Structural Social Work: An Approach to Bring Subaltern Discourse in Social Work in Indian Context

Abstract

 This paper discusses the process of bringing subaltern discourse of marginalized communities for inclusive development through structural social work in India. The hegemonic ideology of dominant communities in India always excluded and systematically marginalized dalits, women and indigenous communities from the mainstream development. The efforts made by the post-colonial government couldn’t help much to bring an inclusive development process. Social aspects in democracy should address social relations with equality. Nevertheless, caste and gender were always threats for Indian society and now for a largest vibrant democracy. Though the constitution promotes the right to freedom of expression, one needs to analyze whether these marginalized have equal say in democratic process. Representation and participation of discriminated and excluded groups in governance is the central element of inclusive policy and building inclusive society. However, the situation is status-quo in reality. Post-colonialism and neoliberalism promotes accumulation of wealth and resources which dispossess these communities which leads to disengagement of these communities from the development process. There is a strong need to build the capacities of these communities and empower them for inclusive development. The roots of this marginalization are deeply rooted in societal structure. Inadequate social and economic arrangements are predominantly responsible for the plight of marginalized communities. Empowering these communities for inclusive development would only be possible by challenging the structural issues and existing social arrangements. The seldom efforts had been made by social work professionals ‘paternalistically’ to engage these disengaged communities. Therefore, social workers have to facilitate the process building capacities of these communities for challenging the existing hegemonic power structure. The structural social work approach tries to change the social andeconomic systems by conscientizing marginalized communities. This paper will also throw light on the process of building critical consciousness among these communities viz a viz response of social workers.