Social Inequalities and Injustices that Impact Our Work

ADCARE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION SCHOOL OF BEST PRACTICES

AUGUST 20, 2019

PRESENTED BY: BRENDA WESTBERRY

EMAIL: BRENDA.WESTBERRY@YAHOO.COM

Objectives• Participants will:

• Analyze the personal effects of inequalities and Injustices on the behavioral health and treatment wellbeing of clients.

• Explore social inequalities and injustices of; race, gender, age, mental and physical abilities, sexual orientation, voting laws, health care laws, policing laws and education.

• Identify the unique challenges that explicit and implicit conditions of social injustices have had on their work as professionals.

• Identify the historical, societal, social and political effects of social inequality and injustices

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Fighting for Fairness

• People who are treated fairly and have equal opportunity are better able to contribute socially and economically to the community, and to enhance growth and prosperity.

• An equal and fair society is likely to be safer by reducing entrenched social and economic disadvantages.

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The Relationship of Economic Inequality

Question?• If a few people get wealthy, does that hurt – or help – the

economic prospects of everyone else and does it make our societies worse places to live?

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Inequality Defined

• The condition of being unequal; lack of equality; disparity:• Unequal opportunity or treatment resulting from this

disparity.

• Injustice; partiality• Instance of unevenness

• It is inevitable!

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Does Inequality affect how income groups react?

• The poor: If there are large numbers of poor people, economic growth may be affected by their inability to invest in education and their lower health levels, among other factors.

• The middle class: If inequality “squeezes” the middle class, it may reduce its demand for goods and services.

• The rich: If inequality means rising incomes among the rich, it could see them accumulate savings, which banks can then lend out increasing the investment in the economy. Or the Rich may use their economic power to lobby against policies that do not serve their respective interests and needs.

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Inequality

• Is Sustained through Powerful Groups, the actions of those groups and the decisions of individuals.

• Differences in:• Income….Who gets what?• Wealth• Social Standing and Prestige

• Power- Underpinnings of inequality

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Essentials to Inequality• Wages• Welfare

• Taxes• Social Security• Health Care• Affirmative Action

• Criminal Justice• Education

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Questions to Consider

• Should the poor receive more or less welfare?

• Should taxes be raised or reduced?

• Should preferences in employment and educational access be given to women and racial minorities?

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Unequal Government Regulation

• Are laws and regulations that purposefully create conditions that;

• 1. obstruct, limit, or deny a group(s) access to the same opportunities and resources, relative to the rest of society.

• 2. intentionally or unintentionally create conditions for social injustices.

• (explicitly or implicitly)

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Inequality reduces social mobility

• It’s harder to climb the economic ladder if the rungs are growing further apart. Another strand is the possible impact of inequality on people’s well-being – everything from health to happiness.

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Structural Forces of Society• Inequality of Condition: Living standards or life conditions.• Inequality of Opportunity: Differences in of acquiring social

resources• (Probability)

• Social Differentiation

• Social Stratification:

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Forms of Stratification in our Society

• Class

• Race and Ethnicity

• Gender

• Age

• System of Inequality is Structured

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3 Dimensions of Inequality

•Wealth•Prestige•Power

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Times of Inequality?• 1950’s 1960’s- Help for Elderly to escape poverty insecurity of Old Age.• 1960’-1970’s – Measures in place to benefit poor.• 1980’s- Reagan reduced role of gov’t in social and economic life. (Welfare

Queen)• 1990’s- Policies by Reagan/ Bush- adjusted to extremes in income

inequalities.• 1996- Radical Reform of the Welfare System• 2000’s- Poverty rising, more of a distance between poor and middle class.• 2008- Great recession- ‘wealthy thrived’

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Voting Laws• We have one of the strictest Voter ID laws in the nation—in order

to cast a ballot, you must not only have a government-issued picture ID, that ID must have an expiration date.

• Facilitate voting by working-class Americans: keeping the polls open past six, establishing convenient voting centers, expanding early voting.

• The people who would benefit most from the election of candidates willing to work for legal and/or economic equality—have less access, less influence and less voice.

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Policing Laws

• The probability of being black, unarmed and shot by police is about 3.5 times the probability of being white, unarmed and shot by police (PLOS One 2015).

• There's evidence of racial disparities at many levels of law enforcement, from traffic stops to drug-related arrests to use of force. Experts point to systemic problems as well as the implicit (largely unconscious) biases.

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Policing Laws• Mistrust of Police

• Mass Incarceration

• Unconscious Racial Bias

• Mistreatment of Immigrants

• LGBTQ Communities

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Education• U.S. ranks around 20th annually earning averages below average grades in reading, science,

math.

• Brown vs Board of Education

• Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974

• Disability Education Act

• No Child Left Behind

• GI Bill

• National School Lunch Act

• Higher Education Act of 1965

• Bilingual Education Act

• Title 9

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Health Care Laws

• Health care laws threaten health and economic security. Women more likely than men to have chronic conditions that require ongoing medical treatment. Certain Mental health problems like depression , affect twice as many women then men.

• Poverty increases chance of poor health, poor health traps communities in poverty.

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Health Care Cont.

• 2019 limit for Affordable health care: Annual Income 12,140-48,560.

• Out of pocket medical costs

• Medical Fees- copays, premiums, visits to providers

• Problem more pronounced for families living in deeper levels of poverty without any money available to handle prescriptions, etc. “Borrow Money”

• May not be spending enough on basic necessities to ensure adequate standard of living. What is the daily trade off?

• After Affordable Health Care Act, 27 Million remain uninsured. Majority are low income families.

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What Can We Do

• Reduce Economic Inequality

• Provide Equal Opportunity and Justice for All

• Close the Health Care Gap

• Promote Health Care and Insurance for All

• Cultivate Healthy Innovation in primary care and Community based centers

• Evidenced Based Work Force

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What We Can Do

• Employ Mental Health and Substance Abuse Providers in the Community

• Health Care Delivery System and Intervention Prevention Services

• Address Racial, Social Injustices and Stereotypes

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How Injustices Impact our Work• Changes the way people interact with each other-Communicate

• Lowers rates of social and civil participation

• Lowers Levels of Trust

• Income Inequality makes you believe that other members of society are different than you.

• Overall levels of health are worse in more economically unequal societies.

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How Injustices impact our work

• Creates a sense of status anxiety

• Influences the way we think, act and relate to others

• Limits social mobility

• Institutional Debt

• Sense of “righting” reflex

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Your Approach

• Support people who are struggling with inequalities.

• Work/Volunteer in your own community

• Focus on the Long Term needs of your clients

• Advocate for Programs and Policies that work

• Remember the 6 Core Values of Social work and Practice them:

Service, Dignity-Worth of the Person, Importance of Human

Relationships, Integrity, Competence and Issues of Social Justice.

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Read More• The Health Gap: The challenges of an unequal world; the argument “International

Journal of Epidemiology” Vol. 46, 4 (2017) (Marmot, Michael)

• The Health of Populations. General Theories and Particular Realities. Stephen J. Kunitz.

• The Health of Nations; Why Inequality is Harmful to your Health; Ichiro Kawachi.

• The Price of Inequality. Inequality: What Can be Done? Anthony B. Atkinson.

• Inequality: A Contemporary Approach to Race, Class, Gender. Lisa Keisterand, Darby E. Southgate.

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