“Why Black men?”: Exploring social work constructions of Black men, to improve practice and advance justice

Black males and social work: the distance between ideals and action 

Social workers work in a variety of practice domains, engage on multiple levels, focus on different social problems. Despite this noted versatility, social workers are united by a binding Code of Ethics, whose core values animate our training and inform our daily practice decisions. It is these stated values — social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships—that most conflict with the ongoing injustices experienced by Black males in the United States. Notwithstanding growing reckoning with racism in the profession’s historyⁱ — and the establishment of a Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys in 2020—social work remains insufficiently attentive to specific needs and experiences of Black males.ⁱⁱ  Indeed, despite statements of solidarity and visions of health equity, the profession’s approach to Black males can be characterized by lasting tensions and relative silence, even among those most actively championing social justice. While some social workers—including Black male professionals — lead innovative collaborations and interventions to address Black males’ concerns, there has been remarkably little progress toward research-informed policy and culturally effective multilevel practice to meet the needs of Black males overall. Critically, the profession has undertaken little examination of the discourses that shape how social workers think and talk about Black males, and how those discourses influence social work practice. This study steps into that breach. 

Social work: both shaped by and shaping discourse about Black males 

Racism and sexism are pervasive currents in the United States, and both are at work in the lived experiences of Black males—unfolding at the intersection of race, gender, and class, distinct from both White male dominance and the lives of Black women. While social work knowledge recognizes the inherent strength within every person, given the harsh realities faced by Black males in America, both historically and currently,ⁱⁱⁱ from individual aggressions to codified policy injustices in an array of domains, Black male resilience is undeniable. Specifically, Black males must traverse life and social systems while being depicted, in media portrayals, historical policy discourse, and social norms, as overly sexual, aggressive, irresponsible, uneducated, and often, criminal.^iv  Replete with contradictions and fundamentally dehumanizing, these negative depictions frame Black males as threats, targeted for surveillance and control. Black males in America experience the consequences of these social constructions daily, and their navigation of these often-impossible tightropes takes a toll, associated with substantial risks of adverse life events, including poorer employment outcomes,^v mental health struggles,^vi socioeconomic challenges,^vii  and incarceration.^viii As these are social work problems, we must ask why a profession dedicated to social justice has done and continues to do relatively little on this crucial front. Here, we reckon with the influences of societal discourses about Black males. Crucially, these depictions can shape the attitudes and approaches of social work professionals, potentially leading to disparities in service provision, outcomes, attributions, and consequences for Black males.^ix  If social workers are to move beyond cataloging the effects of systemic injustices impacting Black males, we must wrestle with the discourses that shape what we ‘know’ and how we work. 

What We Examined 

Catalyzed by Dr. Carr’s own practice experiences, where she was often frustrated by insufficient resources and training to practice in alignment with social work values with her Black male clients, this study employed Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) and African American Male Theory (AAMT) to explore social workers’ discourses about Black males.  Research data come from semi-structured interviews with 15 purposefully sampled participants, recorded and transcribed and analyzed in multiple layers. Participants ranged in age from 31 to 70 (median=42), with education at the BSW, MSW, and doctoral levels, only six of whom reported receiving training specific to Black males. As is true for the overall social work profession,^x participants were overwhelmingly female and mostly white. The analysis examined (a) social workers’ own constructions about Black men, (b) participants’ perceptions of societal discourse about Black men, and (c) participants’ narration of their social work practice experiences with Black men. 

What We Found 

As described below, this analysis illuminates three dominant social work discourses about Black males, all of which have significant implications for policy and practice, and all of which risk interference with social workers’ value-aligned, competent, and authentic alliances with Black males.1 Importantly, these findings demonstrate that social workers are neither passive sponges of societal discourses about Black males nor flawless professionals impervious to them. Instead, social workers are both shaped by societal discourses surrounding Black males and contributing to them in complex ways. Neither immune to implicit biases nor separate from the culture in which social work was founded, social workers have agency to interrupt harmful discourses when and where we encounter them. 

Threatening Other. 

The construction of Black males as a Threatening Other was comprised of two sub-themes; one described Black males as a menace to society, framing them as inherently dangerous and/or disruptive, and one employed subtler forms of othering, where Black males were perceived as unfamiliar, disturbing, or distasteful—not overtly threatening, but still fundamentally different and clearly distanced. In many cases, participants vocally disavowed this construction but acknowledged that it shapes their own ideas about Black males. For example, a participant shared, “the messages that I receive are that the Black man is the most dangerous person in America.” Some recalled specific sources of this construction, while others evoked a more diffused absorption of these messages. One said, “And, and like, the, the media teaches White women…women that Black males are dangerous. Like full stop, (laughs), like absolutely full stop.” Language invoked by participants demonstrated the reach of this construction when they framed Black males as “more aggressive”, “troublemakers”, scary”, or overall, to be avoided, even with the constraint of social desirability in an interview with a Black researcher. 

<sup>1</sup?Because participants frequently conflated Black men and Black boys, the research is conveyed here as applicable to Black males, a significant finding itself, given the frequency with which Black boys are perceived as older, larger, and more threatening than their age would confer. 

Exceptions to the Rule. The construction of Black males as a Threatening Other coexisted with and indeed, required, Exceptions to the Rule. Usually confined to single examples — in contrast to the generalized threat attributed to Black males as a group—some Black males were seen as conforming more closely to Eurocentric ideals, making them ‘extraordinary’. Some participants defined these exceptions in terms of valued roles, such as athletes or educated professionals. For example, one described her interaction with a Black male lawyer, “it stood out just because he was Black. He was nice. He was knowledgeable and he was helpful. So, it was just like a good mixture of, like, things.” Other Exceptions to the Rule defied stereotypes. One participant said, “...because he'll be looked at as the stereotypical angry Black man, um, who you need to be afraid of, or who you can't take seriously, or who must've had this real messed up life, when actually he's got like two or three degrees, he's an engineer, he's been doing stuff for this community for way longer than us.” While simultaneously reinforcing the Threatening Other discourse, the existence of Black males who are Exceptions to the Rule imposes undue pressure on Black males to conform and adhere to Eurocentric norms, values, and expectations. 

Invisible HuMAN. The authentic and nuanced realities of Black males are often invisible to social workers without sufficient understanding of or often, exposure to, the Black male experience. Non-Black participants often generalized from their limited personal contacts with Black males, but these relationships are no substitute for true lived experience; further, in their practice, social workers disproportionately encounter Black males subjected to coercive surveillance and control, which contributes to the potency of discourses that describe Black males as lacking in fundamental ways. For example, one participant expressed her doubts about the capacity of Black males with whom she works, saying, “…Do I feel like handing out money with nothing else is going to be helpful? No, because the Black men that I see do not have the skills to handle that money. And they also generally are in crisis, so they're immediately trying to meet those needs. However, in better supports, maybe.”  Perhaps conscious of how these constructions sound, some participants ascribed these negative perceptions to the social work profession more broadly. Speaking of her work in Child Protective Services, one said, “When you go to CPS, the Black man isn't going to get his kids because he's a Black man. What Black man keeps his kids? That's not a thing that Black men do. I think that goes back to when I was talking about all the different social workers and how they perceive it. It's, 'They don't take care of their children.' You hear that a lot.” Participants also expressed more compassionate framing that nonetheless still dehumanized Black males, who they perceive to lack safety, support, and emotional vulnerability. One respondent lamented, “These Black boys are being raised by unhealed Black men because they don't have the resources or not accepted or don't feel like they can access the resources… a lot of them being the man of the house unfortunately as, as young Black men.” In the aggregate, these constructions of Black males as acutely lacking and beyond the reach of societal protection and care reinforced the perception that they are not fully human. Affecting not only interpersonal practice but also social policies and resulting systems, these discourses flatten Black male realities, impacting social workers’ authentic engagement. Any resulting advocacy is shallow, leaving structural inequities that shape Black males’ experiences largely untouched. 

What it Means for Policy & Practice 

In total, this research compels a critical reconsideration of social work’s roles in perpetuating and contesting harmful discourses about Black males. Equipped with our crucial competencies in building relationships across difference and using reflective practice to wield critical self-assessment to improve outcomes for clients, social workers must move beyond merely noting issues facing Black males, to actively partner with them for multilevel change.   

Discourse is a crucial domain of social work intervention 

This research suggests that there is interest in tackling the challenges facing Black males in America, as the profession’s Code of Ethics and declared ‘Grand Challenges’^xi compel. However, authentically approaching this work must begin at the root of the inequities: incomplete and distorted discourses about Black males, codified in policy and absorbed throughout society—including by social workers. These respondents narrated their practice from positions of connection to and desire to help and advocate for Black males, work they saw as aligned with both social work and personal values. They recognized the need to address discrimination and injustices experienced by Black males. However, narratives of good intentions did not negate the presence of entrenched societal discourses, including messaging that everyone was equal and had access to the same resources, and that racism and inequality were issues of the past or problems that no longer require attention. These discourses rationalize inequitable outcomes and contribute to the ongoing invisibility of Black males and their unique challenges and to the maintenance of oppressive systems. This is the core conflict surfaced in this research: adherence to social work’s stated professional values is insufficient refutation of damaging discourses. Indeed, to practice with integrity, competence, and social justice, social work must bring critical analysis and reflexive insights to parse the interplay of societal discourses and how they influence construction of and practice with Black males. Social work students and practitioners should examine their own experiences, the messages they have received about Black males, and the work required to redress blind spots that can imperil effective working relationships. Curriculum and ongoing professional development should emphasize interrogating the internalization and influence of societal discourses about Black males, as crucial steps in developing culturally aware and equitable practice and interventions that will ethically and effectively impact not only Black males, but society as a whole. 

Social work education must make the Black male experience visible 

While self-reflective practice will play a crucial role in readying social workers to ally with Black male clients, these respondents’ narratives underscored another important piece in this preparation: reflection is insufficient. Only real relationships of proximity, complexity, dignity, and shared humanity are powerful enough to counter flawed societal narratives. Socialized in largely segregated systems, non-Black participants described having few opportunities to interact with or even observe Black males. Several shared that they had almost no contact with Black people as they grew up; this distance made fertile terrain for societal discourses diffused through media, family members, and other channels to take root, even in arenas steeped in social work values. And most participants’ social work education and training did not include anything specific to Black males’ experiences. One directly named, “No. I unfortunately don't think it's really talked about. Um, so I really haven't heard anything, because nobody talks about... Black men I feel like in social work that I've experienced.” It is imperative that social work education fill these gaps, with assertive recruitment of Black male students, instructors, and scholars who center their work with Black men, creative deployment of financial resources and culturally congruent supports, and intentional curation of academic materials that center Black male voices, including policy content, texts, and narratives. Social work’s values of human relationships, the dignity and worth of the person, competence, and social justice demand a priority on dismantling Invisible HuMan discourses. 

It's not just justice; social workers need competence to practice with Black males, too 

Particularly given the demographics of the social work profession, comprehensive examination of Black males’ experiences, strengths, goals, and needs is a crucial element of preparation for effective practice. Although choosing to participate from their interest in issues facing Black males, participants’ lack of training and experience to work with Black males speaks to a core challenge facing the profession—one that bears the imprint of the discourses about Black males evident here. Despite widespread recognition of the particular needs of Black males, societal discourse tells us that social workers’ training is universally relevant and sufficient, such that difficulties building trust with Black male clients or achieving desired outcomes with and for them, are due to deficiencies in Black males, who are hard to work with^xii and deserving of only conditional acceptance. Juxtaposed with these respondents’ self-positioning as ‘helpers’, their lack of attention to gaps in their own knowledge and skills for work with Black males is glaring. Profession-wide, omissions in social workers’ training impede engagement with Black males, detract from truly client-centered practice, and risk further harm. Without adequate preparation for competent practice with Black males, social workers risk of offering support that may be misguided or detrimental, inadvertently perpetuating systemic barriers rather than addressing them. 

Evidence-based practices must be culturally congruent—and multi-level 

We cannot limit our focus to individual social work practice; the models, frameworks, programs, and interventions deemed ‘effective’ must also be critically examined for their alignment with the lived realities of Black men. Otherwise, structures shaped by dominant discourses about Black men will continue to be insufficient, and in reproducing those same dehumanizing discourses, may cause further harm. Although social work is grounded in strengths-based and holistic frameworks, dominant deficit-based discourses continue to shape practice; the field must move beyond these models and toward working in partnership with Black men. Professionals should actively work to reduce power differentials and promote holistic, strength-based approaches that recognize the full humanity and deep resilience of Black men, without positioning their role as one of changing Black men, but rather of understanding, valuing, and engaging with their lived realities in ways that do not pathologize difference. 

Citation: Carr, K. (2026). “Why Black men?”: Exploring social work constructions of Black men, to improve practice and advance justice. Lawrence, KS: Center for Community Engagement and Collaboration, School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas. 

References 

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ⁱⁱWatkins, D. C., Hawkins, J., & Mitchell, J. A. (2015). The Discipline’s Escalating Whisper: Social Work and Black men’s Mental Health. Research on Social Work Practice, 25(2), 240–250. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731514526621;&nbsp;

ⁱⁱⁱPierre, M. R., & Mahalik, J. R. (2005). Examining African Self-Consciousness and Black Racial Identity as Predictors of Black men’s Psychological Well-Being. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 11(1), 28–40. https://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.11.1.28&nbsp;

^ivHester, N., & Gray, K. (2018). For Black males, being tall increases threat stereotyping and police stops. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(11), 2711–2715. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1714454115; Smiley, C., & Fakunle, D. (2016). From “brute” to “thug:” the demonization and criminalization of unarmed Black male victims in America. Journal Of Human Behavior In The Social Environment, 26(3–4), 350–366. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2015.1129256&nbsp;

^vDaly, M. C., Hobijn, B., & Pedtke, J. H. (2017). Disappointing Facts about the Black-White Wage Gap. FRBSF Economic Letter, 2017(26), 1–5. 

^viWippold, G. M., et al. (2023). Understanding and Promoting Preventive Health Service Use Among Black males: Community-Driven and Informed Insights. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01864-3&nbsp;

^viiGriffith, D. (2016). Biopsychosocial Approaches to Men’s Health Disparities Research and Policy. Behavioral Medicine (Washington, D.C.), 42, 211–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2016.1194158&nbsp;

^viiiWestern, Bruce. 2021. "Inside the Box: Safety, Health, and Isolation in Prison." Journal of Economic Perspectives 35 (4): 97–122. ixTeasley, M. L., et al. (2018). Trayvon Martin: Racial Profiling, Black Male Stigma, and Social Work Practice. Social Work, 63(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swx049&nbsp;

^xSchilling, R., Morrish, J. N., & Liu, G. (2008). Demographic Trends in Social Work over a Quarter-Century in an Increasingly Female Profession. Social Work, 53(2), 103–114. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/53.2.103; Zippia. (2023). Social Worker Demographics and Statistics: Number Of Social Workers In The US. https://www.zippia.com/social-worker-jobs/demographics/&nbsp;

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^xiiJaiswal, J., & Halkitis, P. N. (2019). Towards a More Inclusive and Dynamic Understanding of Medical Mistrust Informed by Science. Behavioral Medicine (Washington, D.C.), 45(2), 79–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2019.1619511&nbsp;