Social work in the re-production of capital. A contradictory relationship

Abstract

This paper is part of the research “Working conditions of the Social Work Program alumni of the University of Caldas in Manizales and La Dorada” carried out by the Critical Social Work research seedbed of the University of Caldas between 2019 and 2022. The objective is to understand how the valorization of value emerges and operates in the capitalist society, the particularities of reproduction and the world of work in peripheral countries to finally reveal the social function of Social Work in these scenarios during the current neoliberal phase. The ideas presented here were generated based on a bibliographic analysis and a document review that correspond to the theoretical foundation phase of the research. The theoretical-methodological analysis makes it possible to reveal that Social Work belongs, like any other salaried profession, to capitalist relations and it is characterized both by alienating conditions and by emancipatory potentialities.