Say it ain't so, Norm! Reflections on who we are.

Norm, an ABC sitcom that first aired in spring 1999 featuring a "social worker" as the lead character, set off a not-surprising reaction among professional social workers. Social work listservs and Web sites have been abuzz with commentary, most of which is highly negative, about this portrayal of a social worker ("Members Say," 1999). There is reason to be concerned about the image of social work, not because of this sitcom, per se (which maintains high audience ratings in its second season), but because Norm epitomizes the massive public misunderstanding about who social workers are and what they do. Professional social workers would probably argue that Norm is not a social worker (and if he were, he would quickly be subject to charges of ethical breaches!). His training is as a hockey player. He is working in his current job as a form of community service; his option was community service for tax fraud, or jail. Norm chose to become a social worker and is apparently paid for his work. (Note that in the real world community service is uncompensated.) Beyond the criteria established by individual states for licensing and the qualifications specified for membership in the NASW, the classification of social workers is largely outside of the profession's control. Norm occupies a social work-titled position, carries out functions associated with social work, and receives remuneration for this job. Thus, according to the number-one source of data on occupations, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Norm is a social worker. Clarifying how the government collects and maintains data about social workers can shed light on public perceptions and misperceptions about the profession. How the Title of Social Worker Is Determined Data on employment by occupation available through the Current Population Survey (CPS) for 1998 reveal that the number of people in social work-titled positions was 749,000. This number is in contrast to the current NASW membership of approximately 150,000. The CPS does include a variable related to level of educational attainment, but this variable is not incorporated in the analysis of occupational data. The CPS occupational information is based on self-reports of workers or their "proxy" respondents--that is, another member of the household (such as a spouse) who answers the CPS questions on behalf of himself or herself and everyone else in the household. Two principal questions in the CPS are used to determine a worker's occupation: 1. What kind of work (do/does/did) (name/you) do--that is, what (is/was) (your/his/ her) occupation (for example, plumber, typist, farmer)? 2. What are (your/his/her) usual activities or duties at this job (for example, typing, keeping account books, filing, selling cars, laying brick)? (BLS, 1998a) This is how the two questions work: Suppose a respondent's answer to the first question is "sanitation engineer," a nonexistent category in the BLS occupational classification system. To classify this person properly, more information is needed, and the second question helps clarify what the person actually does. If the respondent says, "I design sewage treatment facilities and oversee their construction," he or she probably will be classified as a civil engineer. If the respondent instead replies, "I pick up people's trash, throw it on the truck, and ride the truck to the dump," he or she would probably be classified as a garbage collector. If the response is "I drive the garbage truck," the respondent would be classified as a truck driver (personal communication with J. Meisenheimer, economist, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 19, 1999). This example helps explain how Norm lays claim to being a social worker. He would respond to the question about occupation by referencing his job title. In response to the second question, Norm might say that he counsels individuals and children with a variety of problems. …