Power, privilege, and classism are interconnected. The more privilege you enjoy, the more power you have to access opportunities that build wealth. The more wealth you can amass, the higher your social standing. It is important to note that having wealth is not an indictment. However, the privileges that have often led to inequalities in wealth distribution are real. As a social worker, you may find yourself working with clients who do not enjoy the privileges you knowingly or unknowingly enjoy. The more you understand your own relationship to power, privilege, and class, the better you will understand your clients’ realities. For this Discussion, review how classism is represented in the Hernandez family.
By Day 5
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By Day 7
Respond to at least two colleagues by critiquing their analysis and providing alternative recommendations for how social workers might advocate for change and address classist policies in their agencies and society at large.
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Applying Leondar-Wright and Yeskel’s (2007, as cited in Adams et al., 2019) definition of classism, the cultural and individual practices of the Administration for Children Services (ACS) worker demonstrated classism as soon as she assigned a differential value to the Hernandez’s by referring to them as “the Mexicans” (Adams et al., 2019; Laureate Education, 2013; Plummer et al., 2014). Classism is also revealed and discussed between the social worker and her supervisor when they agreed the PPP class schedule may not fit a working family’s life (Adam et al., 2019; Plummer et al., 2014). This also exemplifies an institutional practice of classism assuming everyone can attend a mandatory class once per week at the same time without regard to the people working long shifts with no status to miss work without repercussions (Adams et al., 2019).