Culture, Cultural Identity, and Cultural Sensitivity in Child and Family Social Work
Author(s)
O’Hagan, K.
Abstract
Child care legislation, policy, and procedures increasingly emphasize the obligations of social workers to give due consideration to the culture and cultural background of children and their families. This paper explores the implications of those obligations. It seeks the meaning of these terms, and critically examines meanings attributed to them. There are many obstacles in the way of fulfilling these specific statutory obligations in child and family social work: there is a history of neglect, confusion, and negativity towards culture in social work literature, and a current attempt to subsume culture within the concept of ethnicity; racism has often been regarded as a more significant issue than culture; the cultural heritage of clients and their families has been perceived as oppressive, and culture has been misinterpreted to explain and to tolerate unacceptable behaviour. Other disciplines, for example anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies, perceive culture and cultural identity differently. They have much to offer social work. The paper provides a definition of culture and cultural identity which reflects much of what has been learnt in the literature generally. It should contribute towards an enhancement of cultural sensitivity, and a fulfillment of statutory obligations relating to culture in child and family social work.
