The Quest for a Radical Profession: Social Service Careers and Political Ideology

by David Wagner

This book, based on in-depth interviews of radical social workers, who at one time were associated with the Catalyst collective, explores through oral history the social psychological effects of upward mobility on political ideology. Historically large numbers of idealistic activists entered social work and other human services professions, but there have been few studies about the careers of such individuals and what has happened to radicals who pursue careers as community organizers, caseworkers or therapists, administrators or planners. A Radical Professionalism?; Radical Social Work; The Moral Careers of Radical Social Service WorkersóBecoming Radical, Becoming Social Workers, Images of Success/Worlds of Pain, and Occupations and Ideology; Radicalism, Social Action, and Social Service CareersóThe Decline of Oppositional Activism, Politics at the Retail "Radical Practice", The Absorption of Radicalism; and Bibliography.

274 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22, 1990

About the author

David Wagner, Ph.D., MSW