Professional Role Orientation and Social Activism

This article examines the effects on social action of the client, bureaucratic, and professional role orientations of social workers. A national survey was conducted of 682 social workers who were members of the National Association of Social Workers. Systematic sampling was used and the questionnaire was self-administered. A bureaucratic orientation is not supportive of activism; a client orientation encourages activism; and a professional orientation-taken alone-is neither conservatizing nor reinforcing of activism. However, an orientation to the profession when coupled with a client orientation intensifies the activist effects of a client orientation for practice groups within social work. Possible explanations for these findings are presented

Class Activist Lens for Teaching about Poverty

The mission of social work is to serve the poor and oppressed and engage in social reform. This article proposes a conceptual framework, and teaching and practice strategies to equip students to understand poverty from a class perspective. The action component is to politicize practice and become allies with the poor in resisting injustice and promoting their social and economic development

Back To Our Roots Towards a Specialization in Social Justice

This article describes a proposed social justice curriculum and presents a case study of attempts to establish it in a graduate school of social work. The study is set in the context of the history of activism in social work and an analysis of societal and professional forces which may inhibit such activism. The rationale for a specialization in social justice is discussed along with the process and politics and developing the program and seeking its acceptance. The article describes specific types of resistance to a social change curriculum and possible strategies for dealing with such resistance