Introduction
For the first review, I have chosen the fifth chapter of the Advocacy in practice book devoted to direct actions on all levels of anti-oppressive advocacy practice. My initial intent for reading this book was to grasp the general sense and idea of advocating in the human service field as soon as possible to learn the upcoming material more quickly. As a secondary goal, I wanted to learn what exactly is the anti-oppressive framework from the author’s perspective and how it applies to human services. So far into the book, I have managed to establish a fundamental understanding of the topic and its underlying concepts and principles. However, the connections between theory and practice provided in the previous book chapters were not enough to satisfy my curiosity. On the contrary, I only realized how multi-faceted the anti-oppressive advocacy is and how many potential cases it can apply to. In this context, I wished to learn specific strategies and tactics pertaining to the advocacy plan. In addition, I looked for a detailed exemplification of the cases pertaining to possible actions at personal, cultural, and structural levels of advocacy practice.
Summary and Overview
The chapter begins with outlining the strategy options available to advocates and connects specific strategies to applicable advocacy levels. In particular, these strategies are referred to as legal, legislative, administrative, public education, and community organizing (Shelley, 2017). The chapter’s main body is then organized into three sections according to the chosen level of practice. Personal or individual oppression refers to factors affecting interpersonal relationships, such as worldview and feelings (Shelley, 2017). Thus, the advocacy action on this level emphasizes these relationships’ structure and outcome. The author notes that dealing with individual oppression cases and advocating on a personal level tend to be the most frequent practice of advocates in human services. In the meantime, cultural oppression often comes in the context of language and ethnicity (Shelley, 2017). Therefore, anti-oppression initiatives target the cultural dynamics to reduce the negative impact of mentioned peculiarities. Finally, Structural or institutional oppression usually occurs when certain policies yield different experiences for service users based on their personal characteristics and traits (Shelley, 2017). Consequently, structural anti-oppressive activities aim to address such imbalances.
The chapter’s structure is conveniently straightforward in how it presents information from the most narrow level to the broadest. Its main strength lies in providing case studies throughout and at the end of each level’s discussion. It allows readers to draw direct connections between theory and practice while also providing sufficient detail as to what, why, and how to apply the theoretical knowledge. Another strength lies in illustrating the pattern of how an advocacy case is usually conducted. Not only that, but the author also elaborates on the most challenging and, thus, a vital part of the case – taking action. Nevertheless, the chapter cannot be considered completely flawless. In order to ensure readers will definitely grasp the patterns of action, the author concentrates on class oppression on all advocacy levels – namely, oppression against the poor (Shelley, 2017). In the end, the author does manage to achieve her purpose in sufficiently explaining the matter. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of explaining different oppression cases that pertain to race, gender, expression, disability, and many others.
Insights and New Questions
In general, the chapter managed to provide useful details for my logical outline of the anti-oppression advocacy topic. According to my expectations, the strategies advocates can utilize are not bound to any specific level of operation (Shelley, 2017). Moreover, it was quite beneficial for me to learn that a given case can be approached on all levels at once with the use of only a single strategy (Shelley, 2017). Apart from that, it is not impossible to utilize all the available strategies at a single advocacy level (Shelley, 2017). The most significant contribution to my understanding, however, was a realization that White people are frequently deracialized in the oppression discourse. In particular, cultural and racial differences are often subconsciously viewed as “deviation” from the White majority or norm, which makes the latter seemingly have no ethnicity to work with. This realization occurred due to the author’s focus solely on class oppression cases. In other words, while giving answers to the questions of practical anti-oppression model application, the chapter inspired my imagination in terms of numerous concrete potential scenarios, prompting me to seek solutions in light of newly obtained knowledge.
Critical Reflection
The issue of the perception of White ethnicity triggered my critical thinking in two directions: the vocabulary I should use and the cases of oppression against White people. Regarding the former, I pondered on the subconscious bias that frequently occurs in various life areas, even in human services. In this regard, I concluded that utilizing the term “norm” in the context of racial diversity can be considered oppressive by itself. I do acknowledge that seeing oppression in a rather particular application of a semantic meaning of the term “norm” might seem an exaggeration. Nevertheless, ethnicity is not a subject of choice, and it is not possible to deliberately fit societal expectations in a choiceless matter. Thus, I decided to avoid using the words “norm” or “deviation” in this context. Regarding the latter, I realized that I used to approach the issue of dealing with oppression predominantly from the perspective of racialized minorities. However, albeit not a common case, White people can also face oppression on any of the three mentioned levels. Therefore, my future conduct will utilize the most multi-faceted approach I am able to anticipate and apply.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Overall, the last chapter of the Advocacy in practice book proves to be the most practical compared to other book chapters. By narrowing the theoretical scope to particular levels and providing concrete examples of advocacy strategies and actions, it allows readers to recognize the patterns in the connections between theory and practice. Consequently, these patterns can be integrated into the logical system of the anti-oppression topic established through the course of the book. Ultimately, given enough critical thinking and thought organization, it will help readers adjust the respective strategies and applicable patterns of action according to the situation. In this chapter, I would strongly advise setting free the imagination and reflecting as much as possible on the possibilities of potential practice implications. I believe that only by seeing the actual scope of anti-oppression practice can an individual become aware of the need for thorough consideration of their actions. In this regard, the author provided enough clues for future advocates on how to best utilize the individual potential in the given field.
Reference
Shelley, R. (2017). Advocacy in practice: Creating a culture of social change in the human services. Oxford University Press.