Actors in Search of a Character: Student Social Workers' Quest for Professional Identity

This article presents a case study of the professional socialization of neophyte social workers. Drawing primarily upon interviews of the 14 members of a senior class in an accredited social work program, the article presents an analysis of student interns' attempts to dramatically realize the occupational identity of social worker. Contrasts between their experiences and the experiences of student doctors are stressed in order to illustrate the reflexive relationship between the historical and the biographical processes of professionalization.