The image of Roma people in a group of social workers. Some reflections on the presence of stereotypes and on the burden of discrimination in social services following the conclusion of a research study

Roma and Sinti people experience a particular, specific type of stigmatisation and social injustice, that have built up over 5 centuries. This paper intends to investigate the image of Roma people in a professional group of 246 social workers in boroughs in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Investigating the perceptions expressed by the social workers on such a socially stigmatised ethnic minority, that is often subjected to institutional controls and repression, serve to check the weight that social representations have on the operators who in their work should express the ideals of social justice, equality and the refusal of social exclusion and discrimination that are expressed in international and national social services’ code of ethics.