In order to embrace cultural diversity racism and discrimination need to be identified, addressed and tackled. It should not be left to the targets of racism, discrimination and micro-aggressions to do something about it. It is the task for individuals, NGOs, social workers, employers, politicians and the justice system to be able to recognise the different forms of racism and to act upon them.

What is Racism?

Racism is a socially constructed form of discrimination and oppression based on the idea that people can be divided into “races” and of one ethnicity group or race being superior over others, or that one groups needs have priority over another. It’s the belief that people’s perceived race influences their qualities and character and justifying unjust treatment of those racialized as “others”.

All this is, of course, based on a false believe since scientifically or biologically, there is no prove that people can be divided into races. There is only one race and that’s the human race.

 In antiracist social work practice it is important to rethink the meaning of the language and terms we use when working with people with different ethnicities (Dominelli, 2017). Words often reveal our unconscious thoughts, bias and behaviours. When we discuss “race” we have to understand the colour symbolism and how it has a significant impact on how Africans and other people of colour have been viewed by Europeans.  Throughout the western history black colour has been associated to represent death, sin and evil. Meanwhile whiteness has been something pure and associated with goodness.

Racism has often been defined as power plus prejudices. That’s not an official definition but structural racism can only occur when there is an imbalance of power. For instance, there is a power dynamic between a teacher and student or employee and a boss. So if and when teachers and business owners are predominantly of one skin colour, then the grounds for structural racism are prepared.

Different Forms of Racism

Racism is not only verbal and violent attacks as it is often perceived as. It is important to recognise the overlap in these three forms of racism, as they are not separate from each other, repeat and often occur simultaneously and intersectional. For instance, a school as an institution may have racist policies or traditions but also a teacher as an individual can practice personal racism towards his/her students.

In social work this knowledge can be used as a toolset to better understand the victims of intersectional racism and to provide adequate service regardless of the client's ethnic or cultural background. . Knowledge about intersectional racism can be used to achieve more equality and justice and to provide help to the most structurally disadvantaged social work clients. Sociology outlines three forms of racism which are institutional, cultural and personal racism.

Structural Racism

Structured racism is embedded in laws, policies and professional practice. It differs from personal and cultural racism in a way that it’s more difficult to point out and it is often hidden within different regulations and legislation. Institutional racism occurs when the organisation fails to provide appropriate services to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin.

Whether intentional or not, some dominant culture laws and policies are exclusive for ethnic minorities or foreigners. One example of structured racism is inadequate laws and policies concerning refugees and undocumented people. Another very common example is discrimination of ethnic minorities in the job market. According to the Swedish social experiment of racial discrimination in hiring (Sociological Science, 2019), Sweden has the second highest rate in Europe. The experiment was to find how many callbacks or interviews the nonwhites will get compared to natives. In high-discrimination countries like France, white natives were called back by the employer nearly twice as much as the people with foreign name or background.  Sweden tried to fix the problem with anonymous applications. The assumption was that anonymous job applications could minimise the risk of labor market discrimination against immigrants and nonwhites, but according to research it has the opposite response to problem, it backfires and does not solve the institutional racism in labor market (King, 2016).

Personal Racism

Personal racism is practiced by individuals who carry prejudice and bigoted attitudes and try to limit equality from certain ethnic group of people . For example, because of the Covid-19 virus outbreak that apparently started from China, Chinese people or anyone who “look like a Chinese” have been verbally or physically attacked all over the world.

Cultural Racism

Cultural racism consists of different social values and norms that guide our behaviour and how we interact and relate with other ethnic groups. Cultural racism can be both institutional and personal racism. For example, many black people have been followed in the grocery store by guards, because of the misconception that people from certain ethnic groups steal more than others.

Example:

“I had a summer job as a cashier in Finland and my boss told me to ring a bell every time I see a Romani person entering the shop. I was very upset and confused hearing that guideline. There was no Romani people that day, but even if there were, I wouldn’t have rung the bell because that is cultural racism to me.”

Micro-Aggressions

The term “micro-agression” was first termed by psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce in 1970 (DeAngilis, 2009). Micro-aggressions are a phenomenon often associated with ethnicity or religion but it can be applied also with other minorities groups like sexual minorities, religions, disability and also for example women. Micro-aggression can be verbal, behavioural or environmental and it can happen intentionally or unintentionally. Micro-aggressions are those fleeting, usually short, daily verbal or behavioural indignities that communicate hostile or negative racial insults with potentially harmful impact to a person or group. Systematic racism sustains micro-aggression and they are both hard to tackle because of their indirect and invisible nature. Micro-aggression can be divided into three categories:  

• Micro-assaults

• Micro-insults

• Micro-invalidation

Micro-assaults are conscious or unconscious actions or slurs directed to a marginalised group or individual. Micro-insults in turn are “othering” notions, assumptions and concepts about certain groups of people. Micro-invalidations are comments that dismiss the thoughts, feelings, experience of a target person or group. For example, being repeatedly asked by different people where one is from, just because one does not fit into peoples perception of a “native looking person”. We often tend to think that western culture is superior or the only possible way forward. This view of the world may result in not understanding others affection and appreciation for their own culture. A client can experience micro-invalidation if a social worker ignores their experiences, feelings and perception. It requires a social workers and public servants to be culturally sensitive and able to settle for a moment in the client's shoes.

Example:

When walking into hospital, assuming that a black woman is a nurse and totally ignore the fact that she can be doctor as well.

The concept of micro-aggression is outlined in terms of four psychological problems that are part of the composition of micro-aggression:

Clash of Sociodemographic Realities

The first part is Clash of sociodemographic realities, meaning that micro-aggression generally occurs because and when people don’t share the same life experiences, perspectives or reality. Certain individuals are exposed to racism and discrimination on a day to day basis because of their cultural, ethnic or gender group identities.

In this context people are often not discussing things objectively or from same position. People have different ethnic backgrounds, genders and abilities which constantly shape and affect their worldview and the way they are seen in the society they live in. A white male social worker’s worldview may differ from undocumented black African woman. Cultural competence and professional integrity are important tools to better understand the social work clients.

Invisibility of Unintentional Expressions of Bias

Another part of this dynamic is Invisibility of Unintentional expressions of bias. Micro-aggression happens usually unnoticed, sometimes even by the target, but still has an effect. It’s something hard to prove but easy to deny. Micro-aggression may cause confusion and frustration to victims and often leaves them feeling powerless.

Perceived Minimal Harm

The perceived minimal harm is one factor of micro-aggression. This usually occurs when the perpetrator tries to belittle the racist incident or victims’ feelings. The social worker needs to create a safe environment where the client feels they are being listened to. There is a great difficulty in trying to get white people to realise that they are delivering micro-aggressions. It’s a great challenge for white people to admit that possibly at an unconscious level they hold biased thoughts, attitudes and feelings that discriminate and cause harm to people of color.

Paradoxical Situation

We can better understand the complexity of micro-aggression trough the paradoxical situation, from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations. Victims of micro-aggression have to speculate and consider whether and how the offence should be responded to and what the consequences might be. Highlighting your own experience can be daunting for the victim, especially similar experiences have been downplayed and neglected in the past.

Positions of Power

“Micro-Aggression” as a concept gives us a better understanding of the different forms of discrimination and makes us understand both our own and the others perspective. It is important to engage in lifelong learning and to be open to feedback. In many situations as social worker or public servant it is important to observe your own verbal and non-verbal communication and terminology when interacting with culturally diverse clients and acknowledge the position of power between a yourself and a client.

Life Long Learning

Lack of knowledge and understanding affects interviewing skills, professional values and ethics, managing the helping process and intervention planning.

A good starting point to change behaviour is to get aware that we all have bias and prejudice. Also well-intentioned social workers can aim micro-aggression to their clients. It is important to actively and constantly renew one's own perceptions and worldview.