Social Work: What's In It For Me?

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I am reminded that there are many motives for entering the social work profession. If you ask a person why they became a social worker they will usually say, "because I wanted to help other people," but a student addressed an interesting question to our class the other day: "Did you enter social work mostly to help other people (maximize their potential) or did you do it to (actualize) yourself?"

It was a good question. I can hear the chorus of denials from many social workers, that they are thoroughly altruistic and there is nothing in it for themselves in the least. I'm not sure that this is the healthiest way to think about social work.

It's fairly obvious that most social workers don't want to come off as being someone who promotes themselves at the expense of others -- or they don't want to acknowledge it if this is what they are doing. A social worker would violate the code of ethics if they deliberately fostered client dependency, and if their driving motivation was to boost their own self-esteem, by becoming important in someone else's eyes. But there is another form of self-interest that is not dysfunctional -- in fact, one can argue that it is essential in order to be a good social worker; the quality of solidarity with the human condition -- particularly in their loneliness and suffering. It's easy to share their joys; the real test is whether or not we have time for them when they are suffering.

I am reminded of a poster I saw in a soup kitchen once. I was working as a volunteer; the poster quoted Lilla Watson, "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because you understand that your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." We work for the liberation of others, not out of pity or condescension, but because we are all bound up together in this struggle for a better life.

When we acknowledge that our liberation is bound to the liberation of other people -- and this liberation can be psychological, spiritual, emotional, economic, or political -- then this would be a healthy form of self-interest.

Pope Benedict, XVI argued, in his encyclical on Love, that when one is afraid, or feels vulnerable, that is not a good time to turn inward in a vain attempt to protect oneself. The cure for fear and weakness is to give yourself, selflessly, to others. The cure for fear and weakness is to reach out, to transcend yourself.

A healthy sense of self-interest, for the social worker, would occur when their practice links them to a larger community rather than continuing to live in fear and isolation, cut off from the experiences of the rest of humanity.

C. Matthew Hawkins