Back in January I did read Justin Nutt’s post on Social worker doesn’t mean liberal. I felt he was balancing precariously on a rather wobbly fence. Today, I was heartened to read Deona Hooper’s response.
Can a social worker hold conservative views? Well I suppose they can but I think the question should be, Can a social worker continue to do so if they are practicing social work well? I don’t necessarily mean empathy with the people we see every day– essential but not the point. I mean the practicing of social work. I am talking about critical reflection – real critical reflection. Fook and Gardner describe it well in their book – it is not simply about understanding our clients’ internal struggles and the interpersonal interactions between ourselves and our clients. Critical reflection also demands attention to structural factors that affect individuals and communities and brutal self-examination. If we really practise critical reflection well, we constantly challenge our own beliefs so they don’t interfere with our work by imposing our prejudices on others. If we are honest with ourselves things change – for us and our clients. The down side is we can be uncomfortable a lot of the time.
Let’s assume for a moment that I truly believe that unemployed people don’t work because they are lazy. If they took personal responsibility and got off their butts they would get a job – a belief shared by my family and my community. Ok let’s take it a step further. Imagine I approach my unemployed clients with this belief (consciously or unconsciously). I guarantee you no change will happen and I would more than likely do harm by cementing fixed notions of privilege and disadvantage. If I acknowledge and challenge my beliefs and recognise any assumptions in those beliefs or indeed my own position in society, I might be open to hearing (and I mean hearing) about intergenerational poverty, social exclusion, marginalisation, lack of education, caring for a child with a disability or even dyslexia or depression (the list goes on)…and their interaction together. If I truly hear I would be forced to acknowledge that these stories do not quite fit with concepts of laziness as the root cause or potential cure. Recognising this mismatch could be very uncomfortable for me and perhaps challenge the core of my own socialisation and dearest held beliefs. Only then can the real work can begin – with my client and on myself.
Our practice frameworks encompass knowledge and draw on theory and research (and I don’t mean the products of think tanks). It is often difficult to distinguish between independent information and ideologically driven beliefs (see the Point of Inquiry podcast with Gabriel Sherman for an interesting example). By practising social work, we are constantly challenged to consider alternative perspectives especially when the realities of what we see and hear do not fit with current approaches, beliefs, ideologies or politics. We live with uncertainty in a world that is far from black and white. As Hooper pointed out, all people do not start out on an equal footing. Inequality and social problems are disturbing realities in the OECD countries where political environments are conservative and pay homage to the cult of individual responsibility as the sole cause and solution to all complex problems. This approach leaves a whole lot out and has little hope in alleviating the problems people face.
Wilkinson and Pickett’s research shows that these approaches contribute to inequality and make things worse for everyone. Marston, McDonald and Bryson point out who really benefits from the ways welfare is delivered – or not. Interestingly it is not the people that first come to mind. When it comes to politics is there any robust research that shows a sole focus on individualism contributes positively to all people rather than simply the privileged minority at the top of the class ladder? We are constantly told it does but where is the evidence that supports the claim? Sure we have a value-based profession but so do all professions – just look at anybody’s codes of ethics. But we do not blindly accept values whether they are professional or personal. We challenge and deconstruct these too. Social work values moisten the soil so we can dig into people’s lives without doing harm and critical reflection sharply spotlights our own assumptions. Knowledge and evidence works hand in hand with values and self-knowledge to ensure we practise social work well.
Perhaps we should abandon the words conservative or liberal when it comes to social work – too many assumptions come with such categorisations. When we debate categories we end up debating what we think these words mean and we assume a shared meaning. Let’s talk about values, critical reflection and knowledge instead and free ourselves. As social workers, our mandate is to understand the tensions in our practice and most of all challenge ourselves particularly when it is about beliefs we consciously or unconsciously hold sacred…and yes it might hurt – but hey isn’t that what we do?
Written By Patricia Fronek
The great social work debate – conservative or liberal? was originally published @ Social Work, Social Work and has been syndicated with permission.
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Very important point. An effective social worker recognizes this, puts their politics aside and listens. It’s actually “typical” of BOTH sides of the political spectrum to think they’re “right”. Each side picks the most extreme examples of the other to rail against. Once that happens they are justified, and feel no obligation to listen to any salient points their “opponent” may be making. While you’ll find more social-friendly policy on the Liberal side, there are also ways in which Liberal politics enable the worst of our problems. The longer I’ve worked in the field the more that has become apparent. Yet our human heritage of tribal thinking continues to rule politics and hinder our ability to hear each other – each side is convinced “the other” is at the root of all the problems. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUjkZKT1rq4
Well said! We have enough division and prejudices in society. I would love for Social Workers to be united in one mission. Personal perceptions on what “liberal” and “conservative” means has always been a sticking point for me too. We do what must be done and hopefully our clients benefit.
Because the NASW Code of Ethics promotes a commitment to social justice–a concept that most conservatives find difficult to embrace, you will likely find most social workers leaning towards liberalism or progressivism depending on how you define either persuasion. The bottom line is that we all have values or principles that guide our lives and we are taught well how not to allow our beliefs to influence the therapeutic process. Some of the unemployed are exploiting the system–but they are the few rather than the many. So do we make policy to deny everyone benefits? I agree its best to drop the idea of categorizing social workers.
Charles E Lewis Jr., I wouldn’t say that conservatives are against social justice. I think there are many who would say they are concerned about it. The difference we have talked about in our Policy Analysis class is that liberals and conservatives often have different ideas about achieving it. Liberals tend to rely on the government, conservatives on the private sector/individual. What troubles me in many of my SW classes is that the students espouse tolerance and open mindedness, but when confronted with a different viewpoint can’t fathom that there is another way to go about things.
The great social work debate comes down to the dichotomy of left/right, Pepsi/Coke? Not only does neither side agree on approaches, much of the time they are not arguing about the same thing, because there is rarely agreement about what the argument is in the first place.
The great debate on social work should be about whether or not our profession can survive without resorting to violence.
Most agree violence, force, and coercion are wrong, unless it is via government, which is the lifeblood of the profession. However, violence is violence.
I am gay and until two years ago I was a Democrat. Curious about libertarianism? Here are the basics:
http://www.christophercantwell.com/2014/04/18/libertarianism-brief-introduction/
Labels hide people! I will NEVER vote Repub, due to economic, immigration & human rights failures on the right. I cannot vote Dem, given failure on pro-life. I am a man without a political home! What does that make me? A Catholic social worker!
Lately, I have been reading the NASW Code of Ethics (http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp) just to get back to basics on a lot of issues. I feel like this is one of them. No matter what our politics, as long as we don’t compromise our ethics, it should not matter. Certainly if you are Republican or conservative the risk increases but let’s be mindful of this and not lose sight of our mission.
Well said.
As a social worker (or a human in general), I feel that it is important to respect individuals for their own beliefs, regardless of your own opinion. Personally, I agree with many of the points that the author pinpoints in this article. For a little while now, I have always felt like an outsider not sharing the liberal beliefs that many of my peers have regarding the social work profession. Reading this article as well as comments, has made me feel like I am not some terrible social worker. What saddens me about this all is that a number of these comments are so discouraging and are going against everything we stand for. Unless someones work and beliefs are causing harm to others, then they really should not have any impact on you. I have a hard time believing that Justin treats his clients with disrespect when he encounters a client that may go against his beliefs, because I am assuming that he holds himself to a high professional standard. So please, stop bashing others on their personal beliefs and begin to encourage conversations and learning experiences about why we think this way. Let us all work together in making this nation a place where we can feel comfortable with out own beliefs, provide supports to our clients, and make a difference instead of drawing a line between different beliefs.