The aim of this study is to examine visibly racialized social workers' experiences of encountering racism at work; with clients, colleagues, and managers. Furthermore, the aim is to examine how racism is responded to and handled by colleagues and managers. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with visibly racialized social workers. The interviews were analyzed using a thematic analysis mainly based on the theoretical concepts; everyday racism, color-blind racism, and whiteness. Research findings showed that all interviewees have experienced racism in various forms, both overt and covert, from clients, colleagues, and managers. The experiences of racism varied in both expression and extent. This seemed to be partly due to how the interviewees were racialized by other people, and partly due to the extent of ethnic diversity in the interviewees' workplaces; both concerning the geographical area and the employees. Furthermore, findings showed varying responses to racist incidents from colleagues and managers with either an unfavorable or favorable significance for the interviewees. Greater awareness and knowledge are needed in social work organizations regarding how racism works, its extent, and the impact on visibly racialized people as well as a more active anti-racist approach which also includes covert and subtle expressions of racism.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-185955 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Tecle, Elisabeth, Tjus, Hanna |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för socialt arbete |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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