THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL COMPETENCE FOR SOCIAL WORK

Abstract

Social work studies and reinforces social interaction among people that affect their ability to achieve their aspirations and values. This is the reason why the concept of cultural competence is of great importance to the academic discipline and the profession of social work. Social work also demands an opposition to discrimination and repression of the social protection users, which is why it is crucial to recognize the minority, discriminated and marginalized individuals in a group and the community, and in a society or culture. In this sense, this paper is dedicated to the concept of cultural competence in the context of social work in a multicultural environment. Multicultur- alism is a political movement, ideology and/or socio-political practice that opposes monocultural- ism or normative cultural unity and cultural homogeneity. It is a civil and human right of cultural groups that is rooted in human dignity and the fundamental equality of different cultures (includ- ing the cultural differences regarding race, ethnicity, religion, skills and ability, gender, sexuality, economic and social status, etc.). In addition, the important idea of interculturalism implies cross- cultural dialogue and active learning rather than passive acceptance of multiculturalism as a simple plurality of mutually segregated and/or isolated cultures.

As an important concept for understanding the relationship between cultural competence and social work stands the concept of deep culture, as well as the idea of intercultural learning as a prerequisite of a culturally competent practice. Deep culture represents unconscious meanings, values, norms and hidden assumptions that allow interpretations of our experiences during inter- actions with other people. For these reasons, we problematize the key relevance of cultural com- petence in the contemporary context of more frequent cultural contacts, new social networks and communities, and the phenomenon of globalization.

Finally, we highlight the relevance of cultural competence as an ability to effectively interact with people of different cultures. It is claimed that the practice of social work in multicultural environments strongly depends on the understanding of different cultures which makes it necessary to develop cultural competence – to understand the differences in behavior, ways of thinking, assumptions and values in the culturally mixed environments. A large number of social problems and misunderstandings in interactions follows from the domain of implicit or deep culture, which has implications for a culturally competent social work.

Based on these findings, it is argued that cultural competence is comprised of services, support and other forms of assistance that are offered in a way that matches the beliefs, interpersonal communication styles, attitudes, language and behavior of service users. Thus, cultural competence is actually a competence in acquiring culturally relevant understandings of (cultural) minority problems that can be used in odred to provide culturally appropriate interventions in social work. We offer three levels of culturally competent practices: the level of practitioners, the level of or- ganization of social work and community level, with the micro, meso and macro dimensions of these practices. Therefore, it is necessary that, in the process of their education, social workers acquire a certain core of cultural/anthropological knowledge about humanity as a whole, and to be open to intercultural learning about the differences in customs, beliefs, value systems etc. of individuals and service users. In other words, culturally competent social worker must understand cross-cultural and sociopolitical dimensions of their own professional practice in a creative, criti- cal and morally autonomous way.