A atuação profissional dos Assistentes Sociais da gênese a contemporaneidade: requisições profissionais e a relação histórica com a recente Política de Assistência Social

Abstract

The present study has the general objective to analyze the demands imposed on the profession since its genesis, particularly in social assistance, to reflect on the professional behavior and the social direction required in each historical moment. The choice of the study theme came from the practice of the mandatory curricular internship at the Social Assistance Reference Center (CRAS), Pajuçara unit, in 2019. This experience in a socio-institutional space provided a unique moment of successive approaches to the theoretical-practical relationship, allowing the understanding of the articulation between the professional dimensions that are essential to understand the social dynamics. To meet the general objective, the specific objectives are the following: to reflect on the relationship between social assistance and the Brazilian social service; to discuss the relevance of professional intervention in Basic Social Protection, specifically in the Social Assistance Reference Center, and to detect the challenges imposed on the materialization of social assistance and professional intervention in the face of neoliberalism and the pandemic context. For the analysis of these aspects, qualitative approaches of a documentary nature were used, specifically from the literature that discusses the profession and its historical relationship with social assistance, particularized in Basic Social Protection. Regarding data collection, the first step was a bibliographic review of texts and documents that discuss professional demands and the relationship with social assistance throughout the historical trajectory of the profession, as well as documents that guide and regulate the operation of the Social Assistance Policy in Brazil. Thus, it was possible to make successive approximations with the categories present in the object of this study, such as Social Service; Social Assistance; Professional Demands; Basic Social Protection, and the State. The study was based on a historical-dialectical perspective, based on the understanding that social phenomena are parts of a totality in constant movement. The results show that social assistance and social service have deep roots and the development of both are strongly related and, even in the face of neoliberalism, social assistance - despite the constant attempts to deconstruct it - has been an important public policy to mitigate situations of social vulnerability and social workers. This is because, as workers in basic social protection, they have been valuable professionals in making social rights possible, in addition to providing access to goods and services to a population that is daily undermined and that finds in this policy its last chance to meet their basic needs. The relevance of the historical relationship of social service with social assistance is also understood, and in the context of neoliberalism, the need for constant analysis of professional performance is emphasized, so as not to resume traditional practices.