Critical Proposals in Social Work

Common sense as a conceptual tool to reflect on social work’s past, present and future: A short essay marking 100 years of social work education in Chile

Paul Michael Garrett — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Antonio Gramsci’s conceptualisation of common sense helps us to think more critically about dominant ideas within, and beyond, social work. Especially important are his articulations of common sense (senso comune) and good sense (buon senso). Gramsci’s understanding is also rooted in a more encompassing theoretical apparatus in which hegemony and the role of intellectuals are central. Having pointed to the progressive possibilities associated with the shaping of a more Gramscian social work, four alterative social work futures are identified

Knowledge production and postgraduate development in Latin America after 100 years of the first school of social work

Margarita Rozas Pagaza, Camila Veliz — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article recovers the trajectory of postgraduate programs in Social Work in Latin America, with emphasis on doctoral programs, to problematize the production of knowledge and its conditions of possibility in the current context. It emphasizes the relevance of the construction of academic projects, where the production of scientific knowledge is a contribution to the understanding and social transformation, enhancing its various uses, through collaborative research networks and the construction of agendas.

Systematisation of experiences in Social Work: Practice and knowledge construction from a historical perspective

Claudia Bermúdez Peña — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article explores the construction of knowledge in Social Work from a historical and critical perspective, positioning practice as an epistemic axis and recognizing its role in generating situated and transformative knowledge. The main objective is to analyze how practice has been valued as a source of knowledge across different historical moments and contexts, from philosophical reflections to decolonial approaches and the systematization of experiences in Latin America. The conceptual problem addressed is the historical subordination of practice to theoretical knowledge—a hierarchy that has limited the recognition of knowledge emerging from social experiences. The thesis argues that the systematization of experiences serves as a pathway to reframe practice as a legitimate space for knowledge construction, challenging dominant epistemologies and fostering critical alternatives. The argument develops by first examining the philosophical context that situates practice within Aristotelian phronesis; then exploring contributions by Bourdieu and De Certeau, debates from the Global South, and the connections to Social Work pioneers such as Octavia Hill and Mary Richmond; and finally, analyzing the reconceptualization in Latin America, where the systematization of experiences became significant in addressing epistemic inequalities. The conclusions emphasize that systematization acts as a bridge between theory and practice, an exercise in decolonial resistance, and a political act that democratizes the production of knowledge.

The emergence of social visitors in Chile 1925-1940:Historical memory of ideology and utopia

Ingrid Alvarez Osses — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The present historical memory work deals with the emergence of social visitators in Chile that exposes the path from charity to social assistance from 1925 to 1940. In this sense, it is contextualized historically, highlighting the relevance of the labor movement and the pauperistic social, political and economic conditions in the social question. For the same, a theoretical debate is made with different Latin American authors on the history of social work that make ideology visible. Subsequently, the construction of the first social service schools in Chile is exposed, the different areas that open up to history since the 20’s and how the different social processes, economic and political memory of social visitors. Criticism of palliative social service is considered in the development of the same history, values such as social justice, the responsibility, educational role and visibility of social visitators on the devaluation of life in the opposite direction to the economic reason of the social question. Also, it is anticipated that the visitors are becoming in tension with the contexts and emerge a power in their social criticism.

Subsequently, it dialogues with the perspectives of ideology in Ricoeur and Marx giving account of the social imaginary and the relevance of utopia for the re-signification of social work. In order to deconstruct social work from the unthought, it is inevitable that the utopia should be based on the sound of social justice in the creative principles of the historical, social and political world and not in its reproduction.

Reconceptualisation in the Argentine university: Experiences of reforms in the schools of Social Service (1969-1976)

Renzo Tiberi — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper deals with a particular aspect of the Reconceptualisation movement in Argentina. Focusing on different areas of professional training in Social Work, it analyses the changes and transformations that took place at institutional and curricular level between the end of the 1960s and the mid 1970s, paying special attention to the curriculum reform processes. The aim is to build a broad and federal view on this phenomenon, recovering the experiences of the Schools of Social Service of Buenos Aires, Rosario, Misiones and Mendoza. This analysis is built on the knowledge accumulated so far, based on previous studies and existing academic productions. From this body of work, new contributions are proposed to enrich and broaden the understanding of the subject. As a starting point, the political and social climate of that period, in which the Reconceptualisation movement was developed, is placed. Subsequently, the influence of this movement on the processes of change that took place in the careers during those years and its link with the political events that determined the debates are investigated. Then, the main transformations that contribute to the understanding of this phenomenon are pointed out. Finally, we seek to warn about some aspects related to the interruption of Reconceptualisation, linked to the advance of conservative and anti-communist sectors within the ruling Peronism, and the arrival of the Military Dictatorship. The comparative view of these experiences is postulated as a contribution to analyse the general implications of the period on the development of different careers, to identify common points and to provide clarity on the impact of Reconceptualisation in professional training.

Denaturalization and Norm-tension: Two Demands for Contemporary Social Intervention

Juan Saavedra — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The initial question of this article is how social work can prevail in an adverse neoliberal regime. This neoliberal context tends toward individuation, the disciplinary control of the most vulnerable groups, and the contraction of the institutions responsible for addressing these issues. In search of an answer, a theoretical argument is constructed, based on the assumption that social intervention is a relevant topic for the profession-discipline. Through a review of texts published by P. Garret, G. Muñoz-Arce, R. Cortés, among other sources, it is suggested that social intervention should transition towards a space of active resistance in favor of social justice and the inclusion of marginalized groups. The reflection shows how social intervention is conceived as a device of institutional power, subjected to neoliberal logics that prioritize efficiency over social justice. It proposes the denaturalization of these discourses to challenge uncritical intervention and promote reflective practice in social work. Additionally, norm-tension emerges as a contradiction that enables strategies to foster resistance to normative control, reorienting the profession-discipline towards the pursuit of structural transformations. It concludes that both discursive denaturalization and norm-tension allow for a departure from intervention notions aligned with neoliberal grammars.

Social intervention and social work: an inalienable connection. Study of the scientific literature in WoS, Scopus and SciELO.

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Social work and social intervention have an indelible connection, and both are an epochal fruit: they do not exist outside the context of modernity. The study, quantitative in nature and exploratory/descriptive in depth, was guided by a bibliometric methodological design, focusing its work on a construct, that is, on conceptual units. Three approaches were made to the scientific literature in WoS, Scopus and SciELO databases. The results reveal significant differences in volume of publications, sources and periods covered. WoS hosts 914 documents, Scopus 3,396 and SciELO 328. In publication sources, WoS records 557, Scopus 2,140 and SciELO 201. Annual scientific production shows a sustained increase, although with different patterns. The predominant languages are English [WoS=683, Scopus=2,823, SciELO=18] and Spanish [WoS=179, Scopus=251, SciELO=230]. The analysis of scientific production by country identifies that, in WoS, Spain stands out, followed by the USA and the United Kingdom; in Scopus, production is led by the USA, the United Kingdom and Spain, while in SciELO, Colombia appears in first place, followed by Brazil and Chile. The analysis of categories and thematic areas reveals that in WoS the most represented discipline is Social Work with 156 documents, in Scopus, the dominant thematic area is Medicine with 1,453 results and in SciELO it is interdisciplinary social sciences with 66 results. In the analysis of the sources of publication and application of Bradford's Law, it stands out that in WoS the main journals linked to the dissemination of discussions related to social intervention belong to the discipline of social work, while in Scopus medical and multidisciplinary journals predominate, and in SciELO journals of social sciences and humanities appear with a greater presence. The findings invite us to recognize and reaffirm that for social work, its disciplinary object is unfailingly social intervention.

Knowledge production in the master’s in social work at the University of Chile: A thematic and methodological analysis

Tânia Krüger — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The objective text is to identify and produce a critical analysis of the thematic emphasis, methodological and theoretical reference of the Theses and Equivalent Formative Activities (AFE) produced as course conclusion work by students of the Master of Social Work of the University of Chile. This is a bibliographic investigation, which by means of systematization of two titles, key words, abstracts and fluid reading of theses and AFE published in the institutional repository of the library of the University of Chile between 2020 and July 2024. It is just a brief look at us. 6 years of life of the Master of Social Work. We identify that there is a qualified expansion of scientific production in the area of social service linked to social policies in the area of childhood, gender, education and the prison system in particular, followed by issues linked to changes in the world of work. Social work as a training area and occupational social space has been poorly studied. Finally, we consider as a punctual and localized study of scientific production in the area of social work necessary a scope of research on post-graduation in Chile and Latin America.

Entrevista a Teresa Quiroz 2 de mayo de 2011

Teresa López, Teresa Quiroz , Gabriela Rubilar — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Teresa López led this interview with Teresa Quiroz in two sessions held on 2 and 11 May 2001. The interview is part of the Teresa López Vásquez Collection, which was formed from a donation made by her family to Gabriela Rubilar, Principal Investigator of the ANID/Conicyt/FONDECYT Project 1230605, and later donated to the Department of Social Work at the University of Chile through a formal donation signed on 28 January 2025. We are grateful to both institutions for granting access to this unpublished material. The published text is a verbatim transcription of the interview, including footnotes added by Teresa López following the review of the transcript by the interviewee. Minor edits have been made for publication in the journal, which have been indicated using [square brackets].

Book Review Social Work and Common Sense: A Critical Examination.

Taly Reininger — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Celebrating a century of international social work: issues and debates

James Midgley — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Greetings in Commemoration of 100 Years of Social Work in Chile and Latin America.

100 Years of Social Work: Discussions and Perspectives on the Discipline's Past, Present and Future

Gabriela Rubilar — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000