Series | Left Turn in Social Work Education: The Harmful Effects of a Narrow Political Ideology

The Dissidents

In this week's episode Elizabeth and Matt Watson discuss ideology in his field of social work. A recently published survey study confirmed that a trend toward liberalism in higher education faculty is even stronger in social work and the researchers expressed less concern about this than we'd hoped. We consider what the findings and the tone of the article mean for the field. We also discuss the social work code of ethics and potential conflicts created by the preponderance of progressive faculty and elaborate on the importance of diversity of thought in both social work education and social work itself. We also reached out to the author and Dr. Stephen Stoeffler joined us for a follow up. We asked Stephen about provisions for protecting religious and political views, and how social work faculty can avoid alienating their less progressive students at a time when the field needs more good candidates. Stephen expressed an openness and commitment to viewpoint diversity in social work classrooms and practice. He also reiterated his beliefs that the field's alignment with the progressive left is appropriate and that social work education should maintain that focus. We all agreed that these are the kind of difficult conversations we need in the fields of social work and social work education.

Podcast notes

Stoeffler, S., Young, B. & Hassler, M. (2023). Embracing our values: Social work faculty progressivism in a conservative world. International Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 20, 194-219

LSW Matt Watson from our ILV partner, ProSocial Workers is co host this week.

ProSocial Workers is committed to creating a viewpoint inclusive and politically diverse environment for social workers and other helping professionals. Professionals can find support and continuing education at ProSocialWorkers.com.

Get access the full author Q&A here: https://prosocialworkers.com/courses/the-case-for-and-against-political-orthodoxy-in-social-work/

First part of the series: Critical vs. Classical Social Justice in Social Work