Metaphors and the pejorative framing of marginalized groups: implications for social work education.(Essay)

THE FOLLOWING QUOTE appeared in a 1993 National Review article on the topic of welfare reform:

 
   Work requirements are catnip for 
   social workers; they see counseling 
   galore in the educational programs 
   and training seminars that Congress 
   will construe as meeting the requirements. 
   Result: A new sandbox for the 
   welfare bureaucracies to romp in. 
   Social workers sometimes grumble 
   about work requirements, for the sake 
   of appearances; secretly they love 
   them. (Bethell, 1993, p. 34) 

This selection provides an instructive example of the use of metaphors for the purpose of denigrating a group or supporting entrenched pejorative stereotypes. The disquiet or even anger that social workers might feel in reading this selection probably goes beyond simply their visceral response to the dehumanizing metaphors, where social workers are animalized (as cats) and infantilized (as playing in sandboxes). Indeed, such representations carry a depth of meaning that is difficult to fully ascertain except on close analysis. The assumedly selfish intent of social workers--who are presumed to be motivated simply by their base physical urges, as are animals and children--that permeates the paragraph is reinforced by both metaphors. Moreover, additional meaning can be applied to the cat metaphor, because cats are generally viewed as "feminine" animals, and the social work profession is largely composed of women. Objectifying a vast range of professionals as members of the "welfare bureaucracies" similarly serves to cast the entire group in an adverse light. In effect, one does not have to look far to see that much of the negative representational baggage that our profession carries, at least in the eyes of many, is included in this short selection.

Rather than arguing about whether there are any bases in fact that undergird such presentations, we should consider such statements in their proper light, as propagandistic efforts to control the identity of a group of individuals for purposes of power augmentation by an opposition group and to foster their policymaking hegemony. Policy, as I attest in this article, begins with the attempt by stakeholders to control, manage, and wield words, images, and stories to present a desired means of imagining a social problem or community subgroup. Social workers who are unaware of this aspect of policy or who dismiss it as having minor importance put themselves at an extreme disadvantage in their efforts to have measurable positive impacts on the development of social policy within the context of a national landscape that increasingly favors style over substance.

Although a number of social work and related writings have described the potential importance of metaphor analysis within the profession, few of these works touch on policy considerations. Normally, metaphor is discussed as a useful tool for micro- or mezzolevel intervention. Articles by Adams (1997) and Lyddon, Clay, and Sparks (2001), for example, provided examples of metaphors as a means of providing clients with increased awareness of their issues, as an unusual but potentially fruitful means of soliciting difficult information from clients, or, as Lyddon and his coauthors noted, for "introducing new frames of reference" (p. 269) from which clients can consider their issues or goals. Goldstein (1999) described root metaphors as basic truths about the world as social workers see it that informs their interactions with clients, and Duffy (2001) described various means of using metaphors as a form of group work.

In this article, however, I consider metaphors within the policy arena. Following a brief introduction to metaphor use, I describe the importance of metaphors within the context of problem identification and policy development. The principal aspect of metaphor use that is delineated here pertains to the role of such rhetoric in the delineation and identification by others of vulnerable community groups. If an important role of social work professionals is to advocate on behalf of such groups, students in the profession must be taught to identify, analyze, and counter these pejorative metaphor themes (Lens, 2005; O'Brien, 2003b).

Metaphors, Problem Framing, and Social Policy