Predictors of Feminist Activism among Social Work Students in the United States

Abstract

While social workers advocate against domestic violence, sexual harassment, and restrictive reproductive practices, there have been virtually no studies on the reasons behind their feminist activism. To address this oversight, this study documented the extent of feminist activism among American undergraduate social work students (n = 159). When moving to explanatory analysis, our data suggest that feminist activism was related to greater educational attainment, knowing activist peers, recognizing heterosexism, and internalizing a commitment to social justice. Moreover, electoral activism was tied to the rejection of traditional gender norms in the family and perceptions of social movement tactics were crucial to protesting for women's rights.

Keywords::

• Activism
• Collective Behavior
• Feminism
• Political Participation
• Self-concept
• Social Movements

Notes

^[1] Clearly this response rate was neither high nor random. Professors who never read email automatically removed themselves from the sample and the willingness to distribute the surveys was not constant throughout the different sorts of schools and disciplines. For the sample of all professors, around 2% of the Research professors distributed surveys, while 13% of professors at masters-granting universities did so. Likewise, less than 1% of Chemistry, Biology and Physics professors assisted in this project while professors in Political Science, Sociology and Social Work were most receptive to requests for participation (11%). Of the social work professors who actually distributed surveys, all of them taught research or policy classes.