The intersection of racism and poverty in the environment: A systematic review for social work

Abstract

Social workers are tasked with the responsibility of pursuing environmental justice to diminish environmental risks for impoverished, minority, and disadvantaged communities that have been disproportionately impacted. While social work literature addresses the topic of environmental justice, few articles discuss its root issues of poverty and racism in the environment.

Through a systematic review of peer-reviewed journals from 2015 through 2021, this study identified 27 articles that focus on the intersection of social work, environmental justice, poverty, and racism. Findings reveal three common categories of articles, their themes, and publication trends. Social work education was the most common category (40.7 percent), followed by review articles and case studies (37.0 percent), and community-based research (22.2 percent).

The results of this study indicate that more research is needed in all areas related to poverty and racism in environmental justice social work.