Do Social Workers Support NASW's Political Activism? Evidence From Texas (original) (raw)
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Do social workers support NASW's political activism?
Journal of sociology and social welfare
According to the NASW Code of Ethics, social workers are called to engage in political activity at the micro, mezzo and macro levels for the advancement of social justice and human rights. NASW has mechanisms in place to aggregate the voices of individual social workers through political activity. Drawing on a model of civic voluntarism, the aim of this study was to examine the impact of political activity on decisions by Texas social workers to join or re-join NASW, as well as their opinions on the political engagement of NASW/Texas. This study employs a non-experimental, exploratory, cross-sectional survey design to assess political participation of social workers and their view of how politically active NASW as an organization should be. The survey was sent to all attendees of the 2013 NASW/Texas Conference, held in Austin, Texas. The conference attendees (n = 789) included NASW members (n = 643), and non-members (n = 146). A total of 148 responded to the survey, yielding a 19% response rate. The findings of the study suggest that political activity at the organizational level positively impacts social workers' decisions to join or maintain their NASW membership.
Do Social Workers Support NASW\u27s Political Activism? Evidence From Texas
2019
According to the NASW Code of Ethics, social workers are called to engage in political activity at the micro, mezzo and macro levels for the advancement of social justice and human rights. NASW has mechanisms in place to aggregate the voices of individual social workers through political activity. Drawing on a model of civic voluntarism, the aim of this study was to examine the impact of political activity on decisions by Texas social workers to join or re-join NASW, as well as their opinions on the political engagement of NASW/Texas. This study employs a non-experimental, exploratory, cross-sectional survey design to assess political participation of social workers and their view of how politically active NASW as an organization should be. The survey was sent to all attendees of the 2013 NASW/Texas Conference, held in Austin, Texas. The conference attendees (n = 789) included NASW members (n = 643), and non-members (n = 146). A total of 148 responded to the survey, yielding a 19% r...
Social Work and Civic Engagement: The Political Participation of Professional Social Workers
2010
This article examines the involvement of practicing social workers in one type of civic engagement: the use of political processes to promote the public good. Based on a survey of 1,274 randomly selected members of NASW, this is the largest study to date examining the involvement of social workers in political action and policy advocacy. Findings suggest that approximately half of social workers demonstrate high levels of participation in the policy process. The authors analyze the frequency with which respondents engage in specific political and policy-related activities, and compare these results to those of other studies. They also examine respondents' attitudes toward political participation and share recommendations for increasing this aspect of civic engagement within the profession.
Let's Get Political: Political Participation Among Social Workers
Australian Journal of Social Issues, 1988
This paper explores the prescriptive arguments for and against political participation in social work. The literature on political participation is briefly reviewed and data from a survey looking at political participation among social workers is presented. Data analysis on political participation by sex, ethnicity, award, task; years in practice and attitude toward political involvement is presented.
Journal of Policy Practice and Research, 2020
Various international and national social work ethical principles call social workers to participate in politics, although not all social workers in the USA and Switzerland embrace politics in their professional practice. A growing body of social work literature addresses social workers' participation in politics. This article presents a comparative study of political participation, political efficacy, and political ideology among social workers in the USA and Switzerland. This study used two separate cross-sectional surveys to better understand the political participation, political efficacy, and political ideology of social workers in the USA (n = 3033) and Switzerland (n = 1242). The results indicate that US social workers are more politically active and have a higher internal sense of political efficacy than Swiss social workers. Regarding political ideology, the Swiss participants position themselves more clearly on the left wing than their US colleagues. As one of few international practice comparison pieces, this article aims to further stimulate research on political activity of social workers. For this purpose, starting points are by further developing the political efficacy of social workers and further educating social workers during and after social work education about engaging in justice-related activities to better society and the lives of their clients.
Clinical Social Workers, Gender, and Perceptions of Political Participation
Advances in Social Work, 2020
Political participation to create social change is considered a professional and ethical imperative for social workers. Although researchers have examined overall political participation by social workers, little is known about how clinical social workers participate and the broader societal factors that influence their political participation. A critical phenomenological methodology was used with a sample of 23 clinical social workers from New England states to (1) identify how socio-political forces influenced their political activity; and, (2) understand how the concept of power affected individuals’ level of engagement or inclination toward the political process. This article describes one of the study’s major findings. Female participants described themselves as unqualified and/or unknowledgeable in the political sphere, with low levels of ambition and confidence to engage in political processes. Many female participants also described the challenges of achieving a work-life ba...
Voting is Social Work: Voices From the National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign
Journal of Social Work Education
The National Social Work Voter Mobilization Campaign, also known as Voting is Social Work, involved social work faculty, field educators, practitioners, and students in a nonpartisan voter engagement drive. Following the 2018 elections, researchers surveyed Campaign participants in social work schools and agencies to document their voter engagement activities.The study reported extent and amount of their involvement. The survey distinguished between the voter engagement participation of school-versus agency-based social workers, which has not been studied elsewhere. Participants also reported the benefits of political participation to individuals, communities, and the profession and perceived barriers such as organizational constraints, fears of appearing partisan, and distrust of politics. Presented in historical context, the findings highlight the need to mainstream voter engagement throughout social work education.
Journal of Policy Practice and Research
This quantitative study focuses on the political engagement of social work students by comparing the extent of voluntary political participation and the factors that influence this type of engagement among Austrian (n = 197), German (n = 2998), and Swiss students (n = 453). Findings indicate that Swiss students are most engaged in political activities, followed by Austrian and German participants. Consistent with the findings of previous scholarship, the results of this study show that social work students prefer to participate in passive activities rather than in active forms of political participation. The study identifies internal political efficacy, political ideology, political interest, membership, and the country of residence as main factors influencing voluntary political participation among social work students. Along with similarities among the countries, this article also identifies and discusses differences between the three countries. Finally, ideas for future research ...
Journal of Policy Practice
Because social workers are called to challenge social injustices and create systemic change to support the well-being of individuals and communities, it is essential that social workers develop political efficacy: belief that the political system can work and they can influence the system. This study explored the impact of an intensive political social work curriculum on political efficacy and planned political engagement among social work students and practitioners. The findings suggest this model of delivering a political social work curriculum effectively increases internal, external, and overall political efficacy, and that increasing political efficacy has promise for increasing future political engagement.