SW 503 - Diversity & Opprsn: Prac & Pol

Credits: 3

“This course deepens learning introduced in SW 505 and SW 515 to understand historical and structural oppression, and privilege, in ways that are relevant for responding to disparities and inequality across populations. Students will grapple with and identify meaningful, working definitions of privilege, oppression, prejudice, discrimination, marginalization, and stigma and situate these definitions within historical and contemporary societal contexts in social work practice, policy, theory, and activism. Students will examine and develop models of culturally responsive, ethical social work practice by integrating an understanding of the dynamics of prejudice, discrimination, and structural oppression with a professional use of self and a commitment to human rights and social justice. Students will explore particular manifestations of structural oppression, such as racism, sexism, and homophobia, as well as prejudice and discrimination that manifests as ethnocentrism, classism, ageism, and ableism. We will also examine the ways in which these various forms of prejudice, discrimination, and structural oppression overlap and intersect, and the societal implications of these overlaps and intersections, including global interconnections of oppression. Students will learn how to directly apply various theories of human behavior to their professional practice with individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities to maximize empowerment of clients and communities and to reduce clients’ and communities’ experience of oppression and institutional violence through social justice education and action. The course is designed to create explicit linkages between practice and policy. Prerequisite: admission to MSW program. Offered: spring only. “