what is a dominant discourse in social work

Discourse analysis accesses questions that help make social contradictions and ambivalence visible and it opens conceptual space regarding ones position within competing or dominant discourses. ), Working with Experience. We worked to identify oppositions between competing discourses. Spivak, G. (1990). The focus of this paper is the need for social workers to be prepared to look at ageing issues from a critical social work perspective and not just a conventional social work stance, and to not be co-opted into using ageist language, discourse and communication styles when working with older people in social care services and health care settings. 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. Ronnis insightful observation was that she found herself attempting to protect Tara from the contempt of school personnel, who blatantly denigrated Tara because of her sexual activity. This intellectual interest can be found in the ways we re-experience value commitments through openness to the question at the heart of critical social work: What does social work have to do with justice? Some discourses come to dominate the mainstream (dominant discourses), and are considered truthful, normal, and right, while others are marginalized and stigmatized, and considered wrong, extreme, and even dangerous. For example: A dominant discourse of gender often positions women as gentle and men as active heroes. Its evident that discourse is the compilation of particular ideologies and beliefs concerning a certain bracket in the society. as "deviant," in opposition to a dominant desire for adaptation. 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. Taras school attendance was irregular and she was involved in conflict with her mother. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/discourse-definition-3026070. These behaviors and patterns of speech and writing reflect the ideologies of those who have the most power in the society. When oppositions are in place, what boundaries are erected? Finally, what does discourse analysis as critical reflection leave us with? I was at once horrified by the level of individual self-recrimination in the cases, and inspired by the deep levels of commitment, thought and reflection evidenced by these students. 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. But how do we scrutinize knowledge claims? Practising reflectivity in health and welfare: Making knowledge . As Cannella ( 1997 ) and many others have discussed, these discourses construct childhood as a universal stage of life, where the process of childhood is through the development of a predetermined and . Here, I want to gather strands of the previous discussion. Her agency had neither an analysis of the sensitivity of her position in relation to immigrant clients, nor the racist assumptions that grounded these case allocations. Ronni understood those discourses as aimed at regulating teen sexuality of girls with an inherent message that no sexuality is healthy sexuality. Take, for example, the relationship between mainstream media (an institution) and the anti-immigrant discourse that pervades U.S. society. Goodreads. 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. If ideology is a worldview, discourse is how we organize and express that worldview in thought and language. Maxine was devastated at her inability to put the relationship between mother and daughter to rights. 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. Discourse typically emerges out of social institutionslike media and politics (among others), and by virtue of giving structure and order to language and thought, it structures and orders our lives, relationships with others, and society. This theoretical perspective creates discursive boundaries around caregiver and child. Within this anti-immigrant discourse,illegals and immigrants are juxtaposed against citizens, each working to define the other through their opposition. This desire is subjected to the strange twists and turns of which take place inside the institutions of practice. These alternative viewpoints are important because discourses are structured through power relations so that the identification of what is outside prevailing stories may give us a better picture of how power operates. Gorman, R. (2004). Dominant discourse demonstrates how reality has been socially constructed. . It focuses specifically on participant . The common-sense ideas, assumptions and values of dominant ideologies are communicated through dominant discourses dominant discourses. With the increasing prevalence of neo-conservative and managerial discourses, it is argued that a dominant focus on individualism diminishes the understanding of how the social context can impact on people's lives (Houston, 2016) and moves away from collectivist values . A conventional course on advanced practice should explicate practice theories, perhaps compare and critically analyze them and then devise methods for their application in practice. Discourse transmits and produces power; it undermines and . Foucault believed that discourse is created by those in power for specific reasons and is often used as a form of social control. She had two teen-aged daughters who had been left in the country of origin as very young children while Ms. M established herself in Canada. The sense of the multiple stories at play helped relocate the notion of experience as brute reality carrying authority by virtue of being real to a notion of experience as constructed, contingent, and always interpreted. Mainstream media typically adopt the dominant state-sanctioned discourse and showcases it by giving airtime and print space to authority figures from those institutions. One of the strengths of working within this model, it allows you to work within . Dominant discourses can be found in propaganda, cultural messages, and mass media. 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). After all, says Stephen Brookfield, Experience can teach us habits of bigotry, stereotyping and disregard for significant but inconvenient information. Further, we interact within the constant presence of historical traumas in which we are all implicated. Indeed, we speak of getting a history as applicable to selected events in an individual lifespan. Maxine pointed out, for example, that Caribbean women were previously allowed to immigrate to Canada to take up positions as domestic servants but were expressly forbidden to bring their children. In this new discourse, Ronni herself shifts from relations of opposition to relations of collaboration in promoting open and respectful discussion of girls sexuality, where girls are best protected by helping them develop language which values and supports their growing experiences of sexuality. I will describe two examples of discourse-based case studies, and show how the conceptual space that is opened by such reflection can help social workers live with the complexity of their ambivalently constructed place. Rossiter, A. The biomedical discourse is one of the most influential discourses in the health care profession today (Healy, p. 20). Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. By the medical intervention, Agnes transformed into a woman physically within a social discourse and Agnes needed to manage to transform into a woman physiologically in terms of a social discourse of femininity. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Scott, J. This distance from the immediate thought of practice is enabled by a focus on discursive boundaries, rather than the technical implementation of practice theories that are part of discursive fields. An ideology is defined as a system of beliefs and values that not only seek to describe the world but also to transform it. Cole, Nicki Lisa, Ph.D. "Introduction to Discourse in Sociology." 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. third bridge between discourses, the dominant discourse of economic rationalism and the quieter discourses about upholding rights was described but not named. Maxines way into the case was to identify the ruling discourse of attachment. Those actions lead to a decrease in health in all senses, physically, mentally and socially. Institutions organize knowledge-producing communities and shape the production of discourse and knowledge, all of which is framed and prodded along by ideology. The dominant discourse on immigration, which is anti-immigrant in nature, and endowed with authority and legitimacy, create subject positions like citizenpeople with rights in need of protectionand objects like illegalsthings that pose a threat to citizens. I suggest that we gain new vantage points from which to reconstruct practice theory in ways that are more consciously oriented to our social justice commitments. I was also worried that students coming to class hoping to refine their grasp of narrative therapy, brief therapy, solution-focused therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy, all within the context of an anti-oppressive stance, would be very disappointed by the substitution of esoteric critical ethics for advanced practice. New York: Routledge. Foucault adopted the term 'discourse' to denote a historically contingent social system that produces knowledge and meaning. 445-463). Educators from oneTILT define social identity as having these three characteristics: Exists (or is consistently used) to bestow power, benefits, or disadvantage. . When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This is how discourse analysis can displace the individualism of the heroic activist in favour of a more nuanced, complex and sophisticated analysis. In particular, dominant structures are subject to question because of the ways in which meanings are constructed on oppositional lines (p. 203). New York: Columbia University Press. This is why it is critical reflection. Discourses delineate what can be said within a given set of ideas so that critical practice is exercised when we try to look at what is excluded by a particular discourse in order to alternative viewpoints. 1 16, Issue. We frequently found that dependencies within competing discourses were obscured by oppositions. We draw on theories within social gerontology whilst also . Innocence lost and suspicion found: Do we educate for or against social work? London: Routledge. On reflection, she sees that the opposition excludes aspects which both discursive positions require the inclusion of protection. ThoughtCo. Ronni came to see that this discursive position cancelled out the possibility of calling on school personnel as resources for Tara - resources that had the potential to protect her as a young girl with particular vulnerabilities. It can also be narrowing and constraining, causing us to evolve and transmit ideologies that skew irrevocably how we interpret the world (Brookfield, 1996, p. 36). Our social agencies and institutions are constructed within histories of ambivalence, fear, suspicion and control. Thus, Maxine is positioned to assess and discipline Ms. M. She cannot find room for the very insider knowledge she is supposed to have. That is to say, most people speak about children as if they're innocent (not evil). This is because that insider knowledge is knowledge of historical trauma, injustice, racism and white privilege, and it is certainly outside the boundaries of attachment discourses. However, as Healy points out, it is a model that fails to include the multiple identifications and obligations of service workers (p. 136). (2001). Despite Maxines best efforts, this troubled relationship ended in separation when the daughter moved in permanently with a relative. In doing so, we increase our choices or at least, our awareness regarding how we participate in the creation of culture. 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 . It is important to consider the role of opposition here. Many now use them as a frame of analysis for their research. 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 taking up that alignment, she positioned herself as Taras protector her shield against school personnel with their regressive focus on prevention of acknowledgment of sexuality. 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. ), Transforming social work practice: Postmodern critical perspectives. When I read the case studies, I was taken aback to find that students chose to write about stories of pain and distress in their practice contexts. Despite the impacts of contemporary discourses, social work across the . I suggest that this question is a practical practice question which recognizes that our cherished fantasy that practice emanates from theory is rather grandiose in the face of the complex social and historical constructions that produce the moment of practice. I understand these vantage points in the two case studies I have described in the four ways: 1) an historical consciousness, 2) access to understanding what is left out of discourses in use, 3) understanding of how actors are positioned in discourse, all leading to: 4) a new perspective which exposes the gap between the construction of practice possibilities and social justice values, thus allowing for field of limited and constrained choices which may either narrow the gap, or make clear the impossibility of options and choice in the particular case. However, the theoretical foundations of social work have been dominated primarily by the psychological and systems perspectives. Stamp, M. (2004). Definition and Examples, Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge, The Concept of Social Structure in Sociology, The Major Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology, reflects ones socioeconomic position in society, Ph.D., Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara, M.A., Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara. Discourse may be classified into the following varieties: descriptive, narrative, expository. What exactly does discourse "construct"? Another example of a dominant discourse is the discourse around climate change. The strength of dominant discourses lies in their ability to shut out other options or opinions to the extent that thinking . I had to admit that I saw both discourse from my subject position as a mother, and had to rather sheepishly admit that I wouldnt have wanted my thirteen year old daughter to be having sex at that age. These students either had significant work experience, or experience in a previous practicum to draw from. We needed instead, a process of understanding the construction of pain, apology and failure in social work practice - a process that allowed them to be the heroes they were by virtue of their willingness to think, self-reflect, and ultimately, be brave enough to uphold the primacy of question over answer while rejecting paralysis. Introduction to Discourse in Sociology. And into this breach enter social workers with our desire to make a difference, and our theories on how to do that. In social work, critical practice is crucial because social work is a nexus where social contradictions are manifest. 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. 3, p. As such, discourse, power, and knowledge are intimately connected, and work together to create hierarchies. Introduction. Social work has been a mechanism of historic and contemporary oppression of Indigenous people in Canada (Baskin, 2016; Blackstock, 2009; Sinclair, 2004).Using moralizing and normalizing discourses, social work has advanced a state-sanctioned, settler colonialist agenda that has harmed Indigenous individuals, families, and communities over generations. My students came to class as failed heroes. Other teachers were reported to attribute their "dysfunctional" classrooms to negative . (1996). One of the advantages of identifying discourses-in-use in practice is that we gain access to how we are positioned within discourses. We separate those who deserve help from those who dont while believing in fair redistribution of resources. Although ageism is prevalent in many forms, one significant manifestation is in and through common discourse. Our constructed location is often a painful one. Ronni worked with Tara from a critique of prevention and risk education strategies normally used in dealing with girls sexuality. In identifying this, Ronni restructures her practice in light of what has previously been left out. We began to think about the ways slavery is replicated in different incarnations following the end of slavery. Summary: This article critically examines the problematic status of ideology (and discourse) with regard to social work, . (2000). Haraway, D. (1988). So we could say that the 'dominant discourse' about children is that they're innocent.

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