Raising critical consciousness in the struggle against poverty: Breaking a culture of silence

Since people in poverty often lower their aspirations in line with their position in society, an important role of social workers is to encourage people in poverty to reflect on the connection of their situation to the socio-political context and to address their internalised oppression. While drawing on the ideas of Paulo Freire, our study in Associations where People in Poverty Raise their Voice (Flanders, Belgium) reveals how practitioners engage in enabling a critical consciousness of people in poverty. They do so by reframing poverty as a collective concern and connecting experiences of people to a structural social analysis. Although practitioners use power intentionally in these processes, they also, however, can mask their own power position. Therefore, practitioners should learn to acknowledge and discuss the power asymmetry in their practices so that critical consciousness can flourish, on the side both of the oppressors and of the oppressed.