Freedom, fairness and equality - Seth Godin •Freedom doesn't mean no responsibility. In fact, it requires extra responsibility. Freedom is the ability to make a choice, and responsibility is required once you make that choice. •Fairness isn't a handout. Fairness is the willingness to offer dignity to others. The dignity of being seen and heard, and having a chance to make a contribution. •And equality doesn't mean equal. Equality doesn't guarantee me a starting position on the Knicks. Equality means equality of access, the opportunity to do my best without being disqualified for irrelevant reasons. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2018/01/freedom-fairness-and-equality.html Beyond Racial Gridlock The Four “Secular” Models Colorblindness Racial issues irrelevant socially Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths • Removes racial stratification and alienation • Corrects tendency to look for racism where it does not exist • Promises a fairer society Weaknesses • Underestimates the lasting effects of historical racism • Leads to distortions which perpetuate racial strife • Can be a “politically correct” position for majority group maintain their superior position Anglo-Conformity Help minorities adapt to majority culture and succeed economically Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses • Acknowledges that reducing economic disparity will lessen racial animosity • More capable overcoming economic disadvantages of racial minorities • Leaves key solutions in the hands of the minorities • Assumes greatest issue of racial strife is economic differences • Assumes society’s success is rooted in the mechanisms of the Euro-American culture • Attachment to American capitalism may blind ways that perpetuate a racial hierarchical system Multiculturalism Each culture maintains own distinctiveness Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses • Seeks to correct some of society’s Eurocentric excesses • Allows Americans to critique their own culture form the perspective of other people groups • Helps minority groups celebrate their own culture • Tends to denigrate the majority culture • Often overlooks the shortcomings minorities • Difficult to recognize universal social norms and laws White Responsibility Majority group creates and perpetuates racial problems Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses • Points out subtle ways in with the majority dominates society and perpetuates racism • Refuses to ignore racial problems • Helps remove some of the social stigma of belonging to a minority group • Completely discounts the responsibility of racial minorities • Alienates Whites who feel unfairly accused • Ignores the fact all people are sinners, including minorities CHAPTER 4 THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPLICATIONS OF COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Impact of Political Oppression • The stories of discrimination and pain of the oppressed are often minimized and neglected. • Many people in power are unfamiliar with or ignore the reality of racism, sexism, and homophobia. • Minority populations continue to be oppressed. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. The Education and Training of Mental Health Professionals • Most graduate programs continue to give inadequate treatment to the mental health issues of ethnic minorities. • When one considers the criteria used by the mental health field to judge normality versus abnormality, ethnocentricity becomes glaring. • Statistics, standards of psychological health, and psychiatric diagnosis are all informed by White, middle-class values. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Definition of Mental Health • Normality as a statistical concept • Normality as ideal mental health • Abnormality as the presence of certain behaviors Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Curriculum and Training Deficiencies • A major criticism is that training programs are afraid for students to explore their personal biases. • Courses should include – – – – A consciousness-raising component An affective/experiential component A knowledge component A skills component Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Counseling and Mental Health Literature Assumptions of persons of color in social science literature: People of color and pathology The role of scientific racism in research Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Pathology and Persons of Color • The Genetically Deficient Model • The Culturally Deficient Model • The Culturally Diverse Model Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. The Need to Treat Social Problems: Social Justice Counseling Assumptions in treating Daryl: •That the locus of the problem resides in the person •That behaviors that violate socially accepted norms are considered maladaptive and disordered •That remediation or elimination of problem behaviors is the goal •That the social context or status quo guides the determination of normal versus abnormal and healthy versus unhealthy behaviors •That the appropriate roles for the counselor is to help the client “fit in” and become “a good citizen” Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. The Foci of Counseling Interventions • • • • Individual Professional Organizational Societal Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Social Justice • Seven primary principles Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Social Justice Counseling Creates equal access and opportunity Reduces or eliminates disparities in education Encourages mental health professionals to consider different levels of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for clients Defines broad roles of the helping professional Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Social Justice Counseling 1. Takes a social change perspective 2. Believes that inequities that arise within our society is due to monopoly of power, and 3. Assumes that conflict is inevitable and not necessarily unhealthy. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Implications for Clinical Practice • We need to balance our study by also focusing on the positive characteristics of ethnic minorities. • External circumstances like prejudice and discrimination can cause psychological disturbances. • Social justice advocacy is quite different from the traditional clinical role in which students are trained. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 5 THE IMPACT OF SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION: COUNSELOR CREDIBILITY AND CLIENT WORLDVIEWS Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Ethnocentric Monoculturalism • Most mental health professional have not been trained to work with anyone other than mainstream individuals or groups. • As a result, the American (U.S.) the mental health profession has developed an ethnocentric monoculturalism worldview. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Ethnocentric Monoculturalism 1. Belief in Superiority of Dominant Group: • Western cultures are “more advanced.” • Lighter skin, eye, and hair color is valued. • Individualism and the Protestant work ethic are highly valued. • White privilege—advantages of Whites in society. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Ethnocentric Monoculturalism 2. Belief in the Inferiority of Others: • Non-western characteristics (e.g., dark complexion, non-Christian religions) are seen as inferior. • Culturally diverse groups may be seen as less intelligent, less qualified, and less popular, and may possess undesirable traits. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Ethnocentric Monoculturalism 3. Power to Impose Standards: • The dominant group has the power to impose standards on nondominant groups. • Minorities can be biased, can hold stereotypes, and can believe that their way is the best way. Yet if they do not have the power to impose their values on others, then hypothetically they cannot oppress. • It is power or the unequal status relationship between groups that defines ethnocentric monoculturalism. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Ethnocentric Monoculturalism 4. Manifestations in Institutions: • Includes institutional racism which is a set of policies and practices that subjugate and oppress individuals (e.g., systems of promotion and tenure). Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Ethnocentric Monoculturalism 5. Invisible Veil: • Since people are all products of cultural conditioning, their values and beliefs (worldviews) represent an “invisible veil” that operates outside their level of conscious awareness. • As a result, people assume universality: that the nature of reality and truth are shared by everyone regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, or gender. • This assumption is erroneous, but seldom questioned because it is firmly ingrained in our worldview. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Historical Manifestations of Ethnocentric Monoculturalism •Monocultural ethnocentric bias has a long history in the United States. •While ethnocentric monoculturalism is much broader than the concept of racial oppression, it is race and color that have been primarily used to determine the social order. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Surviving Systemic Oppression Ethnic minorities can tend to –Mild dissociation –“Play it cool” –Use the “Uncle Tom Syndrome” –Increase their vigilance and sensitivity Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Counselor Credibility Credibility may be defined as the constellation of characteristics that makes certain individuals appear worthy of belief, capable, entitled to confidence, reliable, and trustworthy: Expertness depends on how well-informed, capable, or intelligent others perceive the communicator. Trustworthiness is dependent on the degree to which people perceive the communicator (therapist) to make valid assertions. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Formation of Individual and Systemic Worldviews • Worldviews determine how people perceive their relationship to the world, and they are highly correlated with a person’s cultural upbringing and life experiences. • Two different psychological orientations are important in the formation of worldviews: (a) locus of control and (b) locus of responsibility. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Locus of Control • Internal control (IC) refers to people’s beliefs that reinforcements are contingent on their own actions and that they can shape their own fate. • External control (EC) refers to people’s beliefs that reinforcing events occur independently of their actions and that the future is determined more by chance and luck. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Locus of Responsibility • This dimension measures the degree of responsibility or blame placed on the individual (IR) or system (ER). • Those who hold a person-centered orientation (a) emphasize the understanding of a person’s motivations, values, feelings, and goals; and (b) believe that there is a strong relationship between ability, effort, and success in society. • Social, economic, and political forces are powerful; success or failure is generally dependent on the socioeconomic system and not necessarily on personal attributes. Counseling the Culturally Diverse: Theory and Practice, 7 th Edition. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. Formation of Worldviews Worldviews are formed on a continuum: 1. Internal locus of control, and internal locus of responsibility (ICIR) 2. External locus of control, and internal locus of responsibility (EC-IR) 3. External locus of control, and external locus of responsibility (EC-ER) 4. Internal locus of control, external locus of responsibility (IC-ER) Implications for Clinical Practice • Do not personalize the suspicions a client might have of your motives. If you become defensive, insulted, or angry with the client, your effectiveness will be seriously diminished. • Monitor your own reactions and question your beliefs. • Evidence of specialized training is less impressive than such factors as authenticity, sincerity, and openness. • At times, worldview dissimilarity may prove to be so much of a hindrance as to render therapy ineffective. • One could argue that a therapist who is aware of limitations and is nondefensive enough to refer out is evidencing cultural competence.
