Social Work In Turbulent Times: Insights from Reddit Discussions

Background and Purpose: Attacks on Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ADEI) sentiment and the dismantling of the federal safety net are consequences of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. This presents challenges to social work as the profession maintains an ethical commitment to equity and social justice. At the same time, some social workers are challenging these core values of the profession, criticizing what they define as the discipline’s underlying ideology. What is not known is how these policy changes and accompanying rhetoric affect the experiences of social work students and professionals.

This qualitative study examines how social work students and professionals experience the political climate, documenting the practice implications they report. Drawing on public posts from Reddit, a popular social media site, this study explores the real-time reactions of users who post on social work forums (subreddits), as they navigate social service funding cuts and threats to anti-racist and equity-centered pedagogy and practice. This research aims to identify user-generated insights on the impact of the political climate on social work educational environments and practice readiness.

Methods: Discussion threads, including posts and comments, were collected using the Reddit Application Programming Interface from public social work-related subreddits posted between November 6, 2024–July 12, 2025. Discussion threads referencing the presidential election, political climate, funding concerns, curriculum changes, and ADEI topics were included. We analyzed threads using the “sort and sift, think and shift” method of qualitative thematic analysis. A research team of four analyzed the posts and comments (n= 829) through a systematic memoing process focused on the politicized environment and the cognitive and/or emotional framing of text. Memos on relevant posts/comments were used to monitor topics which were collapsed into themes through analytical team meetings. This allowed researchers to dive into the data, then step back and examine findings, which yielded three key themes.

Results: Social media users self-identified as social work students, professionals, and individuals interested in applying for social work programs. We found three key themes: 1) uncertainty about the viability of social work as a career in an era of social service funding cuts; 2) the role of geographic location and the associated risk experienced by social work students, practitioners and their clients; and 3) tension between personal and professional values and their influence on social work practice. This study highlights the far-reaching consequences of anti-ADEI efforts and funding retrenchment on social work education, practice, and professional development, ultimately compromising social worker capacity to provide effective and responsive services.

Conclusions and Implications: By documenting reflections from diverse voices across social work, this analysis underscores the urgency of protecting academic freedom and reaffirming the profession’s commitment to challenging injustice. Findings have implications for curriculum design, program recruitment and enrollment, and the viability of social service delivery at a time when ethical obligations increasingly conflict with institutional and political constraints.