How is ‘racism’ understood in literature about black and minority ethnic social work students in Britain? A conceptual review

ABSTRACT

This conceptual review interrogates a body of literature concerned with black and minority ethnic (BME) social work students in Britain since 2008. This period has coincided with an increasing focus on diversity in Higher Education, but also lower prominence being given to race in social work. In social work education, there has been increased attention to the needs and experiences of BME students. While most of this literature acknowledges racism, what constitutes racism and how it can be understood usually remain implicit. This review aimed to explore influential concepts in the literature and the ways these affected how racism is understood and identified. A search was carried out for articles in peer-reviewed academic journals between 2008 and 2018. In this article, we discuss four recurring concepts of racism in this literature: subtle racism, institutional racism, cultural difference and pedagogical solutions. The article analyses the assumptions underpinning these concepts, and the implications for how racism has been understood and investigated in this literature. The subsequent discussion calls for a more reflexive approach and identifies questions that future research could explore, which could lead to improved understandings of racism in social work education.

KEYWORDS:

• Racism
• black and minority ethnic (BME) students
• conceptual review
• institutional racism
• cultural difference

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dharman Jeyasingham

Dr. Dharman Jeyasingham is a lecturer in social work at University of Manchester.  Most of his teaching relates to the social and political contexts of social work and children's safeguarding social work practice.  His research interests include space and place, digital engagement, and conceptualisations of social difference in social work.

Julie Morton

Dr. Julie Morton is a senior lecturer in social work and teaches critical professional practice and research ethics. Before entering higher education she was in practice as an Approved Social Worker in mental health. Her  research interests include research ethics and conceptualisations of social difference in social work and social work education.