TY - JOUR
T1 - Silenced voices
T2 - Social work and the oppression of conservative narratives
AU - Ressler, Lawrence E.
AU - Hodge, David R.
PY - 2003/1/1
Y1 - 2003/1/1
N2 - Using a semi-structured telephone interview format, this qualitative study explored the narrative of conservative Christians (N = 12) in social work. Faith was found to be very important to the respondents and was perceived by them to influence their social work. The respondents were found to endorse all of the values of the profession as delineated in the NASW Code of Ethics, which they viewed as compatible with their own values. However, respondents overwhelmingly felt oppressed in the profession which, they held, abdicated the ethical mandates for religious diversity. The results, they believed, included not being understood, discrimination, unwarranted negative criticism, and failure of NASW to work to eliminate domination and oppression on their behalf. Finally, they were hesitant to promote the general welfare of society for fear of reprisals by other social workers. The dissonance between the profession’s ethical mandates and its actual practice appears to engender a significant degree of psychological stress among members of this group.
AB - Using a semi-structured telephone interview format, this qualitative study explored the narrative of conservative Christians (N = 12) in social work. Faith was found to be very important to the respondents and was perceived by them to influence their social work. The respondents were found to endorse all of the values of the profession as delineated in the NASW Code of Ethics, which they viewed as compatible with their own values. However, respondents overwhelmingly felt oppressed in the profession which, they held, abdicated the ethical mandates for religious diversity. The results, they believed, included not being understood, discrimination, unwarranted negative criticism, and failure of NASW to work to eliminate domination and oppression on their behalf. Finally, they were hesitant to promote the general welfare of society for fear of reprisals by other social workers. The dissonance between the profession’s ethical mandates and its actual practice appears to engender a significant degree of psychological stress among members of this group.
KW - Conservative christians
KW - Discrimination
KW - Oppression
KW - Values and ethics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33645425427&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/15426432.2003.9960330
DO - 10.1080/15426432.2003.9960330
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33645425427
VL - 22
SP - 125
EP - 142
JO - Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work
JF - Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work
SN - 1542-6432
IS - 1
ER -