“You probably shouldn't trust me”: Exploring Socialist and/or Abolitionist Social Worker Resistance in the Workplace

Abstract

Social work is a profession deeply entrenched in sustaining settler-colonial and capitalist hegemony (de Montigny, 2022; Fortier & Hon-Sing Wong, 2019; Jeffery, 2002; Thobani, 2007).This contradictory positioning has led to ongoing tensions between enacting care and exerting control within social work practice (Chambon, 1999). This research explored how socialist and/or abolitionist social workers use their political worldviews and values when engaging in social work practice, and more specifically in resistance strategies in the workplace. Specific emphasis was placed on exploring how these social workers engage with institutional processes that are carceral in nature, alongside how they conceptualize their organizing/activism efforts within their own social work practice. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, it was found that social workers utilize various strategies and tactics to negotiate their professionalized power. This active process of negotiation was best described through the notion of a “dance” between the client and social worker to mitigate the risk of a breach in confidentiality. Among socialist and/or abolitionist practitioners in private practice, resistance was more reflective through the incorporation of political commitments within individualized client care. This was presented through modalities oriented towards somatic processing and self-discovery, as opposed to skills-based approaches found within Evidence-Based Practice. Participants also shared how politicizing therapy operates through orienting clients to build community and engage in organizing/activism work. Lastly, participants displayed a tendency to compartmentalize responsibility when trespassing their ethics, which is attributed to the contradictory terrain of socialist and/or abolitionist social work under a settler-colonial and capitalist system.