...conflict at all levels of society. Topics such as politics, racism, religion, and culture are often flashpoints for social conflict, and individuals who hold strong beliefs can quickly become polarized by these highly charged subjects, with results that range from personal stress to acts of individual and international aggression.

Social workers are also not strangers to polarization in our own profession. In many ways, micro and macro practice remain compartmentalized and rarely overlap. focus on psychotherapeutic practice concerns those who view the fundamental mission of social work as addressing the larger societal needs of society's most disenfranchised members (Specht & Courtney, 1994). Conversely, the profession's historical emphasis on social justice presents a dilemma to workers in traditional mental health and medical models who focus on the internal dynamics, deficiencies, and strengths of individuals, dyads, and families (Dewees, 2002). The goal of integrating individual need and social activism poses a duality in the social work profession that has been difficult to span.

In this article, we examine intergroup dialogue work as a bridging mechanism through which social workers in clinical, other direct practice, organizer, activist, and other roles across the micro-macro practice spectrum can engage with people in conflict to advance advocacy, justice, and social change. Intergroup dialogue is a facilitated community experience designed to provide a safe yet communal space to express anger and indignation about injustice. It is a method through which social work practitioners who struggle to effect social change may address power, cultural differences, and divisive issues constructively (Agbaria & Cohen, 2002). Intergroup dialogue has the potential to harness extraordinary power toward the goal of achieving personal and community transformation, conflict resolution, advocacy, and social change.

INTERGROUP DIALOGUE WORK

The extensive literature review carried out for this article indicates that intergroup dialogue work in the public arena is widely representative of many disciplines and is gaining currency in social work (Nagda & Zuniga, 2003; Schoem & Hurtado, 2001). A thorough review of theoretical approaches influential in the development of intergroup dialogue is beyond the scope of this article, but we provide an extensive bibliography elsewhere (Dessel, Garlington, & Rogge, 2005).

Definition

Intergroup dialogue work is a process designed to involve individuals and groups in an exploration of societal issues about which views differ, often to the extent that polarization and conflict occur. As noted earlier, intergroup dialogue in the public arena is a facilitated community experience designed to provide a safe yet communal space to express anger and indignation about injustice. Participants are engaged in, witness, and are affected by a facilitated community experience. They strive to avoid unproductive language, foster new listening skills, improve communication patterns, value differences, and develop shared meanings (Chasin et al., 1996). Intergroup dialogue potentiates a democratic process that acknowledges and respects all parties, creates a context that reinforces the notion that change is possible, and transforms relationships toward positive social change. Through such changes, public decision making is influenced, and new, previously unexplored results can be produced (Schoem, 2003; Zubizaretta, 2002).

Characteristics of intergroup dialogue include fostering an environment that enables participants to speak and listen in the present while understanding the contributions of the past and the unfolding of the future. This type of environment is created by factors such as the choice of location for the dialogue, the establishment of communication and relationships with dialogue participants, and knowledgeable design and facilitation of dialogue. Participants are asked to suspend assumptions, confirm their unfamiliarity with each other, be spontaneous, and prepare for unanticipated consequences. They are encouraged to collaborate willingly, be vulnerable, and believe in the authenticity of all participants (Cissna & Anderson, 2002). Public dialogue is a facilitated process with various pedagogical, participatory, and other dynamic approaches to such facilitation (Shor & Friere, 1987).

Intergroup dialogue among those who do not know each other, on topics about which opinions may differ, brings into focus the possibilities for genuine openness, listening, and transformation. In a recent community-based, intergroup dialogue on same-sex marriage facilitated by Adrienne Dessel, a transformative opportunity arose when participants from a local Baptist church raised the possibility that their religious community could choose to marry gay and lesbian partners if they desired, even though they might have to break from their parent organization. As this definition and example illustrate, intergroup dialogue as a social change process includes relational concepts and interventions familiar to social workers across the micro-macro practice spectrum.

THE ROOTS AND LANGUAGE OF DIALOGUE

Physicist David Bohm, one of the most-cited authors on dialogue work, noted that dialogue has its origins in the Greek word "dialogos": "dia" meaning "through" and "logos" meaning "the meaning of the word" (Bohm, 1996, p. 6). The creation of a stream of meaning that flows among and through participants and attendance to the space among people are enduring concepts in the dialogue literature. Bohm (1996) conceived of dialogue as a "multifaceted process through which we explore our closely held values, the nature and intensity of emotions, the patterns of thought processes, the function of memory, the import of inherited cultural myths, and the manner in which neurophysiologic processes structure moment-to-moment experiences" (p. vii). He challenged people to mutually exchange their perceptions of the world without either forcing them on each other or conforming, as a means of revolutionizing our culture (Bohm, 1992).

Dialogue affects our thinking as it influences our assumptions. Bohm (1996) referred to the neurophysiological concept of proprioception, or self-perception, and highlighted the problems that arise in society when individuals are not proprioceptive in their efforts to communicate. He postulated that if certain thoughts and assumptions could be suspended and we could share our opinions without hostility, then we would be able to engage in "collective thought" that moves more creatively in new directions. We are more likely to think together if we can create shared meaning and a collective consciousness rather than simply search for facts. In dialogue, people become observers of their own thinking (Senge, 1990). As Shor and Friere (1987) suggested, to the extent that we reflect on our reality and communicate to each other, there is knowing and social transformation.

Currently, adversarial forms of communication dominate public discourse. For those involved, the negative consequences range from aggression to the elimination of creative solutions (Pharr, 1996; Tannen, 1998). Intergroup dialogue is designed to be among the least adversarial forms of communication and can be differentiated from other forms of public discourse such as discussion, debate, and mediation by examining the roots and concomitant uses of these words. "Discussion," for example, shares the same root as "percussion" or "concussion" and implies a passing back and forth of ideas with the goal of pursuit of truth by one party. "Debate" stems from the root word "debatre," "to fight," and refers to a formal exchange of opinions in an argumentative form that involves attack, defense, and the potential of destructive outcomes. The root word of "mediation" refers to "a division in the middle," or settling a dispute, but not inherently to engaging in personal growth. Chasin and colleagues (1996) noted that without...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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