Power Flashcards
What is “Power” ?
According to Jerry Tew “Power” is a “thing” we all want.
What is “power to” ?
The individual realizes they have power to do or not do something. its the ability to do something on an individual level. We have to internalize whether we have the “power to” do something (Pull yourself up by your bootstraps)
Ex. The people who exercise “power to” do something are usually the people who are in a privileged status. The example was the opening the door to DCFS. Someone from Beverly Hills would exercise power to deny DCFS entrance and get a lawyer.
What is “power Over” ?
**Certain groups have more privileges and status. They are able to exercise power over certain groups. **
Protective power: Using power to be protective over vulnerable populations. Tew mentioned two groups, children and elderly.
Ex. Protective Power is when someone in a position of power uses it to protect and aid more vulnerable individuals. An example would be when the case manager at the senior center I work for uses her community knowledge to protect seniors through APS reports or connecting them to resources that can help with their situations.
Oppressive Power: people exerting something over people (not everyone has power)
○ Example - Oppressive power occurs when someone uses their privilege to enhance their position at the expense of someone without that privilege. We see this type of power a lot in history, with white Americans using their privilege to oppress individuals of color from advancing their positions.
What is “power together” (co-operative and Collusive)?
power is used in a mutual way. A Coalition against the dominant oppressive group in numbers (mutuality) - mutual struggle.
● Co-operative power - all coming together (mutuality) to go against the dominant group
- Unionizing
- A social worker partnering with the family by listening to what they need and setting attainable goals beneficial for them
- Alcoholics Anonymous- all working and supporting each other to get/remain sober.
● Collusive power - people coming together with power and they want to keep it and exclude other groups like the KKK.
What is Intersectionality?
A term coined by Kimberly Crenshaw in 1989 to refer to the discrimination experienced by black women in a legal case where black females were being discriminated against using two forms of oppression, race and sexism.
Intersectionality is experiencing multiple oppressions (class, gender, sexuality, disability, age, religion, socioeconomic status) with race at the forefront.
legal cases: DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, Moore v. Hughes Helicopter, Inc., and Payne v. Travenol.
paper first used: “De marginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.”
What is Simultaneity?
coined by Barbara Smith in 1983 to refer to individuals who have privilege and/or marginalized status. These individuals can experience multiple forms of oppression but without Race being one of them.
What is culture?
An identifiable grouping of shared values, traditions, norms, and customs that guide how people think and behave in a community
Culture needs boundaries to survive and to be recognized.
Culture is like a compass
What is Cultural competency?
Possession of the knowledge, values, and skills necessary to make services culturally relevant, thereby increasing their effectiveness.
-the awareness of difference and a genuine acknowledgement of not knowing
Knowing
Goal: To know about other cultures.
Focus: Learning facts, customs, and practices about different cultural groups.
Mindset: “I can become skilled at understanding other cultures.”
Key Idea: You aim to gather knowledge and skills to work effectively with people from different backgrounds.
Think of cultural competence like studying for a test—you learn about other cultures so you can interact with them more effectively.
Cultural Competence is about what you know.
What is Cultural humility?
The practitioner’s attitude of respect toward others derived from the understanding that culture shapes all individuals’ experiences and perspectives, including the impact of power, privilege, and oppression.
○ Practicing cultural humility implies walking alongside our clients and partners while we support them in identifying and achieving their goals. It is the realization that they always know more than we do about their needs and their dreams.
It acknowledges that no one can be fully “competent” in another’s culture, and therefore, ongoing learning and reflection are essential.
Goal: To learn from others, and reflect on yourself.
Focus: Being aware of your own biases and being open to learning from others.
Mindset: “I don’t know everything, and I need to be humble and curious in each interaction.”
Key Idea: It’s a lifelong process of growth and understanding, focusing on listening and respecting individuals rather than assuming you fully know their culture.
Cultural humility is like having a conversation—being open to listening and learning, not assuming you already know everything about the other person’s culture.
Cultural Humility is about how you approach learning from others
What are 3 Pillars of Cultural Humility?
○ Lifelong learning & critical self-reflection
○ Recognize and challenge power imbalances
○ Institutions accountability
What is the culturally grounded approach?
The combination and application of cultural awareness, cultural competency, and cultural humility to practicing social work.
moving beyond awareness by acquiring new knowledge and developing new attitudes
○ Views clients as experts and partners of helping professionals in their efforts to
bring about change. The practitioner develops a professional intervention accordingly
● Practice CGA in Social Work through KAB - knowledge, attitudes, behaviors
Culturally grounded social work practice combines cultural humility and competency in order to achieve measurable change (Campinha-Bacote, 2018).
What is Praxis?
Paulo Freire (1970) named this process of learning by doing “praxis.”
**The transformative cyclical process of action, reflection, and action **
Praxis is when you take what you’ve learned (theory) and put it into action (practice), then reflect on how it worked so you can improve. It’s a cycle of doing something based on knowledge, thinking about the results, and learning from it to do better next time.
Key Points:
Action: You do something based on what you know.
Reflection: You think about how it went.
Learning: You use what you learned to make your actions better in the future.
Example:
A teacher learns a new teaching method (theory), tries it in the classroom (action), and then reflects on how it helped students learn (reflection). Based on what worked and what didn’t, the teacher adjusts their approach to improve next time (learning).
So, praxis is about constantly learning by doing and reflecting to get better at what you do.
What is a Minority?
In the United States its a status assigned to racial or ethnic groups to indicates less power and a lower social and economic status compared with other groups, particularly the White majority.
it refers to power and oppression, not self-worth
What is Race?
-Is a social construct used to group humans with no basis in biology.
-It is used to form hierarchies for the purpose of discrimination
What is Racism?
the subordination of any person or group because of some physically distinctive characteristics – has been a central element in the foundation of the US and its economic, political social and cultural development.
