what is a dominant discourse in social work
Educators from oneTILT define social identity as having these three characteristics: Exists (or is consistently used) to bestow power, benefits, or disadvantage. Discourse is not a neutral entity, but is the social construction of ideas based on culture, values and beliefs which are entrenched in practices such as ordinary narratives. How did some discursive positions conflict with their own self-knowledge? Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/discourse-definition-3026070. Ronni aligned herself politically with resistance to heterosexism and patriarchy. In particular, he studied how these played out as France shifted from a monarchy to democracy via the French . It is a topic worthy of scrutiny (p. 199). Were asked to help but not make people dependent. Dominant is any Discourse that will help you in life, or acquire more "goods" (money, status, etc. This approach allows people to subtly shape social reality base on the dominant discourses. Ronni believed that such discourses silenced and disciplined not only young women such as Tara, but all young womens diverse and fluid experiences of sexuality. Sociologists see discourse as embedded in and emerging out of relations of power because those in control of institutionslike media, politics, law, medicine, and educationcontrol its formation. A discourse analyst is then less interested in assessing the truth or falsity of the social reality as shaped by a particular discourse, than in the ways that people use language to construct their accounts of their social world. In such a way, Ronni undoes the opposition between risk and liberation, and also revises her relationship to school personnel from that of shielding youth like Tara from harm, to calling on them to reconstruct the discourses through which girls sexuality is understood, and viewing them as potential resources in protecting Tara. Is that individual oppressed based on race or part of the dominant group due to her positioning as a We frequently found that dependencies within competing discourses were obscured by oppositions. Weinberg, L. (2004). As such, discourse is imbued with attitudes and . A discourse of criminality, when usedto discuss protestors, or those struggling to survive theaftermath of a disaster, like Hurricane Katrina in 2004, structures beliefs about right and wrong, and in doing so, sanctions certain kinds of behavior. Thus, Maxine is positioned to assess and discipline Ms. M. She cannot find room for the very insider knowledge she is supposed to have. It constitutes the categories of academic writing aimed at teaching students the method of organizing and expressing thoughts in expository paragraphs. Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575-599. The words that dominated a 2011 Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News. ), Feminists Theorize the Political (pp. This paper explores dominant discourses underpinning the social worker visit to children and families and their impact on their purpose, content and focus. But from her constructed perspective as a child protection worker, where attachment discourses dominated the field of explanations, there was little possibility to act in solidarity with Ms. M. Indeed, she was profoundly aware of Ms. Ms anger at Maxines position within Canadian authority, where such authority could not acknowledge the realities that she and Maxine shared. Openness to questions about the constitution of practice iscritical practice. Social workers were critiqued as being a part of the problem by choosing to emphasize casework as a model of practice, an approach . Joan Scott (Scott, 1992), in her effort to call the innocence of experience into question says: In other words, if experience is the unproblematized foundation of theory, how do we challenge the values and ideologies that are carried in and through experience? This toolkit is meant for anyone who feels there is a lack of productive discourse around issues of diversity and the role of identity in social relationships, both on a micro (individual) and macro (communal) level. London: Sage. These wordsreflect and reproduce very particular values, ideas, and beliefs about immigrants and U.S. citizensideas about rights, resources, and belonging. Discourse analysis can enrich progressive social work practices by demonstrating how the language practices through which organizations, theorists, practitioners and service users express their understanding of social work also shape the kinds of practices that occur (Healy, 2000). the dominant discourse. Dominant discourse is a way of speaking or behaving on any given topic it is the language and actions that appear most prevalently within a given society. John J. Rodger: John J. Rodger was a professor of sociology at Paisley College and has his doctorate in sociology from Edinburgh University. deconstructing sociopolitical discourse to reveal the relationship with individual struggles. I am interested in a critical ethics of practice because social workers as people suffer when the results of practice seem so meager in comparison to the ideals inherent in social work education, in agency expectations, and in implicit norms which define professional. In conventional social work education, practitioners are asked to believe that they will learn a theory, and then learn how to implement it. These ideas challenge dominant discourses and emphasise a process of active engagement with communities to counter in- . Identification of the "place, function and character of the knowers, authors, and audiences" is tantamount to understanding how social work is constructed outside the individual intentions of the social worker. When Maxine regards Ms. M. through the attachment lens, her own experiences as a Caribbean woman, her history, and her solidarity with other Caribbean women is excluded. Michel Foucault. Maxinestamp358@hotmail.com. Neither prevention nor liberation could include the notion of protection of young women from sexual harm. Maxine considered how she was positioned both by discourses of professionalism and by the attachment discourses used to explain Ms. M. As a professional with statutory power, Maxine was given Caribbean family cases due to her insider status. While she understands that such an approach is constructed a fiction it is a construction she chooses to empower because it is grounded in her social justice aspirations. 14) through which certain social phenomena, such as 'need', 'knowledge' and 'intervention', are constructed. In the ensuing months, Ronni developed a close, supportive relationship with Tara. Second, the current dominant discourse in schools (how people talk about, think about and plan the work of schools and the questions that get asked regarding reform or change) is a hegemonic cultural discourse. The knowledge she is expected to deploy is based on attachment theory the personality damage that results from interrupted early attachment. In social work, critical practice is crucial because social work is a nexus where social contradictions are manifest. Discourse, as a social construct, is created and perpetuated . In this case, those discourses were set up with the prevention and risk discourse as repressive and the validation of sexuality discourse as progressive and libratory for young women. When we hear words like this, concepts charged full of meaning, we deduce things about the people involved--that they are lawless, crazed, dangerous, and violent. The community discourse is consistent with the social work value base in emphasising social justice, community empowerment and the rights of marginalised groups (Ife, 2008). The dominant discourses in our society powerfully influence what gets "storied" and how it gets storied. "Experience". We know all too well the struggles of the child protection workers, welfare workers, and hospital workers who find it difficult to face the fate of their ideals within the construction of their practice. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Truth and method (J. W. a. D. G. Marshall, Trans. These behaviors and patterns of speech and writing reflect the ideologies of those who have the most power in the society. In order to provide a frame for critical reflection on their cases, I chose four elements of associated with discourse analysis: 1) Identification of ruling discourses in the case studies; 2) the oppositions and contradictions between discourses; 3) positions for actors created by discourses which in turn shape perspectives and actions; 4) and the constructed nature of experience itself. 22-40). Maxine was devastated at her inability to put the relationship between mother and daughter to rights. If we define ideologysimply as ones worldview, which reflects ones socioeconomic position in society, then it follows that ideology influences the formation of institutions and the kinds of discourses that institutions create and distribute. When you conduct discourse analysis, you might focus on: The purposes and effects of different types of language. Elements of postmodern theory provided a way into the achievement of this necessary distance. A postmodern perspective, in Jan Fooks view (Fook, 1999), pays attention to the ways in which social relations and structures are constructed, particularly to the ways in which language, narrative, and discourses shape power relations and our understanding of them. 131-155). Is used to explain differences in outcomes, effort, or ability. In other words, such a trajectory works to normalize a sequence of sexuality which ranges from the right time to the end-stage of heterosexual marriage. which can be measured and known through research . The concepts of discourse, power and governmentality have become important in understanding social processes. With trepidation, I began the class by asking students to submit a case study from their practice experience that they would like to study collectively using a form of discourse analysis. Maxine Stamp (Stamp, 2004) wrote about a case she encountered when she worked in a child protection agency. After all, says Stephen Brookfield, Experience can teach us habits of bigotry, stereotyping and disregard for significant but inconvenient information. (1992). ), Reading Foucault for social work (pp. In the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in the streets of Minneapolis 1 and the ensuing protests against police brutality, systemic racism and racial injustice, journalists of color were speaking out against institutional racism in their own industry (Farhi and Ellison, 2020). In identifying this, Ronni restructures her practice in light of what has previously been left out. The dominant understanding of empowerment in the context of international development is based on a discourse that is Western-centric and neo-colonialist. She remembered the case with a sense of failure, and her recounting of the case was marked by a kind of unexplained sorrow. Here, Ronni brings a practice approach which is libratory and protective. https://www.thoughtco.com/discourse-definition-3026070 (accessed March 2, 2023). In N. Miller (Ed. Original language. Relatively little published research explores issues pertaining to menstruation in school education. Rossiter, A. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70(2), 150-161. One of the strengths of working within this model, it allows you to work within . As such, discourse, power, and knowledge are intimately connected, and work together to create hierarchies. In class, we worked to identify the existence of two, opposing discourses: one was the prevention and risk education approach of the school and the other was Ronnis libratory approach to girls and sexuality. Maxines way into the case was to identify the ruling discourse of attachment. Taken together, these words are part of a discourse that reflects a nationalist ideology (borders, citizens) that frames the U.S. as under attack by a foreign (immigrants)criminal threat (illegal, illegals). We began to think about the ways slavery is replicated in different incarnations following the end of slavery. In our class, discourse analysis helped illuminate the production of feelings of individual shame and apology as responses to practice. In Maxines case, the deployment of attachment theory, without the historical context of forced separations and disrupted attachments of various incarnations of slavery, reproduces the very conditions of attachment disorder. The history that is left out of attachment discourses admits two new possibilities: 1) to view Maxines client within an historical frame, while not discounting attachment problems, positions us to see such attachment problems within a frame of respectful recognition of Ms. M. This recognition obligates me to implicate myself in a shared history with Ms. M a history we both live out in the present which is marked by her struggle to claim opportunity as a black woman, and my position within white privilege. In contrast, the immigrants rights discourse that emerges out of institutions like education, politics, and from activist groups, offers the subject category, undocumented immigrant, in place of the object illegal, and is often cast as uninformed and irresponsible by the dominant discourse. Taylor, C., & White, S. (2000). This desire is subjected to the strange twists and turns of which take place inside the institutions of practice. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. When "criminals" are "looting," shooting them on site is framed as justified. Social work practices: Contemporary perspectives on change. 'Oh' prepares the hearer for a surprising or just-remembered item, and 'but' indicates that sentence to follow is in opposition to the one before. Rossiter, A. Historical trauma repeats itself in the small micro interactions of practice. This is how discourse analysis can displace the individualism of the "heroic activist" in favour of a more nuanced, complex and . The idea of dominant discourse is important for therapists and counselors, because many people who need therapy and counseling are influenced negatively by the dominant discourses that prevail in their societies (Soal & Kottler, 1996). . In other words, they take different ontological stances.Extreme constructivists argue that all human knowledge and experience is socially constructed, and that there is no reality beyond discourse (Potter 1997).Critical realists, on the other hand, argue that there is a physical . Marston, G. (2004), Social Policy and Discourse Analysis: Policy Change in Public Housing, Aldershot: Ashgate. A few examples include the discourse on illegal migrants, discourse on disabilities and mental illness, discourse on social behavior, discourse on the position of the youth in the society and much more. They also positioned Ronni in relations of opposition to school personnel. Social Identities A social identity is both internally constructed and externally applied, occurring simultaneously. Stamp, M. (2004). Biomedicine is a dominant and pervasive model in health care settings and there are strengths and limitations in working within the this discourse. These elements helped students writing cases from memories saturated with unease about their own performance to shift from what I did to how the case was constructed, and how their feelings arose from the complicated constructions of their practice within particular locations and time. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Corporation. The hold of possessive individualism in the helping professions means that the target of practice is the individual, community, or family in the present . as "deviant," in opposition to a dominant desire for adaptation. The summer of 2020 was a season of racial reckoning for journalism in the United States. ), and it may be spoken in . Discourse refers to how we think and communicate about people, things, the social organization of society, and the relationships among and between all three. Foucault was interested in power and social change. 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