Making Change Where it Counts: Social Work and Elected Office
Meehan, Patrick
2019
Abstract
I. Candidate-centered elections require individual motivation to fill all the available offices in this U.S. Explanations for these motivations have been underdeveloped in the political science literature, which assumes individuals pursue elected office because they are ambitious (Black, 1972; Schlesinger, 1966). Using interviews with 32 individuals on either side of the decision to run for office, this study introduces the concept political primacy to explain motivations for pursuing elected office. The term refers to the value individuals assign to elected office’s ability to make positive change, relative to alternative ways of making positive change. This study measures this concept’s relationship to interest in running for office on 745 graduate students in the Michigan Law & Social Work Study. Results indicate the more students see serving in local government as a better way of contributing to the community, the more interested they are in running for office. Implications for the candidate eligibility pool are discussed, including recruitment using difference-making appeals. II. Women are understood to be less interested in running for office in general (Fox & Lawless, 2005), and to wait later in life to run than men (Fulton et al., 2006). However, treating women as monolithic in relation to elected office ignores important within-group variation. Using data from the Michigan Law & Social Work Study, a sample of 745 graduate students in social work and law, respectively, this study considers how women vary in terms of their interest in running for office, and sense of qualifications for doing so. Results suggest MSW women were more interested in running for local office, while JD women were more interested in higher office. Even so, MSW women saw their qualifications as a significant barrier to running, while JD women did not. Moreover, these doubts acted as a significant drag on their interest in running, controlling for additional factors. This relationship was not observed in JD women. Content analysis revealed that women felt this way because they did not believe they had the knowledge and experience to run for local office. Our understanding of women as political actors should account for such within-group variations. Regarding MSW women, specifically, field placements in political offices might be a way to provide women in MSW programs with knowledge and experience they say they are lacking. III. Social workers are enjoying unprecedented political power and influence. Having elected social workers makes it easier for the profession to address the Grand Challenges of the 21st century, such as ending homelessness and building financial capability for all (AASWSW, 2018). Educators have an opportunity to capitalize on this moment to message to students about the virtues of running for and holding elected office as a way of making progress on the Grand Challenges. Using data from the Michigan Law & Social Work Study, this study reports the results of an experiment to increase MSW student interest in running for office. Unlike their macro counterparts, micro-practice students are less likely to have pre-existing ideas about elected office’s ability to end homelessness, specifically, or make a difference generally. It was hypothesized an instructor’s invitation to consider running for office emphasizing the difference-making potential of elected office would increase interest for micro-students specifically. Results suggest the difference-making message did increase interest in running for micro-students. Implications for social work education are discussed.Subjects
Candidate Emergence Gender Social Work Education Politics Survey Experiment
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