Social Justice Engagement: An Exploratory Study of Social Workers' Sustained Social Justice Action in Practice

Background and Purpose: Social workers have been called to prioritize social justice values and use their position to address increasingly complex twenty-first century social problems. Social workers often struggle, however, to translate their social justice values into practice, and little is known about how social justice engagement evolves or is sustained in practice over time when faced with challenging circumstances. Thus, the aim of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of social workers already engaged in social justice action to understand how social justice is enacted, what supports or sustains engagement, what challenges exist, and how commitment and engagement change with time.

Methods: This exploratory study was part of a larger grounded theory study and used thematic-analysis to answer the research question, ‘for professional social workers who engage in social justice action, how does engagement evolve over time?’ Maximum variation sampling and recruitment in all US Census subregions were used to ensure a sample with a wide range of demographic, geographic, and work-related factors. Participants included 25 English speaking professional social workers living across the United States with at least a master’s degree in social work, a minimum of five years post-graduate social work experience, and a history of engaging in social justice action. The sample was 72% female and 44% BIPOC. Data collection involved 90-minute, semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and multiple rounds of coding were completed through NVivo software. Memoing, consultation, and member checking were completed to enhance the study’s trustworthiness.

Results: Data analysis resulted in three major themes that summarized participant experiences. Within these themes, it was evident that participants came to view the world through a social justice lens that transcended personal and professional boundaries. Participants tried to figure out how they could most authentically and effectively contribute to the social justice landscape, often shifting between different types of social justice action and levels of social work practice until they narrowed their focus and found a sense of ‘fit’ with their social justice engagement. Participants generally found themselves moving into liberatory forms of practice in partnership with clients and communities. They also sought ways to sustain themselves in doing the work long-term, generally through finding a sense of balance and well-being, utilizing supports, and experiencing meaning in their work.

Conclusions: This study involved a thorough exploration of the evolution of social justice engagement across levels of social work practice over time. Findings highlighted several protective factors, challenges, and considerations that can inform efforts to support social workers’ engagement and mitigate challenges in social justice practice. In particular, participants noted a great deal of learning for social justice engagement that occurred outside of social work spaces. Implications for the profession include: 1) working to improve the organizational conditions in which social workers engage with social justice, 2) supporting, organizing, and advocating for social workers and the issues that impact social workers, and 3) embedding critical and liberatory theory and practice into social work education to promote more effective engagement with clients and communities.