Sociological Theory for Social Work

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GM403E    SOCIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY

Sociology (Assignment 1)

As an adult I have grown up with pressure to secure my own means of private health care and pension, gain a good education to earn a reasonable income in a competitive employment arena and successfully raise a family.  Whilst these were my own expectations and views I had not looked at the role societal expectations had played in the development of these attitudes. My perspective now is that whilst the policies on taxation appeared to be benefiting those members of society who fit in with societies expectations, they are based on accumulation rather than social purpose and clearly do not take into account the needs for all members of our society.  The lives of the majority are decided by virtue of our ‘first past the post system’ of government election. A few powerful individuals, who may have opposing motives to the majority population, is not a real democracy truly meeting the needs and holding the views for all members of society.

As a student social worker, I have been enlightened as to the roles we adopt in a society characterized by power imbalances that affect us all through the teaching on this module.  These power imbalances are based on age, class, ethnicity, gender, geographic location, health, physical ability, race, sexual preference and income.  The impact of the learning around power and powerlessness has enabled me to see how personal troubles are inextricably linked to oppressive structures and the importance of challenging this through anti-oppressive practice.  My understanding has increased regarding the reasons behind the increased income inequality, for example how Margaret Thatcher’s free market economy affected the wealth imbalance in this country.  Also how the major power influences, over society in Britain, are the policies and politics of our government thus I can relate Thompson’s 1997 PCS model, of the structural oppression to our western capitalist society (Thompson, 2006).

Reading the Barefoot Social Worker (Searing, 2006) in particular in relation to the teaching on class structures and how society discriminates amongst the lower classes has enabled me to see how service users are amongst some of the most vulnerable and impoverished in our society, and have benefited least from New Labour’s social welfare reforms. Under New Labour we have witnessed not only greater levels of material inequality, but also greater negative feeling towards immigrants, young people and poor families, the very groups that as social workers we engage with.  During my course I have been afforded opportunities to work alongside and come into contact with colleagues and service users who have not been afforded the opportunities that I have been privilege to.  This has highlighted to me how the social circumstances into which you are born affect the life chances that will be available to you because your perception of world will be from that perspective into which you were born.  From the perspective of the social worker, clearly we must be actively involved in the understanding and transformation of injustices in social institutions and in the struggles of people to maximize control over their own lives and engage in social work practice based around ‘anti-capitalist’ values as democracy, equality, and diversity (Searing:2006).

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Class

Social class and social stratification promote a hierarchy in our society and hence an inequality of opportunities for those who are considered to be at the bottom of the class spectrum. Marx and Weber have debated how to best define social class but it has often been the case that manual workers are regarded as being working class. The position you are born into may have an important effect on many areas of life.  It may enhance or reduce life chances.  Gerth and Mills referring to western society say that life chances includes “the chance to ...

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