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Eurocentrism in Social Work Education

From Race to Identity Across the Lifespan as Biracial Alternative

Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA, hallr{at}msu.edu

• Summary: Consequent to Eurocentric hegemony race has been erroneously validated as the standard identity construct by social work education as well as much of Western science. For example, the approach utilized in this study includes reference to the literature of biologists and medical personnel who contend that race is scientifically meaningless.

• Findings: The findings suggest that for those who are biracial, living in the midst of race constructionists encourages a life of identity conflict. That conflict is more often irrelevant to monorace subjects who by skin color are assigned to a single race category. This is an important notion for those, such as social workers, working in the human services.

• Applications: The application proposes a human development across the lifespan construct to serve as an ecological alternative to the pathologizing influences of race. Although race and other Eurocentric constructs may have had their place at one time, the rapidly changing demographic dynamics of Western populations, including Britain, Europe and the Americas, and the inconceivable pace at which diversity is becoming the norm necessitate a commensurate change in policy, practice and theory. Identity across the lifespan in preparation of social workers for the 21st century is a viable alternative.

Key Words: biracial • Eurocentrism • identity race • social work

Journal of Social Work, Vol. 5, No. 1, 101-114 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1468017305051238


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