Social Workers Portrayed Inaccurately on the Big Screen
Freeman, Miriam. Deborah P. Valentine. Through the Eyes of Hollywood: Images of Social Workers in Film. Social Work 49(2): 151-161, 2004.

Social workers in movies are most frequently portrayed as white middle-class heterosexual women, according to the results of a study reported in the April issue of Social Work, the journal of the National Association of Social Workers (Vol. 49, No. 2).

Authors Miriam L. Freeman of the University of South Carolina and Deborah P. Valentine of Colorado State University argue that these characterizations are not truthful reflections of the industry. They suggest that social workers, particularly those leading the NASW, need to provide consultation with media representatives "to educate them about the realities of social work practice and thus contribute to the shaping of popular culture media."

The researchers' evidence also suggests that movies portray their kind as working generally in child welfare, likely to be incompetent, engaging in sexual relationships with clients, working mostly with people in poverty, and maintaining the status quo.

Freeman and Valentine say inaccurate public perception of the duties of social workers negatively influences the social problems with which they deal, and is a main cause behind low social work salaries.

In 1997, then-NASW Executive Director Josephine Nieves made improving social workers' media images a top priority. Two years later, the association created a social work image (SWIm) team to further this goal.

Using the research of noted feminist thinker Bell Hooks as a foundation, the authors were able to analyze 44 movies from 1938-1998 that either featured the term "social worker" or a character that performed a clearly identifiable social work function. The roles portrayed a number of stereotypes, such as do-gooders, meddlers, bureaucrats, seductresses, and rescuers.

They state that while two thirds of social workers are female, 36 of the 44 films (81 percent) featured females in the social worker role. And though the statistics on race are not given for the real world work force, the researchers point out that all but two of the movies in which and African American social workers appeared were made in the 1990s.

While many of these 44 films fell into the drama category, which often seeks to be more realistic than other genres, others showed social workers in obviously fantastical situations. For example, the authors included in their tally a bird social worker from Sesame Street's "Follow That Bird," a deceased social worker from "Beetlejuice," and a character from the comedy "Austin Powers." They also state that cannibalism, as featured in the 1989 movie "Parents," is "certainly an issue that captures the attention of many social workers."

To fully rectify the negative stereotyping of social workers in the media, Freeman and Valentine urge their colleagues to "work toward greater clarity among themselves" about what they do, and how and why they do it.

Posted on April 26, 2004