With infrequent exception, exactly nothing at all. On the whole, social workers know little and care less about economic or political theory and practice. Their lack of understanding can only be described as abysmal, tragic. Ignorance in very young social workers, of whom there are many, may be forgiven. They all know well enough that social work is not meeting the needs of our calamitous social situation.
Wholesale unemployment breeds mass misery, want, discouragement, dissatisfaction, disorder.
If anyone doubts it, let him read Article I of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States. In a certain city a clothing company regularly pays weekly wages ranging from a dollar or two to five or six dollars. The wage-earner was a woman who had been on duty there every day full time, waiting for piece work, although not working all the time. Some employees in the factory make less, others a very little more. I know a social worker who once saw a week's pay envelope from the same company containing 84 cents.