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The political participation of social workers: a comparative study
Author(s) -
Gray Mel,
Collett van Rooyen Colin,
Rennie Gavin,
Gaha Jo
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of social welfare
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1468-2397
pISSN - 1369-6866
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2397.00204
Subject(s) - politics , social work , context (archaeology) , political science , state (computer science) , work (physics) , social policy , economic growth , sociology , socioeconomics , demographic economics , gender studies , geography , economics , mechanical engineering , archaeology , engineering , algorithm , computer science , law
This article reports on a comparative study that examined the political participation of social workers in KwaZulu‐Natal province in South Africa, the state of New South Wales (excluding the Hunter region) in Australia, and New Zealand. Each of these contexts had roughly the same number of social workers, that is, approximately 1,200. It was found that social workers in New Zealand tended to be more politically active than their counterparts in New South Wales and KwaZulu‐Natal, and the reasons for this are examined. In the process, New Zealand is presented as a case study of the way in which social work has responded to its political context. Finally, conclusions are drawn as to the engagement of social workers in the policy cycle and of the need for them to become more active politically.