The everyday civic engagement of social work students

Abstract

Processes like globalization and digitalization are changing the way people civically engage, but policies and organizations that aim to cultivate or promote civic engagement have not yet acknowledged these new forms of participation. Social work is a profession that aims to foster civic engagement as a way to strengthen social cohesion. In this article, the civic engagement of social work students is examined. As young people they use contemporary means of engagement, and as students they are preparing for a professional future in which they will foster civic engagement. With the help of participant observations, we gathered data that shows where students’ civic engagement takes place, how they engage, and how they perceive this engagement. We found that students mainly engage through informal and short-term online communication on social media applications like Instagram and TikTok. However, instead of perceiving those actions as civic engagement, they see them as leisure activities or even a waste of time. The insights from this article can help to develop and improve social work education and social work strategies to foster the civic engagement of citizens now and in the future.