SOCW 102 - Human Diversity

3 Credits: (3 lecture)

Course Description
This course examines human differences, providing students with the knowledge and values of culturally competent social work at the introductory-level.  Students will learn about the mechanisms of oppressions, prejudice, and discrimination.  They will recognize the many histories and cultures that exist and how they promote strength and well-being in diverse individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. This course meets the General Education competency of Values, Ethics, and Diverse Perspectives (VE).

Corequisite ENGL 101

A. Identify historical events and ideologies related to American cultural diversity. 

B. Recognize the factors that contribute to discrimination and oppression and how those factors impact individuals and groups across the lifespan. 

C. Identify institutional forms of discrimination and oppression. 

D. Examine one’s identity as a social work professional. 

E. Examine the complexity of global and human diversity and the various forces that shape it. (VE) 

F. Discuss ethical dilemmas from a variety of social and professional perspectives as related to social work practice with populations at risk. (VE) 

G. Effectively engage an informant who represents a group that is different from the student’s identified group.

Content
A. Historical American cultural diversity 

B. Oppression and discrimination 

C. Institutional oppression and discrimination  

D. Social work professional identity  

E. Personal values  

F. Ethical practice 

Student Evaluation
A.  Essay and objective examinations 

B.  Essay and objective examinations, class presentation, written assignments 

C.  Essay and objective examinations, class presentation, written assignments 

D.  Essay and objective examinations, class presentation 

E.  Essay and objective examinations, written assignments 

F.  Essay and objective examinations, class presentation, written assignments 

G. Essay and objective examinations, written assignments 

H. Written assignment 

Bibliography
Alba, Richard D. Ethnic Identity: The Transformation of White America. Yale UP, 1990. 

Desmond, Matthew. Evicted:  Poverty and Profit in the American City. Crown Publications, 2016. 

Franklin, John Hope, and A. Moss. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African American. 8th ed. Random, 2010.  

Healey, John F. and Andi Stepnick. Diversity and Society: Race Ethnicity, and Gender. 5th ed. Pine Forge, 2016. 

Massey, Douglas A. and Nancy A. Denton.  American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Harvard UP, 1998. 

Sears, David O., and P.J. Henry. “The Origins of Symbolic Racism.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85, 2003, 259-75. 

Tanner, Colby. Some of My Best Friends are Black: The Strange Story of Integration in America. Penguin, 2012.