Social Work & Society

Deconstructing and reconstructing diversity in client-provider-relationships of social work

Lars Alberth, Ellen Kollender, Anke Karber, Philipp Sandermann, Birte Siem — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Diversity and reflections on diversity impact client-provider-relationships of social work on different levels, ranging from institutionalized programs to interpersonal practices to individual expectations, cognitive make-ups and emotional experiences. However, the implications of diversity and its reflections in social work practice are still far from being sufficiently empirically researched. Depending on the precise situation, diversity may be directly involved in the forms of categorizations, valorizations, or social identities that influence professional social work from diagnostical judgement to service delivery. But it may also be pivotal as a physical or organizational context factor that influences decision-making, leads to more (a-)symmetrical and (un-)just distributions of resources, (in-)visibility of individuals, and power. Seeing client-provider-relationships through the lens of diversity shows the complexity, richness and fundamentally social quality of social work.

Space-Focused Stereotypes and Their Potential Role in Group-Based Disparities in Social Work Services

Iniobong Essien, Birte Siem — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Despite social work’s unique commitment to diversity, several findings suggest group-based disparities in social work services. To explain such disparities, theories in social psychology emphasize the role of stereotypes. The present article focuses on how stereotypes among social work professionals might affect the client-provider dyad, paying particular attention to the diversity dimensions of “race” and ethnicity. We first introduce a traditional conceptualization of group-based stereotypes and then derive how stereotypes may also be applied to physical spaces. We next elaborate on how social work professionals’ mental images of racialized spaces might contribute to disparities, using the example of child welfare decision-making. We argue that space-focused stereotypes might contribute to disparities by affecting social work professionals’ perceptions, judgement, and treatment of (1) space itself and (2) clients. Finally, we discuss how a space-focused perspective on stereotypes may inform prevention and intervention approaches that might go unnoticed in a traditional conceptualization of stereotypes as solely group-based phenomena.

Understanding guilt, shame and social service use in a diversity context

Nicole Syringa Harth, Diana Düring — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In Social Work, the differentiated handling of emotions is of great importance, especially in the complex web of relationships between clients and service providers. This paper presents an integrative approach to the exploration and regulation of emotions in the context of client-provider relationships. It highlights the crucial, but still understudied role that emotions play and draws on insights from different perspectives, to illustrate their role in understanding social experiences and guiding practical interventions. We will focus on the emotions of guilt and shame and their interplay with facets of diversity, especially racism and poverty. Shame is known as a feeling that results from the perception of not living up to social norms and expectations. Guilt is related to shame but is more based in the perception of having done wrong. Thus, one aim of this paper is to identify diversity-related patterns on the inter-personal and organizational level that increase the risk of shaming and guilt among clients, but also service providers. We will highlight the theoretical, empirical but also practical issues regarding these emotions and emphasize the importance of diversity and cultural sensitivity in client-provider relationships.

Queer Professionals – Experts for Gender and Sexual Diversity or Others?

Davina Hoeblich — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Gender identity and sexual orientation are fundamental components of human existence. Therefore, addressing sexual and gender diversity can be seen as a core social work task. However, it is one that continues to pose significant challenges to practitioners due to their own entanglement in social norms and taboos and their own gender identity and sexual orientation (Baer & Höblich 2021).

The article presents findings from an empirical study, in which 16 biographical interviews with queer professionals in various fields of child and youth welfare were conducted and analyzed using qualitative content analysis to examine how queer practitioners address sexual and gender diversity in their practice, if and how they position themselves as queer within client-provider-relationships, teams and their organization.

Findings reveal that queer professionals play a crucial role in sexual and gender minority communities and how this affects their professional work. They face both opportunities and limitations when forming working connections with clients, acting as role models, and delivering appropriate services to LGBTIQ* clients based on their personal and professional know-how. Queer Professionals also criticise being positioned as 'diverse' by clients and colleagues.

Dis/ability in child and youth welfare – shortcomings and consequences

Benedikt Hopmann — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article opens up a difference-theoretical perspective on disability, based on a problematisation of the concept of diversity. Using the example of current reform efforts in Germany to establish an inclusive child and youth welfare, the discourses on disability there are briefly presented and discussed. To this end, the legal understanding of disability is first outlined and categorised and its references to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) are presented. The theoretical discussion takes place against the background of central models of disability, with particular reference to Disability Studies. It is shown that references to difference theory are both fruitful and necessary for a critical understanding of disability, as these connections – at least in Germany – have so far hardly been made in the debate on inclusive child and youth welfare. On the basis of these findings, theoretical and conceptual challenges are finally formulated with regard to disability as a category of difference in child and youth welfare.

Critical Diversity Research in Social Service Organizations – a conceptual framework

Stefan Köngeter, Timo Schreiner — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this article, we will discuss diversity-sensitive research approaches and demonstrate how researchers can engage in self-critical reflections on their projects in relation to diversity and inclusion. The debate about diversity and inclusion in social work is increasingly characterized by a critical examination of organizations and professions. In this context, questions about the configuration of diversity and the ethical justifications of categorizations applied play a fundamental role. Against the backdrop of different models of justice, we examine diversity in terms of inclusion and exclusion within research on organizations. In this article, we provide a conceptual framework of critical diversity research in social service organizations which reflects the interplay of diversity, inclusion, and social justice. For this framework, we specifically draw on principles of participatory and inclusion research and apply them to the context of diversity in social service organizations.

Empowering Voices, Bridging Worlds: The Potential of Photovoice for Empowerment, Reflection, and Connection in Diverse Societies

Carmen S. Lienen, Andrea Monica Frisch, Agostino Mazziotta, Anette Rohmann — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The present article analyzes the potential of the photovoice method in diverse societies. Photovoice is a community-based participatory action research method with a photojournalistic, socio-critical approach that prioritizes the lived experiences of people belonging to marginalized communities. In photovoice projects, people take photos of their lives to identify community struggles and strengths, which are then collectively discussed and used to facilitate positive social change at the policy level. The article explores to what extent photovoice can benefit diversity within social work by I) supporting the understanding and empowerment of clients through a lifeworld orientation, II) enhancing social workers’ self-reflection on their own identity, role, and mission, and III) strengthening client-provider relationships. Limitations, possible non-intended effects, and potential ethical challenges of the implementation of photovoice in diverse societies are discussed. We conclude the article with practical recommendations on how social workers can incorporate photovoice into their professional practice.

Cultural Othering in Social Work. Reflections from a Critical Race Perspective

Matthias Rangger — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper explores the connection between diversity and client-provider relationships in social work with a focus on discourses and practices of cultural othering. To pursue this topic, the paper discusses empirical data from a training series held in Germany on pedagogical professionalism in a society which is constitutively produced and structured by migration phenomena. From the theoretical perspective of cultural othering the paper highlights three ideal types of reference to “cultural diversity” in social work practice and its effects: “domination”, “recognition” and “agency”, which express the fundamental power and contradictory nature of social work in general. The paper concludes with an “othering-reflective” approach that takes full account of the complexity and contradictoriness of social work in the contexts and conditions of social inequality.

The Diverse Subjects of Early Childhood Parenting Education

Vanessa Schwenker — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Drawing on ethnographic data, this article analyzes differentiation within a German parenting education program, illustrating how those involved become subjects of parenting education and how these practices shape diversity as practices of recognition. The study adopts Rose and Ricken's (2018) conceptualization of recognition as (re-)addressing, moving beyond a normative understanding of recognition as affirmation and delving into differentiation at the levels of selection, norm formation, positioning, and valuation. The study underscores the ambivalent nature of diversity practices and reveals a nuanced hierarchy within the program, where role modelling and a 'makeover' narrative drive the relational dynamics and shape the position of the 'professional other' (Heite, 2008) as a 'diversity worker' (Ahmed, 2012). Ultimately, the study concludes that diversity practices are inherently situated within societal dynamics of power and constitute powerful practices of recognition themselves, rather than serving as a means of escaping from power.

The Shift of U.S. Public Attitudes Toward Welfare State: A Cohort Comparison between Pre and Post Economic Crisis Era

Eun Kyung Lee, Tae Kuen Kim — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since the turbulence of the 2009 Economic Crisis, skepticism about individualism and free-market economics has become widespread in the U.S. This study empirically examined how Americans' attitudes toward the welfare state have changed over the past decade. The study used data from the World Values Survey to make a longitudinal comparison of welfare attitudes before (2006) and after (2017) the Economic Crisis. The results show that the United States, unlike other developed countries, has experienced a significant increase in welfare attitudes after the crisis. The study also found that welfare attitudes were polarized by political affiliation and religiosity.

In/visible Pandemic Disruptions to Immigrant Integration: Social Connections, Impacts, and Service Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Studies and media accounts of the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed not only its gravity but also its unequal impacts along racial, class, and gender lines, and other situated identities. Among those most impacted by the pandemic are racialized immigrant communities. In this paper, we consider immigrants’ experiences––specifically how immigrant integration intersects with pandemic impacts. This study uses survey and interview data collected as part of a 2021 intersectoral collaboration of immigrant-serving crisis response organizations in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Our findings illustrate that underlying the disruption in the means and markers of integration is a parallel disruption of social connections. That is, the pandemic impacted employment, education, and health outcomes insofar as social bonds, bridges, and links were also impacted. Moreover, social links—connections to public services—were especially crucial for immigrants during the pandemic.