Films and plays produced before World War II portrayed young social
workers as fallen angels and older social workers as spinsters or
misguided-mother types—images influenced more by political ideology, the audience factor, and attitudes toward women than by any
actual knowledge of the profession. A deconstruction of the archetypes,
which linger today, can help the profession enhance its identity and
esteem and challenge social workers to circulate new stories about
themselves in the popular media.
References
1.
Basinger, J. (1993). A woman's view: How Hollywood spoke to women, 1930-1960.New York: Knopf .
2.
Brownlow, K. (1990). Behind the mask of innocence: Sex, violence, prejudice, and crime—Films of social conscience in the silent era.Berkeley: University of California Press.
3.
Freedman, J., & Combs, G. (1996). Narrative therapy: The social construction of preferred realities.New York: Norton.
4.
Hartman, A. (1994). In search of subjugated knowledge. In A. Hartman, Reflection and controversy: Essays on social work (pp. 23-28). Washington, DC: NASW Press.
5.
Hogan, R. (1965). The independence of Elmer Rice.Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
6.
Kildare, O. (1906). My Mamie Rose: The story of my regeneration.New York: F. H. Revell.
7.
Rice, E. (1965). Three plays.New York : Hill & Wang.
8.
Roffman, P., & Purdy, J. (1981). The Hollywood social problem film: Madness, despair, and politics from the depression to the fifties.Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
9.
Sklar, K. (1995). Florence Kelley and the nation's work: The rise of women's political culture, 1830-1900. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
10.
Skopcol, T. (1992). Protecting soldiers and mothers: The political origins of social policy in the United States.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
