A study of social distance in the implementation of the national minority social work in Xinjiang

Abstract

As a subfield of social work studies, social work for ethnic minorities has drawn the attention of academics and practitioners in recent years. In Mainland China, hardly anyone is involved in social work concerning ethnic minorities, and barely a handful of practical research papers on ethnic minority social work are available. This paper seeks to study practical social work for ethnic minorities from the perspective of social distance. It describes the major social distance scales and the main causes behind the formation of social distance, as well as several strategies in response to the social distance in ethnic minority social work.

民族社会工作作为社会工作一个新的分支领域，近年来受到学者和实务工作者的关注。中国大陆现有民族社会工作研究鲜有人涉及，民族社会工作实务研究更是屈指可数。本文从社会距离的角度出发，对民族社会工作实务中的社会距离问题进行研究。文章描述了民族社会工作实务中的社会距离的主要维度、形成社会距离的主要原因以及在民族社会工作实务中应对社会距离的一些策略。

Keywords:

• Ethnic minority social work
• implementation of social work
• social distance

Notes

1. Xinjiang people use the word ‘hinterland’ in reference to all other areas in China, outside of Xinjiang.

2. On 20 July 2006, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Civil Affairs jointly promulgated the Provisional Regulations on the Assessment of the Standards of Social Workers and the Measures for the Implementation of the Professional Level Examination for Assistant Social Workers and Social Workers, incorporating institutionally for the first time social workers into the scope of professionals and marking the official establishment of a professional assessment system in China.

3. Taer Temple, one of the six famous Tibetan Buddhist temples of Geluk order, located in Huangzhong County, Xining City, Qinghai Province.