Social workers as politicians. A quantitative study on social workers holding elected office in Germany

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is a reciprocal relationship between social work and (social) policy: (i) social workers act on the basis of social policy guidelines, and (ii) they should contribute to changing these frameworks in the interest of their profession and of service users. Previous studies have outlined different routes for social workers to influence policy: One of these is referred to as ‘holding elected office’. This paper provides a descriptive analysis of social workers with political mandates in Germany. My first step is to compile a comprehensive dataset of current members of parliament to identify social workers. I then conduct an online survey among this group to learn more about their political socialisation processes, their political career paths, and their current political work. My results show that social workers accept mandates at all political levels, with their share being lowest at the national level. The decision of social workers to become directly involved in politics is closely linked to the experiences that they have gained in their professional practice. The process of politicisation tends to run parallel to their professional careers.