Power Relations in Social Work - Essay Example

Power and Power Relations in Social Work Social work is an occupation that is characterised by inequalities in power. Unequal power relations shape the interaction between worker and client, social employee and the agency, and the nation and agency. These power inequalities in the social work relations invite oppressive practices to prevail in the workplaces. Emergence of anti-oppressive factions in the social work environment evidences inequality. The anti-oppressive forces emerge to address the issue of power imbalance. The aim of these anti-oppressive forces is to bring sanity to the environment of social work. The approaches endeavour to change the traditional way of doing things that many social work environment embraces. The people behind the campaigns of the anti-oppression seek to combat and diminish the unfair and imbalanced treatment of the social workers. Whenever there is lack of communication between the power and the workers, problems sets in the social work places. However, the fight against oppression is a futile effort without critical understanding of power and relations in the social work. First, paper will describe the theory of authority and its relations in the social work environment. Second, the paper will look at the approaches that the campaigners of anti-oppression use to harmonise the relationships of those in authority and social workers. Third, the paper analyses the effectiveness of anti-oppressive strategies to yield good. Power and Power Relations in Social Work Power is a socially constructed dynamic that fluctuates according to different factors in the social work environment. The policies that the authority formulates have abused power in various ways. The instruments of power have operated on discrimination lines in the social work places. Social prejudice acts as embedment of the oppressive ideologies of those in power. There are theories that explain the power relations in a social work. One of these theories is power-dependence relations (Burke, 2006:194). Power-dependence relations Theory Emerson formulated this theory in 1962. Emerson used two factors (parties) A and B. This theory holds that power is a possession of a relationship between A and B. This means that neither A nor B possesses power individually. Emerson theory indicates that a power relation is a sort of resistance on the part of one party that the other actor overcomes (Burke, 2006:194). The theory allude that the basis of power is dependence. In this case, dependence is the control of resources that one party depends on to achieve his/ her goals. The theory notes that dependence relies of two factors. The two factors comprise of the level of motivation and accessibility of alternatives. This theory applies to small and large group of people. This theory argues that social relations entail tie of reciprocated reliance between parties. According to this theory, party A depends upon part B if the actions of party B contribute to goals and achievements of party A. By virtue of reciprocal dependence, it is more or less essential to each party to control or influence the others demeanour. In addition, the ties of mutual dependence states that each party is in a position to grant or deny, and enable or prevent the other’s success. This means that the power to manage or influence the other exist in control over the things one party values. This theory implies that power resides unreservedly in the others dependence (Burke, 2006:195). Power dependence relations theory has a direct relationship with the level of motivation of the parties. However, power has an inverse relation with the availability of alternatives that are external to AB relation. Thus, power is a function of the tie between A’s dependence on B and B’s on A. Emerson argues that there is imbalance in power when the dependence between the parties is irregular (Burke, 2006:194). This creates instability and the parties will try all means to restore the balance. The relations hearten the more powerful party to exercise power to set the prudent process to re-establish the power relations balance. Emerson’s theory of power-dependence relation gives a stepwise procedure on how to re-instate the power balance between two parties. According to the theory, there are four ways of harmonising the power disparities between actors A and B. These steps include withdrawing, extending networks, status emergence, and coalition formation (Burke, 2006:195). Withdraw entails decreasing motivational investments that one actor contributes to achievements of the goals. The theory views that looking for other alternatives sources of resources rather than depending on one party can help to bring a balance in power relations. The strategy of status emergence asserts that power parity is attainable through the increase of motivational investment in goals that either actor mediates. The last strategy that this theory holds in that of association of the two actors can help to restore power relations. The Anti-Oppressive Practice Anti-oppressive practice is a vibrant process that is bed-rocked on the dynamic and complex models of social relations. People adopt this practice to challenge the status quo. The anti-oppressive practice started in United Kingdom in Europe in the late 1980s. The black people and women were the masterminds of this movement (Burke & Dalrymple, 2006:10). This was a reaction of the social work practitioners and academicians to challenge the inadequacies of the institutions of power. Since then, the anti-oppressive practices have been strong to bring change to the oppressed. The main aim of the anti-oppressive practice is to bring transformation to the society and nation as a whole. The Anti-Oppressive Practice seeks to eliminate the discrimination that is inherent in the social work environment. The force that pushes the anti-oppressive practice is to challenge inequalities. This is through creating opportunities for change at macro and micro levels. The aim of this practice is to bring harmony and a sense of belonging in the workplace. The anti-oppressive achieves this endeavour through combating and decreasing the unfair treatment of people that prevents them from getting services. The anti-oppressive practice strives to inculcate justice for the discriminated. The Anti-oppressive practice calls for empowerment through equal power relationships. It challenges those in direct relationship with power to reform and accord respect to all people regardless of their social status. The campaigners of social reforms realises that discrimination not only appears directly or indirectly but also it takes the structural dimensions of power (Burke & Dalrymple, 2006:16). The structural dimensions of power encompasses reveals the sour interaction of those in authority with their employees and clients. In social work, those in power exclude others on basis of their gender, colour, age, sexual orientation, and their class. Social work is very oppressive in nature. This is because they hold power over their clients. The anti-oppressive practice recognises these socially unacceptable dehumanisation acts and responds to bring change to redress the balance of power (Gray, & Webb, 2008:83). The nasty experiences of social workers depicts the way in which dominant structures decrease or deny the access of opportunities, resources, and power for certain groups. This contributes to oppression of an individual or a group. Language, nationality, religion, ancestry, and skin colour are chef contributors of discrimination. Gender based discrimination is common in social work. This is because patriarchal ideologies dominate most of the social work places. The Anti-Oppressive Practice values innovations and it is not a bunch of categories of the oppressed. The group seeks to emancipate the oppressed through establishing transformative practices in social work (Burke & Dalrymple, 2006:18). The Approaches of Anti-Oppressive Practice The Anti-Oppressive Practice focuses on establishing sanity and ethics in social work. The main components of Anti-oppressive Practice include anti-heterosexist, anti-ageism, anti-sexism, anti-racism, and an understanding of class oppression. Most discrimination in social work occurs along racial lines. In this case, people favour or despise other through their physical appearance. A group or an individual who does not belong to the category of the people favoured is subject to oppression. The dominant race gets social services while the minorities remain unattended. This happens because of the inequality in the between those in power and their subjects. The Anti-Oppressive Practice intervenes through advocacy for equality for all people. These are attempts to address inequalities in the social work related to race, culture, and ethnicity (Burke & Dalrymple, 2006:13). The Anti-oppressive Practice tries to handle oppression based on sex. The patriarchal nature of society dominates most social work. This implies that the females face discrimination and are subject to male chauvinism. The differentiation of gender in the society aggravates the problem. The societal myths that hold that males and females have different functions are a barrier to achievement of equality. The anti-oppressive practices set in to challenge the traditions and the myths in order through engendering processes. The campaigners of anti-oppression practice achieve this through breaking the theories that suppose the problems of women are inborn. They provide information to the oppressed that enable them to gain full understanding of the inequality issues. The anti-oppressive practice challenges the norms that the society values. For instance, the society accepts heterosexual but condemns lesbianism, gay practice, and bisexuality. Communities view those who practice this behaviour as a social disorder. These people are subject to discrimination in social work. Gays, Bisexuals, and lesbians may not receive the necessary social services, which heterosexuals get without hustle (Burke & Dalrymple, 2006:14). Looking at the approaches that the anti-oppressive practices use to establish equality it is clear that they fail to understand the power relations. The anti-oppressive practice relies on the social model of the gap between those in leadership and their subjects. The champions of anti-oppressive practice feel that the most crucial thing is to eliminate the discrimination through changing the structures that bring about inequality at all levels. For instance, the anti-oppressive practice holds that one can only eliminate ethnicity through first acknowledging its existence. Second, the anti-oppressive practice dictates that people should view ethnicity as a social vice and therefore take the necessary steps to eliminate it. This practice does not take time to look at the issues of power relations between parties involved in social work. An unequal power relation creates a gap between the leaders and the subjects. The attempt of the Anti-oppressive practice to address the issue without incorporating power relations in a social work is a futile endeavour. The power difference is the bedrock of the discrimination in social work. The anti-oppressive practice need to understand the relation of power as depicted in the Emerson theory of power dependence. Proper comprehension that power is an asset between two parties of which neither can possess it singly will enable the drivers of anti-oppressive practice to devise prudent strategies to educate the oppressed about their rightful share in power (Burke, 2006:200). Although some anti-oppressive forces focus on the effects of oppression in society, other practices concentrate on individuals. Thos division in strategies to deal with oppression in social work spells doom to the good turns of the fight against inequality. The anti-oppressive cannot emancipate the discriminated group through only challenging the structures of power in social work. They should pay a lot of emphasis on the two actors that own power. Many of the anti-oppressive practice focus on the oppressed. This is a wrong strategy because for the oppression to happen there must be defined differences between the dominant (party) and the dominated. The theory of power dependence stipulates that one should involve the two actors when restoring the imbalance between the led and the leaders (Burke, 2006:195). Therefore, the anti-oppressive practice should involve the two actors in power in their effort to establish stability and harmony in social work. Understanding power and power relations is the best way to formulate viable strategies to contain oppression. This creates equality since either party knows that it has a share in exercising power. The dependence of the anti-oppression campaigners on the clients in the social work does not yield well in the endeavour to challenge oppression and discrimination. This is a poor framework of the anti-oppressive practice. It does not provide a chance to carry out a comprehensive analysis to identify the complexity of power relations in the social work. The strategy that the advocates of anti-oppression adopt may solve the issues oppression in social work but the solution is short-lived (Burke & Dalrymple, 2006:15). This failure of the anti-oppressive instruments to understand and address the different forms of power relations leaves the principal cause of oppression unattended. The result of such substandard actions of the anti-oppressive practice is the continuity of oppression in social work. To attain great leaps in the matter of oppression, the anti-oppression practice should reframe their framework to challenge practical issue around authority relations in social work. This is the only way to emancipate the devalued social work. The current focus of the anti-oppressive campaigns of education and awareness is a flawed approach. It is a practice, which has been in use for a long time. Although the addresses the social relations and inequality in the society, it does not capture the real cause of oppression. The clients have the opportunity to know their role in acquiring social services without discrimination. However, this is not enough when they have not been sensitised on the power and power relations in social work. The theory of power dependence comes into play in this cause. The theory holds that when one party constraints the other’s rights to share power is the onset of oppression (Burke, P. 2006:194). In the light of this, the anti-oppressive forces prove futile to provide an amicable solution to the issue of oppression. Therefore, the anti-oppression campaigners need to analyse critically power and power relations in the social work. This is the only way they will know the genesis of genesis of oppression and how it works. Such knowledge is important towards creating sanity and oneness in social work. The advocates of anti-oppressive practice will empower the oppressed based on tangible grounding of power and power relations. This will yield well towards the efforts of anti-oppressors to yield well in their fight. This will make the anti-oppression practice an indispensable tool to transform social work. The ideologies of the anti-oppression practice to transform society and nations as a whole are good. This is because through empowerment programs the oppressed get to know their rights (Smith, 2008:112). However, this is an endeavour destined to fail when the advocates of the anti-oppression fail to scrutinise the power structures and relations. The power ideologies and practices perpetrate discrimination in social work. Understanding these ideologies of those in power will help the masterminds of the anti-oppression practice to devise viable ways to deal with oppression in social work. This will emancipate the oppressed from the jaws of powerful oppressors. The discussion above highlights that the fight of oppression is unachievable without critical understanding of power and power relations in social work. The approaches that the anti-oppression campaigns use yield only little. This is because they address superficial problem of oppression. A comprehensive dissection of power and power relations in social work promises a lot in the fight against subjugation. A critical analysis of the structures of power through encompassing the arguments that the theory of dependence holds will transform and emancipate the social workers fully. This will restore ethics and values that are pertinent to social work. Bibliography Burke, B. & Dalrymple, J. 2006. Anti-Oppressive Practice: Social Care And the Law. New York: McGraw-Hill International. Burke, P. 2006. Contemporary Social Psychological Theories. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Fook, J. 2002.Social Work: Critical Theory and Practice. London: Sage. Gray, M. & Webb, S. 2008. Social Work Theories and Methods. London: Sage. Smith, R. 2008. Social Work and Power. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Read More