Resisting the Impact of Neoliberalism: Creating Strategies for Resistance in Social Work Education

Overview: The aim of this interactive workshop is to discuss the impact of neoliberalism on social work, develop collective multi-level strategies that resist the status quo, and promote the breaking down of silos in teaching social work through discussing concrete recommendations.Proposal text: Social workers primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems and to challenge social injustice (NASW, 2017). Social workers work within multiple systems with the end goal of supporting communities who are marginalized by addressing larger social problems. However, the trajectory of our government and subsequent (racist; oppressive) policies, particularly over the past 40 years, has changed the course of our profession. The uprise of neoliberalism has created vast inequities and injustices among communities that are marginalized (often Black and Brown) - communities that social workers should be helping. Simply put, Neoliberalism favors efficiency over quality, decreased role of government in social service provision, and emphasizes the role of individuals rather than structures (Harvey, 2007; Mehrotra, Kimball, & Wahab, 2016; Reisch, 2013). Thus, inevitably, neoliberalism has shaped the ways in which social workers are educated, the systems/institutions they work in, and the policies that govern the communities they work with (Abramovitz & Zelnick, 2015; Gray et al., 2015). In order to challenge the consequences of neoliberalism on social work education and practice, it is necessary to create collective strategies that are community centered, social justice informed, and multi-level.
Currently, issues around social work education and practice are rooted and driven
by neoliberal ideologies and practices. Firstly, there is little emphasis in social work education and continuing education on the ways in which macro factors (policies, environments, etc.) shape individual outcomes. Namely, social work perpetuates the either/or lens, creating a false dichotomy of macro and micro, when in fact, it is a spectrum. The underemphasis of connecting macro factors to individual outcomes has perpetuated neoliberalism ideology by upholding the idea of individual responsibility. This overemphasis of an individual/micro level analysis undermines the examination and impact of racist and oppressive policies amongst other aspects of power. Secondly, on a mezzo level, organizations are forced to do more work with less funding. The situation is particularly dire in parts of the US South where state governments are less likely to support social service programs. This often compromises the environments social workers work in, fostering disempowerment in creating change within their organizations out of fearing for their jobs. From a social work education perspective, they are not trained to resist within organizational structures. Thirdly, on the individual/micro level, social workers and the communities they are meant to serve often suffer due to vicarious trauma and burnout which are common among social workers, particularly for those working in fields where funding has been cut (Abramovitz & Zelnick, 2010).
We must transform the ways we teach students in the classroom from a siloed approach to one that is more integrated in nature, where the connections between macro and micro are made not only in macro classes but direct practice as well. The aim of this interactive workshop is to discuss the impact of neoliberalism on social work, develop collective multi-level strategies that resist the status quo, and promote the breaking down of silos in teaching social work through discussing concrete recommendations.