Preparing Social Work Students to Engage Their Clients As Political Actors

Background/Purpose

The existing political science and social work literatures focus on the chilling effects of restrictive election practices. In recent years, these practices have co-occurred with bans on teaching about racial justice and inequalities. The ethical imperative to support the self-determination of clients and communities often translates into a mandate to engage clients and communities as political actors. Other scholars have found that recognizing racial injustice has motivated political action, but if social work educators cannot forthrightly discuss institutionalized racism in the political process, does this effect social work student’s ability to engage their clients as political actors? This study seeks to respond to that question.

Methods

Data come from a self-administered survey of a sample of geographically and racially diverse MSW students. There was a total of 435 responses from 24 different states, with 55% of respondents enrolled in Californian social work programs. Respondents were asked to whether they agree, or disagree, with a series of statements (four items) that assess for teaching about racism, e.g. In class, you’ve had opportunities to discuss institutional racism. Their beliefs about the U.S. political system were assessed to measure general beliefs about democracy (e.g. The American political system is the best system). There were six items. Their political behavior was assessed by asking whether they voted in the 2022 Midterm Elections, a single manifest variable. To assess willingness to engage clients as political actors, respondents were asked whether to what evet are they willing to or have encouraged participants to influence the political process, e.g. Encourage clients to attend community meetings about an issue that affects their community. All items were latent constructs. Data were analyzed in Mplus version 8.9 and relevant demographics were included in the analysis.

Results

The structural equation model indicated good fit (CFI/TLI = .912/.892; RMSEA = .048; 90% CI .041, .055).Teaching students about institutional racism was a predictor of social work students’ political behavior with clients (B = .136, p = .014) while political system beliefs were not (B = .136, p = .014). Having voted in the 2022 Midterm Elections was also positively associated with political behavior with clients (B = .195, p < .001). Lastly, students who identified as macro social workers reported greater willingness to engage their clients to engage in political behaviors (B = .206, p < .001).

Conclusion and Implications

Preparing social work students for their ethical obligation to respect self-determination and engage in political action may require preparing them to recognize how institutionalized racism operates. In states with bans on teaching about racial justice, social work students may have limited conversations on such topics which may result their reluctance to encourage the political actions of their clients. Given that social work students work with individuals who have been marginalized by the political process, this chilling effect may further marginalize such individuals. Social workers should advocate for the repeal of these bans.