ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Texts on social psychology (for example, Baron and Byrne, 1991) and psychology for social workers (for example, Nicolson and Bayne, 1990) have had little, if anything, to say on the subject of a black perspective in group work. Descriptions of group process or climate issues related to race or culture have been infrequent in the literature (Helms, 1990), and, furthermore, recent publications intended to summarize the literature in, for example, group therapy (Stone, 1990) have not acknowledged the importance of race or ethnicity in group composition. Considerable attention has been given to the importance of race in one-to-one therapeutic practice (Kadushin, 1972; Dana, 1981; Green, 1982). Unfortunately, less attention has been given to its importance in group work. Group-work theory, practice, and research have been traditionally devoted to the development of universal conceptualizations which can supposedly guide all group practice (see Yalom, 1975, for detailed discussion of group theory and dynamics). This perspective has resulted in most researchers and practitioners ignoring the impact of member and leader ethnicity on group process and outcomes (Sattler, 1977; Davis, 1979, 1980).
