Factors Influencing the Political Activity of Social Workers: A Comparative Study Among Swiss and United States Social Workers

Abstract

Published article: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol49/iss1/8 Various international and national social work ethical principles call social workers to participate in politics, yet not much research exists in the field of a political so-cial work. Little is known about the actual voluntary political engagement of social workers as well as factors influencing their political activity. Especially, few stud-ies with an international comparison focus have been conducted. Consequently, this study used cross sectional survey design to better understand the factors in-fluencing the political activity of social workers in Switzerland (n = 1242) and in the United States (n = 3033). The results indicate that the political activity of so-cial workers is strongly associated with the political influence of parents, with membership in a professional social work association as well as with political effi-cacy. There are some differences between Swiss and US social workers, mainly concerning the influence of memberships in trade unions. As one of few interna-tional practice comparison pieces, this article aims to further stimulate the dis-course on social workers’ political activity. For this purpose, implications for social work education, practice, and research are outlined in the final section.

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