Political Involvement of Social Workers in Majority and Minority Groups: Comparison of Palestinians-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli

Previous research has examined the political involvement of social workers and their encouragement of their clients to be politically active. However, few studies have investigated this topic by comparing minority and majority groups. The current research focused on the political involvement of social workers themselves, their encouragement of clients to be politically involved, and the types of political involvement they engage in. Differences in these aspects between two groups - minority (Palestinian-Israeli) and majority (Jewish-Israeli) social workers - were also examined. One hundred and sixty-five social workers in northern Israel (Palestinian Israelis and Jewish Israelis), randomly selected from social service departments, completed self-report questionnaires. The results revealed low levels of political involvement across groups, with more encouragement of clients to be politically involved than political involvement of social workers themselves. Social workers engaged more in negotiating, as consensus-type, than in the other types of activity examined. According to their reports, the Palestinian-Israeli social workers were involved more than their Jewish-Israeli colleagues in political action and in encouraging their clients to be involved. Future training programmes should highlight the importance of political activity amongst Israeli social workers, encouraging future practitioners to participate in direct and indirect involvement and develop their sense of political efficacy.