Politics for Social Workers: A Practical Guide to Effecting Change

by Stephen Pimpare

The social work profession calls on its members to strive for social justice. It asks aspiring and practicing social workers to advocate for political change and take part in political action on behalf of marginalized people and groups. Yet this macro goal is often left on the back burner as the day-to-day struggles of working directly with clients take precedence. And while most social workers have firsthand knowledge of how public policy neglects or outright harms society’s most vulnerable, too few have training in the political processes that created these policies.

This book is a concise, accessible guide to help social workers understand how politics and policy making really work―and what they can do to help their clients and their communities. Helping readers develop sustainable strategies at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, this book is a hands-on manual to contemporary American politics, showing social workers and social work students how to engage in effective activism. Stephen Pimpare, a political scientist with extensive experience as a social work practitioner and instructor, offers informed, practical grounding in the mechanics of policy making and the tools that activists and outsiders can use to take on an entrenched system. He distills key research and insights from political science and related disciplines into a practical resource for social work students, instructors, and practitioners looking to deepen their policy knowledge and capacity to achieve change.

Genres: Social Work

256 pages, Paperback

Published November 23, 2021

About the author

Stephen Pimpare is founder and director of the UNH Public Service & Nonprofit Leadership Program and a Faculty Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy; he has previously taught at Columbia University, NYU, Simmons University, and the City University of New York. His second book, A People's History of Poverty in America, received the Michael Harrington Award from the American Political Science Association “for demonstrating how scholarship can be used in the struggle for a better world.”

Pimpare previously served as a senior-level administrator of not-for-profit organizations addressing issues of poverty, hunger, and homelessness throughout New York City. One of the programs he helped to create, One City Café, New York’s first non-profit restaurant, was hailed by the New York Times as “the reinvention of the soup kitchen” and subsequently received the Victory Against Hunger Award from the U.S. Congressional Hunger Center.

Reviews

[Del Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It's scathing assault on authoritarian populism, Trumpism, neo-liberalism and all things whitey-righty is brilliant and needed.

It's not a text book. It's much more enjoyable. Recommended for anyone interested in policy-making or lobbying. Anyone seeking to improve their understanding of American politics (and politics in general) will find this a worthwhile read.

[Bethanie Krinhop · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get into this book and would easily get distracted by all of the references. I can’t tell you what I learned because it was all jibberish to me and seemed pretty repetitive.

[Jeff Mohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book that all social work students should read who are really invested in strategies for progressive social change.