Your above comment is insightful and is why I included the "in many areas, at least" caveat. I don't know enough about social work to have a very strong opinion on this, but from what you wrote it sounds like the problem isn't professionalization per se, but professionalization by replacing supervised, experiential learning with a more classroom- and degree-focused curriculum. If social work was professionalized but the education/training requirement looked like this:
It would be so much better to just have supervision requirements (e.g. you have to do your first X years under the supervision of somebody who has Y years of experience- we already have requirements like these for after people get their degrees, and to be clear “supervision” in this context is more like mentorship and it doesn’t have to be done with someone who actually has hiring/firing power over you).
Would the professionalization aspect still be a big problem?
Yes, because it's professionalization that turned the vast majority of social workers into therapists. It's professionalization that removed what radical elements existed in social work.
I mean, I don't want to oversell it, there were other factors that led to that. But I do think that professionalization was one of the most important factors.
Your above comment is insightful and is why I included the "in many areas, at least" caveat. I don't know enough about social work to have a very strong opinion on this, but from what you wrote it sounds like the problem isn't professionalization per se, but professionalization by replacing supervised, experiential learning with a more classroom- and degree-focused curriculum. If social work was professionalized but the education/training requirement looked like this:
Would the professionalization aspect still be a big problem?
Yes, because it's professionalization that turned the vast majority of social workers into therapists. It's professionalization that removed what radical elements existed in social work.
I mean, I don't want to oversell it, there were other factors that led to that. But I do think that professionalization was one of the most important factors.