Social Work Advocacy: Professional Self-Interest and Social Justice

Authors

Mary Ellen Brown, Arizona State UniversityFollow
Michelle M. Livermore, Louisiana State UniversityFollow
Annahita R. Ball, University at Buffalo, State University of New YorkFollow

Keywords

Advocacy, content analysis, NASW, social justice, social work

Abstract

This study employed an analysis of the advocacy-related resources and materials available through the 50 NASW state chapter websites. Results revealed that a large number of states had no information about advocacy on their websites (42%). One third of the mission statements reviewed contained language indicating that advocacy was part of the chapter mission, while nearly as many included no content related to advocacy or social justice on their homepages. Nearly two thirds of the websites contained no resources, tools or links to help with advocacy practice, promotion or education. Thirteen advocacy themes emerged, which represented policy issues within the state advocacy agendas. Professional Self-Interest was the issue with the highest frequency (17%) across the 2010 state chapter agendas, but the 12 other social justice issues combined dominated the legislative agendas (83%). Professional selfinterest issues accounted for the highest rate of prevalence on state agendas, as it appeared on 86% of the chapter agendas analyzed.

Recommended Citation

Brown, Mary Ellen; Livermore, Michelle M.; and Ball, Annahita R. (2015) "Social Work Advocacy: Professional Self-Interest and Social Justice," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 42: Iss. 3, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.3919
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol42/iss3/4