Social Role Valorization - Criticisms

Criticisms

1. SRV has had a life span of barely a generation even if taking into account its predecessor normalization. This should give anyone pause in granting to it a substance it has not yet had time to establish.
2. SRV does not consistently raise consciousness and guarantee concern about socially devalued persons. Ideologies cannot ultimately control the character of their adherents even though they are influential. Further, their theoretical value can be nullified if used wrongly.
3. Not all alliances between socially valued and devalued persons are moral, fruitful and advantageous.
4. Knowing how social devaluation works in society may still leave one impotent against it.
5. SRV’s societal impact, thus far, is largely confined to several narrow human service fields.
6. SRV is open to criticism because of the later politico-moral stance of its founder, Wolf Wolfensberger, in which he advances a non-mainstream response to the plight of the wounded in society. This response may be seen as anti-death (opposing all abortion and all forms of euthanasia), morally conservative, anti-bourgeoise feminist (stressing the 'importance' of motherhood rather than parenthood, and persistently relegating women to subsidiary power roles), homophobic, anti psychiatry and religiose. Although he attempts to isolate SRV from his underlying beliefs, SRV may be negatively affected by this association for those whom disagree with these moral and religious positions. Reference to the series of Pamphlets entitled 'TIPS' and edited by Wolf Wolfensberger provides graphic evidence of the politico-moral stance of the lead proponents of SRV.