SWK 525 - Power, Oppression & Privilege (3 cr.)

This course is designed to increase students’ awareness, knowledge, and critical skills related to power, oppression & privilege, human rights, and social, environmental, and economic justice. The topics of this course include developing a framework for 1) engaging diversity and differences in social work practice and 2) advancing human rights and social, environmental, and economic justice. We will explore the knowledge base that underlies skills needed to work towards justice, as well as discuss the values, cognitive and affective processes involved in anti-oppressive practice across all levels of social work. These include types and sources of power, multiple social locations, social constructions, social processes, social identities, conflicts, and how all of these interact. A major emphasis is on developing skills in critical contextual thinking and analyses, and in praxis, learning to use knowledge and theory to recognize and critique underlying assumptions and paradigms, and inform working for change.
Prerequisite(s): Student in the MSW program
Semester(s) Offered: Spring