What is Political Social Work?

Isn’t it just taking people’s kids away?

No! According to the National Association of Social Worker’s (NASW) Code of Ethics:¹

• Social work’s primary mission is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty (p. 1).
• Social workers accomplish this mission through direct practice, community organizing, supervision, consultation, administration, advocacy, social and political action, policy development and implementation, education, research and evaluation (p. 1). 
• Social workers also seek to promote the responsiveness of organizations, communities, and other social institutions to individuals needs and social problems (p. 1). 

Micro social work interventions: designed for individuals, families, and/or small groups, often in direct practice clinical settings.

Macro social work interventions: designed to bring about change in organizational, community, and/or policy arenas.²

Yes! According to the National Association of Social Worker’s (NASW) Code of Ethics:¹

• Social workers should engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that all people have equal access to the resources, employment, services, and opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs and to develop fully (standard 6.04[a], p. 30). 
• Social workers should be aware of the impact of the political arena on practice and should advocate for changes in policy and legislation to improve social conditions in order to meet basic human needs and promote social justice (standard 6.04[a], p. 30).

Some other key points:

• Social and political action are at the core of the social work profession. Jane Adams was political!
• All who hold social work degrees have received a professional education with a skillset that can be put to use politically.
• Macro social workers should work politically on behalf of organizations, communities, and/or populations.
• Micro social workers should work politically on behalf of their clients.
• Politics and policy affect everything that social workers and their clients do.

Political Social Work (PSW) is:³

• A social work practice that explicitly attends to:
  • Power dynamics in policy-making and
  • Political mechanisms for eliciting social change
• A form of practice through which social workers fulfill their ethical responsibility to social and political action for social justice

PSW includes:³

1. Expanding the political power of underrepresented groups, including individual clients and entire political constituencies
2. Influencing the decision making and policy agendas of candidates and policymakers
3. Holding professional and political staff appointments
4. Engaging with campaigns in support or opposition of candidates, ballot initiatives, or introduced policies
5. Seeking and holding elected office

PSW interventions include:³

• Electoral Interventions:
  • Those that focus on convincing voters to vote for or against a particular candidate
  • Running for office
• Voter Engagement:
  • Ways in which individuals and communities can express their power through voting
  • Ways that social workers can use voter engagement, including voter registration, education, and mobilization, as a tool
• Advocacy interventions:
  • Political change efforts focused on bringing about specific policy changes
  • Strategies involving advocating for expanded political power and for influencing policy agendas and policy decision-making

<sup>1. National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (2021). NASW code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English 
2. Netting, F. E., Kettner, P. M., McMurty, S. L., & Thomas, M. L. (2017). Social work macro practice (6th ed.). Pearson.
3. Lane, S. R., & Pritzker, S. (2018). Political social work: Using power to create social change. New York, NY: Springer International.</sup>