The Myth That's Keeping Social Workers Quiet | Dr. Joe Hanley (UK)

What if everything social workers have been told about how the public sees them is wrong? Dr. Joe Hanley joins Professor Ace from the United Kingdom to challenge the myth, name the politics, and trace the quiet privatization of public service.In this episode of The Critical Social Worker: A Revolutionary Storytelling Podcast, Dr. Joe Hanley — lecturer in social work at the Open University and author of The Social Work Public Perception Myth — shares his path from law, to street-level housing and homelessness work, to academic research that turns the spotlight onto policymakers instead of the people social workers serve.We talk about the state of social work education in the UK, the disparity between paid and unpaid placements, the cost-of-living crisis pushing social work students into food banks, and why so many social workers stay silent on the political conditions shaping their practice. Joe shares his concept of the "public perception myth" — the widely repeated but unevidenced claim that the public dislikes social workers — and traces the cross-Atlantic story of how Teach for America became Teach First in the UK, then expanded into social work, policing, and prisons. We also get into the influence of sports, celebrity, and reality TV on political discourse, and why dissent is not optional for a profession with a history reaching back to Clement Attlee.Dr. Hanley is currently writing a book on the co-opting of public service for private interests. Watch for it.— — —🎙️ The Critical Social Worker is hosted by Professor Ace (Christian Stettler), Assistant Professor of Social Work at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.▶️ Subscribe on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thecriticalsocialworker?sub_confirmation=1🌐 Revolutionary Social Work: https://revolutionarysocialwork.com📧 Contact Professor Ace: [email protected] Dr. Joe Hanley:🎓 Open University profile: https://profiles.open.ac.uk/joe-hanley🦋 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/joehanley.bsky.social💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-hanley-7747a154📄 The Social Work Public Perception Myth (BASW): https://basw.co.uk/policy-and-practice/resources/social-work-public-perception-myth📰 Genealogy of Discourse (GAPS): https://gaps.org.uk/the-social-work-public-perception-myth-a-genealogy-of-discourse/00:00 Intro00:35 Theme Song01:32 Meet Dr. Joe Hanley: From Law to Social Work06:03 Social Work Education in the UK & the Shift Online10:25 The Paid vs. Unpaid Placement Crisis15:07 Politics, Trump, and Social Work's Silence19:47 The Public Perception Myth24:13 "Every Social Worker Is an Agitator" — Dissent & Leadership32:32 Teach for America, Teach First & the Privatization of Public Service38:56 The Linda McMahon / WWE / Teach for America Connection45:43 Sports, Celebrity & Political Spectacle51:01 Public Sentiment, MAGA, and the UK's Own Reckoning56:29 Closing & Thanks#socialwork #criticalsocialwork #revolutionarysocialwork #socialworkeducation #teachforamerica #teachfirst #socialworkpodcast #criticalpedagogy