Social Work Practice for Social Justice: Cultural Competence in Action

A commitment to promoting social justice for diverse individuals and populations is the foundation for culturally competent social work practice. This book aims to help prepare professional social workers to transform oppressive and unjust systems into nonoppressive and just alternatives. Intended for both undergraduate and graduate courses as a student guide, Social Work Practice for Social Justice is a companion to Garcia and Van Soests earlier work, Diversity Education for Social Justice: Mastering Teaching Skills. The authors engage students and stimulate their learning by presenting fundamental concepts that define and elaborate on racism and institutional qualities, oppression, classism, social justice, and social inequities.

Council on Social Work Education

We are a nonprofit national association representing individual members and graduate and undergraduate programs of professional social work education. Founded in 1952, this partnership of educational and professional institutions, social welfare agencies, and private citizens is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation as the sole accrediting agency for social work education in this country.

CSWE Press is a niche publisher that addresses the needs of social work educators. Some of our areas of publishing specialty are

-The philosophy, theory, and practice of teaching
-The process and evaluation of learning
-The organization and structure of social work education
-Diversity in all forms in social work practice and education
-Social work in multiple contexts

'Garcia and Van Soest bring to our attention two major barriers to achieving cultural competence. Through thoughtful discussion and multiple group exercises and personal reflections, they guide us through a process to integrate social justice and cultural competence into our day-to-day practice.'' -- --Vivian Jackson, senior policy associate, National Center for Cultural Competence, Georgetown University