ed. London: Routledge.
Dominelli, L. & Lorenz, W., 2017. Beyond racial divides: Ethnicities in social work practice. 1 ed. London: Routledge.
EQUALITY, c. F. R., 1995. Young and Equal: A Standard for Equality in Services Working with Young People. London: Caxton House Press.
Equalityhumanrightscommission, 2010. Equality Act. [Online] Available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/legal-and-policy/key-legislatures/equality-act-2010 [Accessed 24 july 2019].
FRANKLIN, A. & FRANKLIN, B., 2013. Young People, Inequality and Youth Work. In: Age and Power.. 1 ed. London: Macmillan.
Harris, J. & White, V., 2018. A dictionary of social work and social care. 1 ed. London: Oxford University Press.
Hicks, S., 2015. Social work and gender: An argument for practical accounts. Qualitative Social Work, 4(14), pp. 471-487.
Knott, C. & Scragg, T. e., 2016. Reflective practice in social work. London: Learning Matters.
Mattsson, T., 2014. Intersectionality as a useful tool: Anti-oppressive social work and critical reflection. Affilia, 1(29), pp. 8-17.
OLIVER, M., 1990. ‘Disability Definitions: the Politics of Meaning.’ The Politics of Disablement (Critical Texts in Social Work and the Welfare State). 1 ed. Londonc: Macmillan.
Parrott, L., 2014. Values and ethics in social work practice. 1 ed. London: Learning Matters.
Sakamoto, I., 2007. An anti-oppressive approach to cultural competence. Canadian Social Work Review/Revue Canadienne de Service Social, 1(24), pp. 105-114.
Schön, D., 2017. The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. London: Routledge.
Strier, R. & Bershtling, O., 2016. Professional resistance in social work: Counterpractice assemblages. Social Work, 2(61), pp. 111-118.
THOMPSON, N., 2003. Promoting Equality: Challenging Discrimination and Oppression. 2 ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
