As social workers in March observe Social Work Month 2015, we should be mindful that this is the centennial year of Abraham Flexner’s presentation before the 42nd annual session of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections in Baltimore, Maryland.
In what has become one of the most cited addresses in social work literature, Flexner, a noted medical educator, asserted that social work was not a profession.
A review of Flexner’s address in its entirety shows that he actually had much respect for social workers. Despite this admiration, he viewed social work as a mediating rather than an original agency. In this, he was referring to our function as brokers through which we connect our clients with the appropriate services. It was this particular social work activity that caused Flexner to conclude that it is “suggestive therefore to view social work as in touch with many professions rather than as a profession in and by itself.”
During Social Work Month, I hope that there will be fresh dialogue into Flexner’s assertions related to where social work stands today. Toward that end I am delighted to note that two students in the Baccalaureate Social Work Program at Mississippi Valley State University will present an electronic poster on the Flexner Centennial at the Annual Program Meeting for the Mississippi Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in late March. The Conference will be held in Biloxi.
There is much more that social workers should do to reflect upon where the profession is 100 years after Flexner. We promote social work education by pointing out to students the many different fields of practice they will be able to enter with a social work degree. It was this versatility of the profession, however, that confounded Flexner and caused him to wonder what social workers specifically do. Perhaps it is time for us to look more closely into the status of social work related to other professions. We may also wish to rearticulate what it is that social workers do in common.
Social work overall has a purpose, a function and a code of ethics. In our schools of social work, we teach, or at least should teach, the generalist method. In actuality, social work is an agency-based profession, and too often the agency decides what social work is. This fact seems reminiscent of Flexner’s uncertainty of our professional status. Social work too often is defined by other professionals, including nurses, psychologists, educators, elected officials and agency bureaucrats.
Social workers should use 2015 to reflect upon Flexner’s criticisms and work toward gaining control over the discourse related to our professional status. We must stand for our profession, for indeed we are professionals, and be the ones who decide what social work practice entails in any agency, public or private.
• Vincent J. Venturini is a visiting part-time professor of social work at Mississippi Valley State University. He is a former chair of the department.
