Paradoxes of professionalization

This chapter examines what we call the paradoxes of professionalization that are present in the social work profession, brought on by capitalism, neoliberalism and other forms of economic and racial domination. In particular, this chapter explores how these paradoxes intersect with social work’s partnership with the carceral state and the profession’s complicity in its harms, creating a reality in which carceral social work is hegemonic in the profession itself. This is followed by an analysis of several crises brought on by these paradoxes including social work’s obligations to the state, asymmetrical accountabilities, resource dependency, and silence and suppression on some matters of oppression and social justice. This chapter concludes with a framework for recovering social work from professionalization, toward a more deprofessionalized practice through the abolitionist practice of preconfiguration, building power and care outside institutions, and acting in resistance within institutions.