LibGuides: SWR-300: Lesson 7 Resources

Lesson 7 Required Resources

Textbook

Social Problems: Continuity and Change
Social problems: Continuity and change. (2015). https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/141
Chapter 1: Understanding social problems
Chapter 2: Poverty
Chapter 1 in this text provides background information on what social problems are and how they are constructed. While it might seem that social problems are obvious to all, the ways that they are defined is actually quite complex. This chapter explains why that is true.
Chapter 2 discusses poverty as a social problem. The fact that this book is from 2015 means that the statistics about poverty are unreliable. However, the information about poverty and the way that it is presented makes this chapter well worth reading. This chapter provides a strong base for understanding facts about poverty and how poverty is intertwined with so many other social problems.

Articles

Intersectional Invisibility: Experiences of Low-income African-American Women in Healthcare Encounter
Okoro, O.N., Hillman, L.A., & Cernasev, A. (2022). Intersectional invisibility: Experiences of low-income African-American women in healthcare encounters. Ethnicity & Healthcare, 27 (6), 1290-1309. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2021.1899138
Having gained some backgroun in what intersectionality means, this article is an example of how the concept is applied to elevate understanding of human experience. The focus on the intersection of poverty and other factors- in this case, race- connects to the previous discussion of the centrality of poverty to so many other social problems.
Intersectionality: A Means for Centering Power and Oppression in Research
Wyatt, T.R., Johnson, M., & Zaidi, Z. (2022). Intersectionality: A means for centering power
and oppression in research. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 27, 863–875.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-022-10110-0
This article focuses on how intersectionality can contribute to anti-oppressive research. The topic of research is not what is important about this piece, Rather, it does a very good job of discussing intersectionality in a way that is understandable to people who may be new to the topic. As you read, know that when research is referenced, the ideas almost always apply to any type of social work practice.

Videos

Crenshaw, K. (2016). The urgency of intersectionality [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality

Kimberle Crenshaw, the presenter of this TED Talk, coined the term intersectionality. In this video, she provides a brief history of its origins and explains why understanding intersectionality is as important today as it was when she first recognized that it existed.

Wilkinson, R. (2011). How economic inequality harms society [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ7LzE3u7Bw

The damage caused by poverty is not restricted to the fact of being economically poor itself. Economic inequality- and inequality in all of its other forms- compound the harm caused by poverty. This short video explains why that is true.