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Historically rooted in humanist and universalist values, the social work ideal is an ideological anti-racism, which has absorbed post-war anti-racism based on the rejection of the biological notion of race and the recognition of cultural diversity. We can distinguish three essential aspects that are not always correlated: theoretical discourses, representations, and practices. A social worker whose value system is anti-racist may unconsciously convey racist stereotypes. Ordinary racism is the imaginary projection of a race or culture onto individuals belonging to a minority group. It is closely linked to culturalism, which conceives of culture as an essentialized reality and gives it an inordinate place to the detriment of socioeconomic and historical factors. This dominant interpretation is compatible with “neo-racism,” which defends a policy of segregation in the name of recognizing cultural differences. Responding to the demand for preferential treatment, the state apparatus institutes racist discrimination in social action. In doing so, it regresses the logic of assistance to that of humanitarian action and tends to criminalize people whose living conditions are already fragile.