Conflicting Principles in Multicultural Social Work

Abstract

The starting point for social work approaches to multicultural issues is the principle of respect for human diversity. But practice issues concerning multiculturism and the role of ethnicity in patterns of oppression have revealed that current interpretations and applications of the principle of respect for human diversity often result in self contradictions and conflicts with other social work principles. This paper describes three of these conflicts, and, drawing on the literature of cultural anthropology, ethnic sensitive social work, and constructivism, proposes several conceptualizations to eliminate, or manage, them. The conflicts discussed are 1) respecting the contents of all cultures versus supporting basic human rights, 2) inability to understand the needs and views of people from different cultural backgrounds versus mission to practice social work, and 3) social worker's own right to ethnic preference versus social worker's obligation to eliminate personal cultural bias and prejudice. Conceptualizations proposed to deal with these conflicts include unconditional ethnic esteem, qualified cultural equality, right to ethnic identity, and reality and limitations of multicultural competence.