IRM-home

conferences

research

publications

network

contact

Claus Melter

“If you had asked me, I would have told it” - Everyday Racism, Institutional Discrimination and Youth Social Work

The youth social work in Germany has committed itself, due to its professional standards and its legal mandate, to combat discrimnation, social exclusion and injustice which includes insititutional racism and discrimination. Yet, it is financed by the society that is strongly influenced by institutional and everyday racism.

Ironically, social workers give young immigrants the expression of solidarity. However, they support the point of view of the discriminating majority. The social workers avoid confrontation with institutional and everyday racism and with questions of their belongings. The social workers do not speak about the insecurity their young clients feel due to an uncertain residence permit. The way social workers cope with the situation is to be criticized in two respects: First, they do not act according the codex of their profession. Second, they promote racism against young immigrants since they do not give them the opportunity to articulate their experiences while exposed to discrimination.

Male immigrants develop individual ways for interpretation racism and acquire certain strategies while facing everyday discrimination by police, courts, immigration officers, and schools. The most significant fact is that young immigrants hardly talk about these themes during counselling sessions with the social workers and try to ignore or relativize their experience of discrimination in order to survive the everyday racism. They oppose against racism only after being discriminated for a long period of time. The youth social work is in charge of giving young immigrants the opportunity to talk about their experiences and to develop mutually effective and tailor-made indivdual strategies against everyday racism and institutional discrimination.

The avoidance strategies of social workers and institutions in the context of everyday and institutional racism are to be explored and discussed at the first place followed by raising awareness concerning everyday and institutional racism and their underlying factors. A fundamental change can be only achieved if these topics are considered as integral items of curricula while qualifiying social workers. In addition, it is necessary to adopt innovative anti-racism concepts to the agenda of welfare organizations and to the training programs of state institutions.

Claus Melter, violence counsellor©/violence pedagogue© (institute for male), studied educational studies at the Carl von Ossietzky-Universität Oldenburg/Germany, Instructor at the same university, social worker, PHD candidate doing research on Everyday Racism, Institutional Discrimination and Social Work, grantee of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation. Further areas of research: Critical whiteness studies, NGO activities against deportations, quality, professionalism and contradictions in Social Work, and male socialization and violence.
 

top    back