Reflections on Importing Critical Race Theory Into Social Work: The State of Social Work Literature and Students’ Voices

ABSTRACT

Critical race theory (CRT) has recently been imported into social work knowledge and included in the title or search term of 20 published social work studies, but little is known about how it is impacting social work practices. This study describes the experiences and perceptions of 21 diverse graduate students in a public, urban university with a nationally accredited MSW program using CRT as its theoretical foundation. Students unanimously embraced CRT as a theory for their careers, but found it confusing and extremely challenging to learn, resulting in contentious and unresolved questions about its applications in social work practices. Despite its resonance in their personal lives as well as those of their clients, these students could not describe how their CRT-infused MSW education would help them reduce racism, marginalization, and oppression or increase social, economic, and environmental justice, and many were frustrated by this gap. Recommendations to clarify, refine, and expand CRT imported in social work practices are offered to enhance its usefulness in accomplishing goals of increasing social justice for social work client populations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Information within the parentheses has the student’s assigned number, the page of the transcript, and the date of the focus group, in that order. Graduating student numbers start at 101; first-year students start at 001.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Susan Dana Einbinder

Susan Dana Einbinder, MS, PhD, received her BA from Barnard College of Columbia University, her MS in social work programming, planning and supervision from Columbia University School of Social Work, and her PhD in social policy from Columbia University.  An associate professor and founding faculty member of the graduate MSW Program in the Social Work Department at in the College of Health, Human Services and Nursing at California State University Dominguez Hills, she teaches graduate courses about research methodology, social policy, and advanced research methods. Her interdisciplinary research explores faculty learning communities, high impact practices and higher education; how social policies can ameliorate poverty; and, examines whether and how critical race theory can help social workers help their clients by reducing racism, oppression and discrimination. A member of the CSUDH Institutional Review Board since 2008, she serves on the University’s Student Learning Outcomes Committee and the Basic Needs Committee.