Cultural collisions in social work – The case of Aboriginal clients in Australia

Abstract: Problems in social work with aboriginal clients in Australia are analysed in this thesis. The cultural collision between Western social workers and aboriginal clients is interpreted as the result of poor insight into the culturally determined worldview, the value system, norms and conceptions held by many aboriginal clients. More specifically, the collision is expressed in communication problems concerning support design and the importance of kinship. This problem is also manifested when social workers with an Aboriginal background encounter peer clients as well as Westerners. Symbolic interactionism and the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis concerning how the linguistic framework determines the worldview provide theoretical insights into the communication problems together with anthropological knowledge of cultural and ethnic identity. The thesis gives a literature review of current studies of social work among Aboriginals. The outcome of this analysis is reported in the thesis. Finally, the critical issue of social work training is brought up. How should the education in social work be improved to meet the demands of successful and meaningful encounters between social worker and Aboriginal clients? Obviously, more insights and knowledge of Aboriginal history and culture is necessary together with practical communication training.