ABSTRACT

Despite its central role in social work practice and education, little is known about how social justice is operationalized within the discipline. One aspect that may shed light on how the field engages the construct of social justice is through understanding more about recognition of privilege. This study examines how demographic differences, psychosocial predictors, and social work program variables may be related to increased levels of heterosexual and cisgender privilege awareness among social work students. In the heterosexual privilege model (N = 585), increased privilege awareness was associated with identifying as a cisgender woman, a more liberal political orientation, completing a course on power, privilege, and oppression, a critical endorsement of social justice, and being a 2-year MSW or doctoral student. In the cisgender privilege model (N = 758), predictors of increased privilege awareness included identifying as a cisgender woman, identifying as gay, a more liberal political orientation, completing a course on power, privilege, and oppression, a critical endorsement of social justice, and being a 2-year MSW or doctoral student. The findings demonstrate the importance of understanding social justice from a critical perspective and for educators to effectively communicate the connections between social justice and social work practice. Effective strategies to do this are discussed.

摘要

尽管它在社会工作实践和教育中发挥着核心作用，但人们对社会正义如何在该学科内运作却知之甚少。可以阐明该领域如何参与社会正义建构的一个方面是通过更多地了解对特权的认可。本研究探讨了人口统计学差异、社会心理预测因素和社会工作项目变量如何与社会工作学生中异性恋和顺性别特权意识水平的提高相关。在异性恋特权模型中（N = 585），特权意识的增强与认同为顺性别女性、更自由的政治取向、完成有关权力、特权和压迫的课程、对社会正义的重要认可以及成为两年制社会工作硕士或博士生有关。在顺性别特权模型中（N = 758），特权意识增强的预测因素包括识别为顺性别女性、识别为同性恋、更自由的政治取向、完成有关权力、特权和压迫的课程、对社会正义的批判性认可以及成为 2 年制MSW 或博士生。研究结果表明，从批判的角度理解社会正义以及教育工作者有效沟通社会正义与社会工作实践之间的联系的重要性。讨论了实现这一目标的有效策略。