Social workers in politics–a qualitative analysis of factors influencing social workers’ decision to run for political office

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this qualitative study is to explore factors that influence social workers’ decision to participate in parliamentary politics, and to identify important policy-making skills and competencies of social workers holding elected office. Seven semi-structured biographical interviews with social workers in Switzerland who are serving as elected politicians at local, state, or national levels were conducted and analysed according to the principles of qualitative content analysis. Based on the Civic Voluntarism Model as well as previous studies in the field of socialisation research, this study identifies families of origin and mobilisation networks as main influencing factors, alongside with professional experience in social work that also plays a significant role. It can be further concluded that important skills to be successful in policy-making processes are acquired through social work education and professional practice. The results support existing findings and emphasise that to further promote political engagement, political action should be more strongly integrated into social work education and encouraged by professional associations.