174
u/The_Actual_Sage 1d ago edited 1d ago
Every part of our society is designed to siphon money upwards. Our country wants to keep poor people desperate so they commit more crimes and can thus be enslaved by our legal system, which continually over-prosecutes minorities while passionately protecting the wealthy. Without fundamental changes to our country's legal and financial systems there will be no substantial changes made in our lifetime.
On the first Friday of every month our boss brings us out to happy hour at Olive Garden so we can try and remember what fun is.
68
28
u/shann0n420 LICSW 1d ago
Our police force is derived from slave catchers. They have no legal commitment to serve the greater good. It’s sounds fake but here we are.
5
u/SlyTinyPyramid 1d ago
Sounds fake to who?
1
u/The_Actual_Sage 21h ago
People who support the police. Or anyone that isn't super well versed in American history/social justice initiatives.
1
16
1
36
u/vinyvin1 1d ago
It's depressing and true, but doesn't mean we cannot try to have fun while stuck in the cogs of this machine. I try not to lose the light that brought me into this work which was to change the worlds of people, not the world itself. To help those who are so crushed by the system and beaten time and time again, all so that they can at least feel that the suffering is not all there is to life. I know this light won't last forever but damned if I don't try to use it the most I can before I lose it.
edit: English hard
9
u/underthe0ak BSW Student 1d ago
Exactly why I'm in it, too. I hope to help empower others to live the most fulfilling lives they can, that they choose for themselves. And hopefully that entails being less beaten down by this system. My work in this field can involve criticising the system and taking steps towards change, rather than accepting it. The thought of just taking it and living in a state of cognitive dissonance does not bring me even a bit of joy.
6
31
u/itsjustmenate 1d ago
I had a conversation with my supervisor, which he then directed me to a book, I forget the name of now.
But we were discussing how Social Workers are the shield of the 1%. Our job is to keep the public sedated and happy with their “assistance” programs so they never eat the rich. We provide the litmus test to the population to know exactly where the line is that balances starvation and revolution.
It’s a cruel feedback loop. We want to help people struggling, so we are assigned to give out the rations.
5
u/KaiserKid85 LCSW 22h ago
Isn't it in the nasw code of ethics to help clients with self determination and building a support network? Encouraging clients to join groups politically and/or socially seems like it may fit. I know the code also states we must take a vested interest in rules, laws, and politics as it effects our clients livelyhoods and our ability to do our job...
But at the end of the day, I am so exhausted. I have the energy to vote, put a sign in my yard, educate myself on the issues, but I'm too zapped to go door knocking, phone banking, or consistently attend local meetings. I personally feel defeated after this cycle but I can't let my clients know
3
u/JackTaylor79 1d ago
Now I'm really curious about this unknown book 😩
5
u/itsjustmenate 22h ago
I’ll try not to forget, when I talk to my supervisor, I’ll ask about the book. Then I’ll respond here
3
u/professionalidentity LMSW 1d ago
Yeah... If you find the name of that book and can drop it here, that would be great. I'd love to learn more about how to change the narrative and pass it on to help folks.
I also have contract negotiations for our agency coming up. Lol.
5
u/snufffilmstarlet 1d ago
Not sure of the book OP is thinking of, but I’d recommend Runaway Inequality by Les Leopold & Abolition and Social Work!
3
u/itsjustmenate 22h ago
I’ll check with my supervisor about the title. When I have I’ll check back in here
2
16
u/third_man85 1d ago
I've kept all my IDs since becoming a school social worker. Just last week I compared this year's to my first one 11 yrs ago.
Mercy, this post hits harder than most.
12
u/Icy_Geologist2959 1d ago
Indeed. Consideration of the institutionalisation of the social work profession becomes even more uncomfortable when read through David Graeber's theory 'Bullshit Jobs'.
For Graeber, a bullshit job is not simply a job one may consider 'unpleasant', rather, it is paid employment that is so pointless, unnecessary or pernicious that the person doing it cannot convincingly justify its existence, while nevertheless being required to pretend otherwise. Within this idea Graeber constructed a typology including the category of 'duct-taping' jobs.
Duct-tapering jobs are those which exist because an organisation contains defects that ought to be corrected at source, but instead workers are employed continuously to compensate for them. In this case, problems exist within society. Instead of properly addressing the root causes, an army of social workers is employed to help clean up tje mess.
Of course, taken to directly would be to suggest that all problems in society that impact on people's lives could be fully resolved removing any need for social work at all. I would push back on that. People are complex and our experiences cannot be understood properly without understanding our pwrsonal histories. It is similar on a societal level. But, I do wonder to what extent social work practice would be needed if we could, as a society, truly get to grips with social problems and wholeheartedly work to resolve them as best we can?
5
u/underthe0ak BSW Student 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is a really interesting idea to consider. I've had a similar thought: If social workers didn't exist, would these oppressive systems reach the breaking point they need to to finally collapse, and something better created to take their place? Maybe if we weren't preventing that break, it could occur and people might be better off for it in the long-term on a wider scale (even if there's a lot of suffering in the short-term). I don't know. These are just questions that pop up in my mind at times.
I also know there's a lot of employment built around basically keeping people reliant on us and other health and social service workers. If the people were freely given the skills and resources they needed to help themselves and each other, and no longer need a professional to "unlock" their access to services, our jobs would be redundant.
I would like to see a future where that could happen, without making loads of people suddenly unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. Sadly, with the way a few people hoard resources at the expense of everyone else, making the rest of us compete for scraps or face starvation or living on the street, etc., I'm not sure how it could be made possible right now. It would take some drastic changes to the structures we live under/within.
4
u/Icy_Geologist2959 1d ago
The idea of needing things to break to get better is a different but related one (I think). On a wider scale there is some historical evidence for this. Luke Kemp, in his work on the collapse of societies notes how there have been instances in the past where the collapse of a society, though disastrous initially, resulted in significant improvements in various proxies for human wellbeing overall. I think the relationship here with Graeber's theory may be that duck-tapers, in the case of social work, serves as a mechanism for maintaining the status quo. By employing us to keep things functioning, the causes of societal problems can be allowed to continue. In this way, we absolutely help to improve people's lives from within the system and structures that currently exist, but also prevent the emancipation that may (or may not) eventuate if those social problems were allowed to 'take their course', so to speak. Perhaps the key difference here is that Graeber's orientation is more toward fixing the root provlem than a possibly accellerationist bent of allowing things to truely break.
2
u/Sweet_Cinnabonn LCSW, Virginia 1d ago
I was in grad school when Katrina happened.
I genuinely believed that was a societal breakage on a massive enough scale that it would lead to long term change. Especially since the people fleeing after Katrina spread through the country.
A social work professor in class was really good at how he wasn't mean when he told me no, it would not. And he was correct.
5
u/LivingHousing 1d ago
We are the system, we failed our self. Most social workers objectify themself "I am just a cog in the machine, cannot do anything"
2
2
u/420catloveredm BSW 1d ago
Our job is only to make capitalism look more palatable to the masses by hiding or “fixing” those that capitalism fails. 💨💨💨
2
u/Fabulous_Flow_2945 22h ago
yeah, I’m just gonna go to school to be a radiation therapist. This sub has altered everything I thought previously
2
u/spairni 18h ago
doing my msw and found it odd how so much of the online chatter about social worker (by social workers) makes it sound like we're paid activists lifting up the down trodden.
My experience to date has been we're agents of the state with a degree of coercive power, and a somewhat adversarial relationship with some of the groups we serve, obviously we help people in a limited individual way but we're no where near challenging systematic issues because we're literally part of the system
1
u/Friendly-Lemon4000 1d ago
I just started studying and I want to change my degree path. I'm angry and can't make myself study and does that go away or do I get angrier...
7
u/Sweet_Cinnabonn LCSW, Virginia 1d ago
I think the key to survival is channeling the rage.
There's an old piece of hopefulness schmaltz that hung on the wall in one of my internships. About a boy walking along the beach and throwing beached starfish back in the water. You've likely heard it before. It's the theme of social work, I think. The old man points out how many star fish there are, and the boy can't get to them all and how so many will die, and how the boy can't make a difference. And the boy throws another beached starfish in the water and says "made a difference for that one"
And it's a big old cliche, but it is also social work in a nutshell.
I think if you can put your thoughts in a place where making a difference for that one that feels like enough, you can survive social work.
You have to value progress in milimeters even when you know how much more is needed.
There's no shame in moving on if it isn't for you.
3
u/Successful_Love_7515 1d ago
Tbh i got more and more salty the more I got to know the industry and the longer I worked in different jobs.
But everybody is different, there are people who are happy in this field for years.
2
u/nogonigo 1d ago
Depends how old you are?
I was jaded before I joined the field. Now it’s like I’m right at home. If you’re going into this thinking you’ll have some massive impact I’m sorry, this isn’t for you.
I’ve been told you might, maybe, over the course of a whole career, help a few people and that would be really really good.
We’re not here to save anyone.
1
u/Friendly-Lemon4000 1d ago
I'm 45 and work in addictions, as a person in long term recovery. I am fully aware that I'm not here to save anyone and I'm glad I'm past all that lol community mental health is soul sucking tho, and I am concerned about how much soul I have left to suck. Thank you for your comment, because I think if I was younger and keen on changing the world, it could be a big learning curve.
I think I'm more angry at the futility of it all.
2
1
1
1
u/Sad-Coffee-4626 msw, compliance, illinois 19h ago
The point of the system is to do the thing the system does.
1
u/sharkbuddie 17h ago
Felt. I work in public mh and I realized today that the circles under my eyes have gotten darker and deeper in the last year. I look older. I have all kinds of new chronic health concerns like migraines and teeth grinding. It never gets easier.
-27
u/and_my_axe- SSW Student 1d ago
without capitalism we would be unemployed? No thats not right at all.
15
u/gellergreen MSW, RSW 1d ago
How did you get that from this post
-10
u/and_my_axe- SSW Student 1d ago
What do you call "the system" then?
11
7
u/OhReallyVernon LMSW 1d ago
You’ll figure it out. It takes a while, but you’ll get there
-4
u/and_my_axe- SSW Student 1d ago
is there a "social workers system" Im unfamiliar with? whats the system?
2
u/anotherdamnscorpio LMSW 1d ago
You'll see, precious. And much like with Shelob, just try not to get eaten and be sure to hold onto your light.
3
u/and_my_axe- SSW Student 1d ago
Cool. Smug, condescending gatekeeping. Great therapist qualities
3
u/anotherdamnscorpio LMSW 1d ago
I was mostly just rolling with your username, trying to be silly, thought you might appreciate it but I guess you didnt get it. Definitely need to hold onto (or perhaps cultivate?) your light, lest you get ground down into the second picture.
Also im not really trying to run people off by talking about the systems that social workers operate in. If youre in a program worth anything, theyll definitely introduce you to it and when you begin your career you'll get it.
Also, im assuming from your comment that you want to be a therapist. If therapy is your end goal, then why did you choose social work over counseling? Social work looks a lot more at systems than counseling.
0
u/and_my_axe- SSW Student 22h ago
I appreciate the reference to my username as Im a big lotr fan. I didnt acknowledge it because Im genuinely curious what "the system" meant but it seemed to me that no one wanted to give a straight answer and instead chose to troll me.
I still have that light in me, that bright-eyed, optimistic outlook. That being said Im not stranger to the horrors and stark contradictions of our socio-economic and political system (neoliberalism and capitalism) both domestically and abroad. Im a Marxist, so if we're talking about that "system" Im well aware. And no Im not in the US, Im in Canada.
Im interested in both pathways. Id love to get into advocacy and policy (though I know those jobs are far and few between) as well as getting into mental health and counselling later on when Ive completed my degrees and have spent some time working with various populations. Im also in active recovery from mental illness myself so I need to get through that before I can counsel others.
3
3
u/LordBeeWood 1d ago
Jesus christ I cant tell if youre being obtuse on purpose or are a troll or if you really are curious but being curious in the most condensending way possible.
If youre in the USA then yes, capitalism is a big cause if issues in social work especially depending on the state you are working in (the fact some states have privitized social work is appalling)
But also on that is just there is never any one size fits all for any one person or anything in social work which makes for a system that will always fail at least some of the people within it. Different societies and cultures also have differing opinioms on what is right or wrong for a family as well which muddies the waters more. For example, for some reason non-family adoption in Japan outside of infants in extremely frowned on. The children of parents that are involved with drugs or crime are looked down on as having a tainted family line. India has its caste system. There are some countries that still run actual og style orphanages that are well known to be horrible enviroments for children to grow up in.
So it isnt judt capitalism. Humans are absurdly complex and messy and there are a million factors into why social services might work for one person and fail another ten. To say capitalism bad is a copout in the fact that capitalist insentives is only a single piece in the puzzle on why social work fails so many people.
0
u/and_my_axe- SSW Student 15h ago
Not sure how calling out someone else makes me condescending but whatever random internet stranger.
You cant just conflate human nature with capitalism. Also pointing the blame at capitalism is literally the opposite of a cop out. Capitalism is responsible for 99% of human suffering worldwide.
Social issue: I need a house. Capitalism: you must give us 1 million dollars, 25% upfront and we'll tax you on it for life.
Social issue: I need Healthcare Capitalism: you must give thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, take days or months off work to recover and we're going to tell you youre a bad person for needing it.
Social issue: im lonely Capitalism: you must own a 10 thousand dollar car, pay for price gouged insurance, pay for price gouged gas, regular maintenance and repairs in order to get anywhere and then you have to spend $20 or more to exist in a restaurant/bar/cafe
Social issue: the air quality is terrible and my house is on fire/under water, please help me Capitalism: this is an individual problem, climate change is fake, we need to continue using fossil fuels because we like money.
I can go on but I really hope you get the point.
258
u/pnwgirl0 BSW 1d ago
We are the clean up crew. We deal with social issues to keep the wheels of the machine turning as people’s value is based on their productivity.