Social Work & Social Justice Dialogues

Dialogue across differences is essential for social workers to engage people at all levels (e.g. individuals, groups, communities, organizations, etc.) and advocate within systems. The Social Work & Social Justice Dialogues bring together students from diverse backgrounds and experiences to promote social justice education and community.

Intergroup Dialogue Model

Utilizing the Intergroup Dialogue model, participants will explore issues of diversity and inequality and their personal and social responsibility for building a more just society. The three broad goals of intergroup dialogue are:

• to develop intergroup understanding by helping students explore their own and others’ social identities and statuses, and the role of social structures in relationships of privilege and inequality;
• to foster positive intergroup relationships by developing students’ empathy and motivation to bridge differences of identities and statuses;
• to foster intergroup collaboration for personal and social responsibility toward greater social justice.