Whom Should We Serve? Analyzing Social Worker Practitioners' Views of Undocumented Immigrants
Yoosun Park, M.S.W., Ph.D.
Audio File

Dr. Park will present her study of social work practitioners' views on undocumented immigrants and the role of social work. This work of discourse analysis was conducted to investigate the particular ways respondents represent, constitute, and thus make sense of undocumented immigrants and immigration, and to explore what meanings and significance such representations and constituted identities might have for social work. Social workers' views on undocumented immigrants is illustrative of the ways in which we determine inclusion and exclusion, writ large in national immigration policies and laws but played out in the arenas of social work and social services. Who deserves help? Who should be included and who excluded? Drawing upon empirical data, Dr. Park examines the profession and its professionals' relationship to law, social policies, as well as its own professional ethics and identity.