How Social Workers use the available Power Resources in Policy Advocacy
Social workers have a lot of power at their disposal. However, very few comprehend the complexity of the power they have been given by the profession. There are a lot of things that a social worker is mandated to do by the profession but very few harness the opportunities available. The different opportunities for policy advocacy in the society can be utilized through the incorporation and use of the available power resources. Some of the resources available to social workers and that have been used by social workers in spreading policies and advocating for policy change include; person-person power, substantive power, process, and procedural power resources.
Of all these powers, I would choose to use person- person power to impact change in the society. People are a tool one can use for change in society. Societal change must begin with the people. This means that influencing the people towards change is among the biggest resources available to social workers. Imparting a policy to a certain group of people and charging them to spread the word amongst themselves works pretty well for me. It helps the policy reach in places one could not reach individually. One of the biggest challenges associated with this powerful resource is the bias that people possess. People are prone to altering messages they are supposed to pass to others, and this could affect the policy transmission and the various ideas meant to bring about change in society. People could also fail to spread the ideas if they are not favorable to them or they have little to gain.
References
Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.
Rocha, C., Poe, B., & Thomas, V. (2010). Political activities of social workers: Addressing perceived barriers to political participation. Social Work, 55(4), 317–325.