J
Joe_5859
Guest
Obviously, it wouldn’t do for a social worker to go around pointing fingers at people and calling them “deviants.” But this is a college course in an academic setting. I’m sure that the Franciscan University social work program emphasizes that all people are to be treated with charity and compassion.I am not sure about that. Who is “society?” Who decides what is “normal?” I think in a pluralistic nation, such as the US, there is a great number of cultures and sub-cultures which are not in the majority. Is the behavior in those cultural groups deviant?
I agree that a social worker needs to be prepared to work with wide range of clients. But classifying those clients as “deviant” seems a fundamental error which will color both the interpersonal relationship and also the perceptions of the social worker.
In my college psychology courses, the word “deviant” was used to describe behavior that was outside the norm.
I understand that the term has some pretty negative connotations from a popular perspective. But I’m trying to think of what else they could call the class. “Non-Normal Behavior”? “Behavior that is not in keeping with the Judeo-Christian Perspective”? “Behavior Engaged in by a Minority of Persons that is Destructive to Society”?
