Reflective Commentary on Intersectionality and Social Diversity

Introduction

The forthcoming reflective commentary would be formulated on the basis of a reflective student journal for the purpose of reflective assessment on the subject of impact of observed learning regarding the Intersectionality and implications of social diversity on people in general, particularly in the realm of social work dissertation help. The objective of such reflective commentary formulation is threefold. The initial one is that this reflective commentary could provide the overall opportunity to reflect on the impact of such learned experiences on the personal developmental process. The second one is that this reflective commentary could prove to be the instrument through which monitoring and reflecting upon self-progress regarding the learning discourse based selected topic could become successful. The reason for envisaging this format of reflective approach could be considered as it can as well be effective in terms of accommodating the transformation in learning perspectives for students while the academic discourse could be continuing. Finally, the regularised entries within the reflective journal have been also assistive, as per personal perspectives, in development of proper context concerning the reflective commentary for future progression determination and evaluative assessment of self-development. To this effect, the reflective commentary would involve the application of York Model of Reflection and the tenets of the Critical Race Theory (CRT) to establish a perceivable linkage in between the reflection pertaining to diversity and professional response to discrimination in the social context.

Description of York Model of Reflection

Diversification, both at the workplace and at the social engagement levels, could require development of proper methods of response to instances of discrimination which could be considered to be a reactionary proposition in terms of the transformation of existing status quo on the social scenarios. The values of individuals, in a collective manner, could determine upon the exactitude of social orientations of attitudes and behaviours which be associated with the impacts of such diversification and social transformations, primarily at the workplaces. Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are comparatively greater vulnerable to racial discrimination on account of their social positions which afford them comparatively lesser social agency and power status (Hughes, 2019).

In this context, my personal perceptions have attested to the preference of mine to consider the most extensive variations of strategies of development of such responses when the issues pertain to particular locations of individuals or groups of individuals, on the existing social structures (Jadhav and Mehare, 2018). I further have determined, throughout the discourse of learning, that, pragmatist visions to manage the racial profiling of certain sections of the existing social segments on the basis of several identifiers, are firmly incumbent upon the critiquing of the conventional scholarly norms pertaining to the tenets of the Critical Race Theory (Navarro and Howard, 2017). This realisation of mine encompasses the components of reflective assessment of gained learning experiences such as the incidents of discrimination which I learnt about, the role and intentions of mine during formulation of such reflective assessment and associated feelings and the consequences of my actions.

In this context, the components of the Critical Race Theory highlight the existing social hierarchies to be the catalysts of the process of transformation, at both of the broad social fields and focused professional domains. Involving my reflections on the conduct of the Metropolitan Police, it became evident that professional responses to racial discrimination has to be accompanied by the effort to counter-mobilise the actors with social agency (from a figurative standpoint, I consider this to be comparable to the average consciousness pertaining to oppression and discrimination at the society in general), to dispel the retrenchment of social perceptions induced by prejudicial racial approaches which are signified through the arbitrary stops and searches by the police to which the BAME personnel are mostly subjected to. Thus, to me, obtainment of further perspectives during the discourse of learning experiences has become paramount in terms of necessity. This entire observation of mine could be considered to be relative to the initial phase of the York Model of Reflection.

Analysis and Interpretation phase of York Model of Reflection through PCS model

To me, the elements of differentials of social powers and the associated significance regarding the social practices involving behaviours of discrimination, at both personal and institutional levels, emanate from the recognition provided to Race as an ethnic identifier (Kendall, 2016). I had been exposed to experiences where Police brutality towards BAME personnel has been evident and implicit racial bias and prejudice has been also outlined through personnel with whom I had studied. From a specific perspective, my learning experiences have been critical to establish the fact that ingrained racial bias could be a trans-generational aspect which blurs the division between the appropriate and the offensive. I have been directed to develop the interpretation of such a phenomenon as indicative of Race becoming synonymous with an inherent characteristic which could define human populaces and social constructs. This has been highlighted by the racial discrimination and prejudiced experienced by me in the professional field. However, this perception of mine had been still at the nascent stage and was in the requirement of further evaluation and corroboration with empirical evidences which could be obtained through future learning discourse in Sociology.

To this effect, the comparative study of the CRT and the Personal, Cultural and Social (PCS) model has been undertaken to develop further contextual perspective (Nicolaides, 2017). This endeavour has been particularly effective regarding the development of credible understanding pertaining to the impact of racial profile based privileges (Eurocentric concepts of race) and discriminations (ethnic minorities such as BAME communities within UK) which are accorded to different categories of the social populace on the basis of their positions in the structural architecture of social power differentials. However, I could determine that my experiences could not be generalised enough since arbitrary stops and body searches are often utilised by the police to curtail the propensity of BAME personnel to carry weapons. I further had to study the Critical Identity Theory constructs so as to determine the corrective and ethical approaches pertaining to legal, social and organisational contexts to manage the dual elements of oppression and discrimination at workplaces (Wang, Cheney and Roper, 2016).

Meaning and Application Phase of York Model

The learning experience confirmed my personal notions that there exists an intersectional point in between various feminist theories and that of the CRT since my learning and reflective exercises have confirmed, to me, that, extensive fluidity and conceptual latitude of the examined context could become the synthesised outcome of such an endeavour. The learning of experiences of BAME personnel at the workplaces has been instrumental in terms of realisation that commonality of thought and shared values could often become inadequate in terms of providing the most ethical context on which workplace diversity management policies could be developed to manage the existing social and ethnic prejudices.

The pervasive impact of racism within the entire current social fabric has been a realisation which I have gained through my social studies. The factor of social construction of such a perception has been the most prevalent realisation of mine. My experiences stand as the initial points of formulation of my perception in the future professional endeavour of mine in the form of my objective of becoming a law enforcement professional in future. This phase involved the evaluation of differential strategies through which equality and justice could be promoted (Milner, 2017). The overall learning experience has brought me to the realisation that emphasis is required to be concentrated upon the accommodation of social consciousness, at multiple levels, including the professional and individual levels, through Intersectionality of experiences of conflicting social groups. The issues of discriminations and institutionalised oppression at the workplaces could thus be effectively resolved through consistent implementation of procedures of equitable management of workforce diversification.

Conclusion

At the conclusive phase, I could observe that the reflective assessment of learning experience has been productive in terms of social ethics application for the purpose of promoting equality and justice at the professional work environments.

Reference List

Hughes, C., 2019. Connecting Ethics and Diversity Using Diversity Intelligence. In Ethical and Legal Issues in Human Resource Development (pp. 53-78). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Jadhav, B.R. and Mehare, B., 2018. The study of ethical issues in social work practice: Organisational ethical audit. ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 8(8), pp.27-38.

Kendall, S., 2016. Postmodern ethics for practice. Rethinking values and ethics in social work, pp.195-209.

Milner IV, H.R., 2017. Opening commentary: The permanence of racism, critical race theory, and expanding analytic sites. Peabody Journal of Education, 92(3), pp.294-301.

Navarro, O. and Howard, T.C., 2017. A critical race theory analysis of social studies research, theory and practice. The Wiley handbook of social studies research, pp.209-227.

Nicolaides, A., 2017. Ethical Practices, Eco-centric Business and Environmental Sustainability. Journal of Human Ecology, 57(1-2), pp.1-10.

Thompson, N., 2016. Anti-discriminatory practice: Equality, diversity and social justice. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Wang, Y., Cheney, G. and Roper, J., 2016. Virtue ethics and the practice–institution schema: An ethical case of excellent business practices. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(1), pp.67-77.

First Reflective Entry

The class of this week involved learning and studying about the Critical Race Theory with emphasis on the stop and search procedures employed disproportionately by the Metropolitan police on the BAME personnel. The setting involved that of an estate agency with specific emphasis on indirect form of racism directed towards personnel of BAME communities. The outcome was reflection of my personal experiences regarding racist intolerance of diversity, in terms of ethnicities.

Second Reflective Entry

Determination about the element of Intersectionality has been a revealing experience for me concerning understanding multiple identity perceptions which are associated with individuals from ethnically diversified backgrounds and the manner through which such personnel could be social discriminated against. I became aware of the fact that Intersectionality could determine the actual social position of any community and individuals from those communities and could further determine the measure of social power which could be gained by such individuals. This reflective session has been also deliberative in terms of teaching me the implications of Intersectionality and I have come to arrive at a better conclusion of what could have been done to develop better understandings of the broader issue and related situations.

Third Reflective Entry

From this learning session, I have managed to determine the future course of actions which could be productive for me and I have further gained proper perspective concerning the implications of a multicultural and ethnically diversified society. The study of Race and Racism has provided me with greater clarified perspective regarding the professional difficulties which could arise in future pertaining to confrontation with such social phenomena. I also managed to clear the misconceptions and prejudices harboured by my co-students about certain ethnic minority groups. Such aspects have been reflective of my attempts to develop proper professional response for myself and other as well as to break the cycle of racist prejudices targeting ethnic minorities socially.

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