ABSTRACT

The aim of this qualitative study is to explore factors that influence social workers’ decision to participate in parliamentary politics, and to identify important policy-making skills and competencies of social workers holding elected office. Seven semi-structured biographical interviews with social workers in Switzerland who are serving as elected politicians at local, state, or national levels were conducted and analysed according to the principles of qualitative content analysis. Based on the Civic Voluntarism Model as well as previous studies in the field of socialisation research, this study identifies families of origin and mobilisation networks as main influencing factors, alongside with professional experience in social work that also plays a significant role. It can be further concluded that important skills to be successful in policy-making processes are acquired through social work education and professional practice. The results support existing findings and emphasise that to further promote political engagement, political action should be more strongly integrated into social work education and encouraged by professional associations.

摘要

这项定性研究的目的是探索影响社会工作者决定参与议会政治的因素，并确定担任民选职位的社会工作者的重要决策技能和能力。Seven semi-structured biographical interviews with social workers in Switzerland who are serving as elected politicians at local, state, or national levels were conducted and analysed according to the principles of qualitative content analysis. 本研究基于公民志愿主义模型以及社会化研究领域的先前研究，确定出身家庭和动员网络是主要影响因素，此外，社会工作的专业经验也起着重要作用。可以进一步得出结论，在决策过程中取得成功的重要技能是通过社会工作教育和专业实践获得的。结果支持现有的调查结果，并强调为了进一步促进政治参与，政治行动应更强烈地融入社会工作教育并受到专业协会的鼓励。