THE SOCIAL WORKER AND SOCIAL ASSISTANCE POLICIES: PROFESSIONAL ACTION CHALLENGES TOWARDS A CONSERVATISM RUPTURE

Abstract

Social welfare policies have undergone significant changes since the adoption of LOAS (the Social Care Organic Law) in 1993; since then, several theoretical treatises have analyzed its impact. However, old challenges such as overcoming paternalistic social assistance and clientelism and the mix-up between professional practice and the development of proposed policy actions, go beyond the social worker category and take on new contours with the advance of conservatism. For this reason, it is important to reiterate the need to overcome these challenges by taking theoretically consistent actions directed by an ethical-political professional project. This paper proposes to contribute in this regard, bringing up a discussion on Social Work and its professional action challenges in Social Assistance Policies.