ABSTRACT

As part of a national survey on social workers’ attitudes toward immigrants and immigration (N=4,499), we collected information on respondents’ perceptions of immigrants as threats and respondents’ views on structural inequality as it pertains to immigrants’ opportunities for success. Contrary to the Council on Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards stating the need for social workers to understand the existence and functioning of structural forces of inequality, nearly a third of our respondents denied that immigrants are disadvantaged compared to U.S.-born citizens, and more than a third denied that disadvantage is related to race, ethnicity, or national origin. Those who denied disadvantage were more likely than those who did not to see immigrants as threats. We provide interpretations for these findings and offer some recommendations for social work research and education geared toward deepening practitioners’ knowledge of the structural barriers faced by immigrants.

摘要

作为社会工作者对移民和移民态度的全国调查的一部分（N=4,499），我们收集了受访者对移民作为威胁的看法以及受访者对结构性不平等的看法，因为它与移民的成功机会有关。与社会工作教育委员会的教育政策和认证标准相反，社会工作者需要了解不平等结构性力量的存在和运作，近三分之一的受访者否认移民与美国出生的公民相比处于不利地位，并且超过三分之一的人否认劣势与种族、民族或国籍有关。那些否认处于劣势的人比那些不认为移民是威胁的人更有可能。